The University recognizes that the term technology encompasses a great deal more than computers, but in this document the primary interest is with electronic technology like computer hardware and software, including networking and server hardware and software. In the field of instruction and pedagogy, distinctions are made among kinds of electronic instructional media. In general the term instructional media is assumed to include such visual tools as television, film, slides and slide projectors, and video and video projectors. Data sets can be stored locally or accessed via the Internet, but they also are a large part of the work in some disciplines, even for undergraduates. Much historical and analytical exploration has been done of the implications of technology in human life, cognition, culture and knowledge.
Students learn that the journey to discover knowledge is as important as the knowledge itself.
This paradigm shift happens not only for the students but the instructors as well. New forms of communications, publications, and collaboration and the way data are accessed, represented, and manipulated are changing the way knowledge is conceived, challenged, justified, and disseminated in most disciplines. The whole enterprise of teaching and learning becomes more egalitarian with instructors being facilitators rather than center and originator of all course activities. A general plan like this TLTR document cannot address every single technological situation that might arise at St. Cloud State University. In particular we do not adequately address highly specialized, discipline-specific installations that require special efforts, both within the sponsoring department and the University.