Educational Technology Re-imagined

Abstract

Traditionally, discussions of "educational technology" are accompanied by a number of (usually unstated) assumptions: (a) that the "technology" in question is exclusively or predominantly "computers", (b) that the end product of design is material presented on a two- dimensional screen, (c) that the "education" in question is characterized by classroom settings and orthodox subject matter, and (d) that the methods of evaluation for technology are derived from studies of skill acquisition. By challenging these constraints, we can re-imagine a much more expansive, fertile, and realistic portrait of the possibilities of educational technology. This talk will use projects in our own Craft Tech Lab at Colorado, not as exemplars of this re-imagined approach (they don't always succeed in that light), but as springboards for encouraging future work.

Bio Mike Eisenberg earned his doctorate in Computer Science from MIT in 1991; since then he has been on the faculty at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He and his wife Ann co-direct the "Craft Technology Lab" at CU; the lab focuses on blending the affordances of new technologies with the most fruitful traditions of children's crafts and construction.