20.158 Old Terms and Familiar Vistas

               Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 20, No. 158.
       Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
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         Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2006 06:18:16 +0100
         From: lachance_at_origin.chass.utoronto.ca (Francois Lachance)
         Subject: Old Terms and Familiar Vistas

Willard,

I sometimes wonder why the Utopian visions or simple hankerings for a
better and more just world that
accompany scenarios about the good that technology brings. It is a
persistent trope.

However, what I want to signal below is the terminology: "interactive
video-computer'. It no doubt is
marked by its time. It may be interesting to contrast it with the
"personal computer" and speculate if the
positive positioning of such devices in the discourse on education
declines in the generation of the wired,
the PDA and the WWW.

Peter Kline
The Everyday Genius (1988)

   pp. 41-42

   <quote>

   Relieved of the burden of drill, repetition and boredom, teachers
will then be able to help us enter a new
   age of excitement about learning [...] For when machines handle the
presentation of information, providing
   students with rapid evaluation and feedback, teachers will be free
to engage in activities and discussions
   which help their students humanize what they have learned. [...]
Because the interactive video-computer
   will bring rich new possibilities to the classroom, most people
will desire to continue being students, at
   least on a part time basis, all through life. This will create new
job opportunities for teachers, who will
   also be better paid than they are now. Indeed, education may become
the biggest growth industry of the next
   half century. For there's nothing that can benefit people more,
provided it actually works.

   </quote>

-- 
Francois Lachance, Scholar-at-large
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~lachance/doloezel.htm