09.08.07

Familiar Territory in Colonial Williamsburg?

Posted in Learning at 11:27 am by Chris Champion

Here’s a passage from reading I was assigned in my “Management of Technological Change” class at Philadelphia University. I can honestly say this has been the most engaging and rewarding class I’ve taken at PhilaU.

From Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology
Robert Reiser and John Dempsey

An acquaintance of ours shared a story of a vacation trip that she took with her young daughter to a historical settlement such as Williamsburg, where past technologies are actively recreated. The mother spent the day explaining to the child the different functions of the various tools and furnishings in the aged buildings. We imagine the conversation went something like this:

“What’s this place, Mother?”
“Well, this is bakery, dear. Where they made bread.”
Entering another building, the girl asked, “What did they do here, Mother?”
“Well here is where they used this big spinning wheel to make clothes.”
Their tour progressed in a similar fashion until they came to a place where the technology seemed very familiar to the suddenly excited child. “I know what this is, Mother,” she cried out with absolute assurance. “This is a school! It’s set up just like my classroom!”

As the story suggests, education (or training) has for years been the most conservative of fields. Our use of technology has largely been pedestrian, isolated, and uninspired.

I think about this as I see pictures of an elementary classroom recently posted to a colleagues blog. Perhaps the only difference is that the chairs in her classroom were primary colors…

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