Learning With Technology—Knowing by Doing

AbstractThe year 2000 is fast approaching, and futurists offer many suggestions for new educational directions with technology clearly playing a role. Fogarty and Bellanca (1992) discuss three important emerging trends for education: interpersonal interaction, idea innovation, and information interpretation. How can technology influence teacher education curriculum and instruction? To answer this question the thinking of some futurists was applied to undergraduate literacy units in the School of Education at the University of New England. Learning how to relate, how to learn, and how to choose are essential components of our program, but technology was not central among the activities students encountered. First-year students come to the university with a variety of background experiences, yet we hope they will become users of technology quickly. Our problem is how to create learning experiences that inspire students to use technological tools as easily as they might use a pen, phone, or dictionary. What ...