New Educational Technologies: Connection or Autonomy?

Abstract

New educational technologies offer the potential to affect service to all learners, but especially adult learners. Because of this fact, adult educators have become enamored by the possibilities offered through the Internet, distance education, and computers in general. Recently, Adult Learning covered this topic several times. Key research trends deal with the following issues: How much do the new technologies improve access to adult education? Are they as good, in terms of learning outcomes, as more traditional approaches? Are they better than traditional approaches? Are they appropriate for certain groups and not others? If so, what are the parameters of these differences? Are some groups excluded by the heightened emphasis on learning via distance and/or by computer? What are the policy implications of these findings? This column begins an examination of the meaning of new technologies both to educators and the general public. At every turn, there are those who hailed technological breakthroughs as the ultimate panacea; the point at which access will finally be opened and the hurdles to learning will evaporate. It is useful to remember that the Internet and computers are part of a long chain of innovations that have simultaneously promised diffusion and the possibility of interaction. Of course, the first in this chain of diffusion was the printing press, followed by the lending library, which was not a technological innovation. The lending library is still viewed as a democratic invention that encourages the spread of knowledge. Andrew Carnegie, whose Corporation would later be so instrumental in funding organized adult education, had as his primary philanthropic mission the establishment of public libraries. In terms of modern efforts at technology and diffusion, the telephone at one time was hailed as a new educational invention, followed by movies, radio, and television. All offered the potential of allowing people to continue their learning in a convenient fashion, with the possibility of immediate access. The library, nonetheless, preceded all of these. While each provide important sources of diffusion, none live up to the promise of diffusing information to every corner of society. Yet the dream continues. Those writing about the Internet emphasize the possibility it offers for immediate access to information. The new wrinkle, of course is the opportunity for immediate feedback and discussion, which earlier innovations did not possess. This is not quite true, however, since back in the nineteenth century, the telephone possessed the same potential. While all of education is subject to fads, it seems that adult education has more than its share. This is probably due to adult education's lack of an organized structure with its' built-in system of control. As many writers indicate, this allows for greater flexibility, but it also precludes the development of a coherent vision. A field without a sense of vision cannot really develop, it merely spurts ahead in many different directions. What, then is the vision presented by the new technologies? This vision is quite simple and embodies principles that define efforts at adult education and diffusion for over one hundred years. They present the possibility of education on demand. The dream is that when computers become the norm, people will be able to access information from all over the world. This is the notion that somehow the wires of technology will replace the older traditions that connected people to each other. …