Anything new in AVequipment?

Abstract

The proliferation of new equipment for education is a fact of life to teachers and school administrators. How does an educationist keep up with all the new developments and still keep his sanity? How does an educationist assess the true value of a new medium or a new machine? How does he justify the expense involved? Unfortunately, there is no neat and easy answer to any of these questions. The growing number of new educational machines is enough to make any-body dizzy. Yet, ignoring educational technology and procrastinating decisions will not make the problems go away. Knowledge and experimentation may lead to some intelligent conclusions, but all too often educationists dodge the issue or allow themselves to become victims of clever salesmen. All too often decisions concerning new learning equipment are made under pressure—pressure from business, pressure from politicians. Precious little evaluation and classroom experimentation are applied to the purchase of new equipment.