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Teaching and Technology
reviewed by Lane JenningsLooks can be deceiving, but the cover of Windows on the Future tells a lot about the book inside--maybe even more than its authors intended. From the outside, this slick, colorful paperback looks just like the manual for some new computer software. Inside, it argues that new technologies--especially computers--are essential for teaching today.
Many concepts presented here will be familiar to longtime FUTURIST readers: the escalating pace of change, the need for new paradigms to explain the realities of contemporary life, and the idea that knowledge gained through experience is no longer adequate for instructing students today. The discomforting message is that teachers must never stop learning themselves, cannot rely on any "proven" methods or doctrines, and must actively, even eagerly, embrace new technologies if they hope to pass meaningful knowledge to their students.
To some degree, the book's computer-manual image distorts the authors' real case. While stressing that high-tech media offer effective tools for learning in today's world, they also point out that mastering interpersonal skills, hands-on work experience to help link theory and practice, and even old-fashioned lectures and group discussion can still make a powerful impact on minds ready to learn.
The general guidance offered here is short on practical tips for how to make the most of specific technologies. Yet it is hard to fault the authors' underlying message that teaching today is a very different job from what many who were trained as teachers even a decade ago ever expected. The sheer volume of information and technologies now available can make low-technology learning tools like textbooks and chalkboards seem drab and unconvincing by comparison.
The authors help dispel teachers' fear of technology, and they encourage those who already have the desire to teach to begin exploring new ways to make their special field compelling and vibrant to members of a younger generation.
This is a book designed to inspire and encourage teachers who have put off facing the new demands and opportunities of the computer age. One especially useful feature is the bibliography, which offers critical evaluations of recommended readings, not just a list of authors and titles.
Windows on the Future is a good book for anyone who is not yet using the computer as a teaching/learning tool.
About the Reviewer
Lane Jennings is research director of THE FUTURIST, production editor of Future Survey, and author of Virtual Futures.