More reasons why we should invest time and resources in the latest technology. Steven W. Gilbert, President the TLT Group Eisler and Forsyth share their thoughts on why educators should bother teaching with technology, adding to my initial list of reasons. I can speak only for Higher Education in the UK, but I would be surprised if the same issues were not faced elsewhere. University teaching used to be an interesting and fulfilling professional activity. We are constantly faced with the pressure to fit more students into the room, to mark more assignments, to spend less time with individuals who may be having difficulties, and on top of it all to concentrate more and more on research.
Morale is low.
The introduction of technology doesn't reduce the number of students or the time that each one needs. What it does is to allow us to be more flexible about the way in which that time is used. By using automated assessment for repetitive knowledge acquisition, we can remove some of the drudgery from our daily routine and use that time to look carefully at patterns in the outcomes of the assessment, so that we can identify students with problems and do something about it. We can make sure that the quiet voices get their turn. All this takes time to manage, but it can be done at times during the week that we choose.