Putting Technology Where It Belongs

How can a college or university help faculty develop the most useful, cost-effective educational combinations of face-to-face meetings and telecommunications?

The next time you travel halfway across the country for a conference and return re-energized and enthusiastic about new ideas, think about the different elements of that experience. Was there a lecture or discussion session that held your attention and rekindled your interest? Did you have informal conversations in the halls that offered you new perspectives on frustrating problems? Did you share a meal with someone whose company you enjoy, but with whom you had lost contact? Were you able to help that person think through a new approach to a problem of common interest?

On the other hand, were there sessions that were boring or irrelevant? Were there lectures that could have been omitted or that would have been provided just as well on paper? Were there sessions from which you could have gained as much if you had watched them at home on video? In fact, wouldn't some sessions have been more interesting and useful if they had been better planned, better organized, and enhanced with the use of a variety of media - and made available to you at a convenient time and place?

What are the unique benefits of bringing people together in the same place at the same time? For what purposes and under what circumstances is face-to-face communication essential for teaching and learning? For what purposes and under what circumstances is it at least as effective to use computers, video, and telecommunications to enable people to work alone or to communicate without being together in the same place at the same time? Colleges and universities are better equipped than any other institutions for addressing this set of questions, and they have more at stake in the answers.

Lizard 28 Fall 95

 

    Address questions or comments about TEP or this site to:
Georgeanne Cooper, Program Director, 64 PLC
Phone: 541-346-2177 Fax: 541-346-2184
Teaching Effectiveness Program, Teaching and Learning Center, University of Oregon.
Last Modified: 02/25/10