Teachers College's for Educational Techology?

gandrews asks: "I'm looking into advanced degrees in education with a focus on computers. Problem is, a lot of the departments I've found look like they're stuck in the early nineties -- they're still hung up on the possibilities of html and BBSes, and aren't paying attention to organic ways kids are already using chat and email, or how kids become autodidacts ^? using computers. It doesn't improve my opinion any that so many of these university websites are broken. Does anyone know if up-to-date dialog on technology and education even exists in academia, and if so, where is it?"

Comments

schools educate, they don't train

[popdookey]

I decided many years ago that I wanted to learn more about the world of computers. I enrolled in a beginner Comp. Sci. at a regional University. Here the shock/enlightening began.

I wanted to learn about networks, computers, and linux. I got a huge textbook and a course in algorithms and basic C++ programming. I was outraged that all this revolutionary technological change was happening (1998) and my University was "stuck in the past." I wanted to learn about new things, and the school just wanted to teach me to think.

I took action. I visited the head of the CS department, the head of the School of Arts and Sciences, I wrote the President (of the school) and I spoke with a state Regent. I learned that schools are institutions designed to react slowly to the changing external environment. The red tape to add or change a program is monumental. This is good.

I withdrew and began teaching myself what I wanted to learn. I got what I wanted. I may not have gotten what I needed. I missed the chance to be forced to struggle with the difficulties of programming. I missed the chance to be taught how to think better.

Years later I know enough about linux and open source software to enable small businesses to compete in a proprietary world. I know enough about networking to maintain routers and an extensive wan. I know enough about computers to build really sweet and thrifty boxes. I know very little about programming: the heart and soul of the computer world. This is what the CS dept. wanted to teach me. I am weaker.

My moral: don't judge a school on what it doesn't teach. Appreciate the methods used to teach you how to think. Visit and speak with faculty. Understand what their vision is for their department. You may find people endeavoring to teach you what you want to know while couching it in more classic studies. If the website for the school is broken, use this as an opportunity to make a difference. They clearly need you.

Universities offer community outreach classes that don't require Regent's approval for credit. These classes are much more current. Try them out in your spare time. In your main time, enroll and realize that a school is only as strong as its students. You will make a difference if you put yourself in charge.