[40] in Public-Access_Computer_Systems_Forum
Computerspeak
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (KINGH%SNYSYRV1.BITNET@RICEVM1.RICE)
Tue Apr 21 12:51:23 1992
Date: Tue, 21 Apr 1992 11:47:00 CDT
Reply-To: Public-Access Computer Systems Forum <PACS-L%UHUPVM1.BITNET@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU>
From: KINGH%SNYSYRV1.BITNET@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU
To: Multiple recipients of list PACS-L <PACS-L@UHUPVM1.MIT.EDU>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
From: Sherron, Gene "Imaging Systems: An Overview for Management" _Educom
Review_ pp 34-38
(referring to University of Southern California, p. 35)
"Here is another case when a million dollar plus imaging system was
not justified on the basis of direct dollar recovery. Rather, the University
felt that the 'immeasurable' improvements in quality, accuracy, and
productivity of the admissions process were so significant that the system
has been enlarged to include financial aid processing."
Good that an abstraction or a building "felt" that the system did
improve the admissions process. Spending a million dollars and more on
something that makes significant though "immeasurable" improvements might
not seem rational to people who can't get into the university because
of faculty lay-offs and course and program close-outs.
And from Monastersky, R. "A moisture problem muddles climate work." _Science
News_ v 141 (April 4, 1992), p. 212.
"Some scientists and administrators have emphasized the need to boost
computer power, thereby permitting the use of models with greater spatial
resolution. But Randall and his collegues say this will not solve existing
problems (the grand challenges?). From their study and others, they conclude
that 'dramatically increased computer power would not, by itself, be sufficient
to simulate the present climate or our confidence in climate-change simulations
produced by existing models. // Instead, Randall emphasizes the need for
meteorolgical observations and theoretical investigations aimed at
improving scientific understanding of how the climate works."
Oh, oh -- we've hammered the idea that NREN will solve these problems
without the need for "thinking," into each Congressperson's brain. Are
scientists starting to doubt computer power?
From Berger, Carl "Ann Jackson and the Four Myths of Integrating
Technology into Teaching." _Syllabus Computer Science_ (PO Drawer Q,
Sunnyvale, CA 94087) pp 2-4.
Technofile's response to the "myth" that if students spent the
same amount of time study using traditional processes and products, they
would do just as well as when they used newer and more sxpensive technologies:
"..there is an element of truth in this statement .. time on task is still
the best indicator of total learning ... technology provides a motivation to
spend more time on task, thus increasing the likelihood of their learning and
of their retaining what they learn." I'd like to see studies that demo
this hypothesis -- they may spend more time, but half of the "more time" may
be on just learning how to use the new technology not the material they
need to learn and retain.
Technofile's response to "myth 4" that computer technology works
no better than traditional forms of instruction (lecture, homework,
discussion, etc): "the reality behind this myth is that technology shouldn't
have to compete with standard instructional formats. There's a place -- and
a need -- for both in education today." But, didn't technology proselyti-
zers tell us learning would be quicker, that you could learn more in a
shorter time, and that computer-aided instruction was so much better than
traditional methods that it was worth the billions higher education is
putting into computers, telecommunications, and networks.
Berger admits that "turning over all of the teaching to technology
[has] been tried, and it's a dismal failure." And, that 'courseware', he
observes, is a dying breed, gone the way of teaching machines and programmed
texts, "so, rather than substituting computer-based teaching for other modes
of teaching, it is most helpful to use it to supplement teaching activities
such as lectures and discussion groups."
Hannah King
Suny HSC Library at Syracuse
kingh@snysyrv1
kingh@vax.cs.hscsyr.edu
