Is technology making it easier for today’s UCLA students
than it was for previous generations of Bruins? Most people would
answer with a resounding “Yes.”
Computer tools make it so easy to draft and edit a term paper,
perform calculations, design spaces and more. The World Wide Web
makes it possible to find out anything and everything you ever
wanted to know. E-mail, chat rooms and threaded conversations offer
easy access to professors, TAs and friends to answer questions and
help with assignments.
Yes, technology has created a whole new set of wonderful
opportunities for teaching and learning.
Nonetheless, in truth the answer to this initial question should
be “No.” Technology does not make it easier for
students.
Like generations past, students today still have to be able to
read and write text ““ our traditional literacy. They still
need to be good at listening and speaking.
But now that technology is part of the learning environment,
even more skills are needed.
Students have to be able to cope with the computer and all its
tools, find the resources they really need, make sense of
truncated, shorthand text, “read” visual
representations, and more. They need technological fluency and
multiple literacies.
What’s required today to identify the resources for a
paper or project? Most likely one turns to the Web and searches
with any one of several excellent search engines. The glory of the
Web is its enormity, and how easy it is for anyone to host a Web
site.
In 1999, there were about 63 million hosts and 8 billion pages
on the Web, and sites were doubling about every six months. Imagine
the numbers in 2006. Among all those pages and hosts, how does one
find important, relevant, credible resources? This is a much bigger
challenge now with the Web than it was when university libraries
were the place to go and students searched resources that were
selected and organized by university librarians.
To find the right resources on the Web, one needs to be skilled
in identifying what information is needed and in finding it.
Searching and browsing are essential skills. Understanding how
search engines decide what’s relevant ““ and how Web
masters can make their sites stand out ““ is crucial.
With the librarian’s quality filter missing, whatever
resource is found must be evaluated to a degree that was never
before required. Who prepared the content? Who hosts the site? What
are their goals, beliefs, motives, backgrounds?
In short, what indicates this digital resource is important,
relevant and credible? Students with these skills are information
literate and media literate.
What about what’s required today to communicate via
technology? Every screen is small. The quantity of information
available in one view is much reduced compared to print and video
media. Often text is adjusted so there is less of it altogether,
sentences are shorter, and complicating ideas are omitted.
Compared to interactions in which more of humans’ means of
communication are used, it’s harder to be sure what someone
intends to say. Emoticons and expressions such as “LOL”
were invented to help clarify what is meant when we can’t see
the smile or frown, hear the laughter or sarcasm, or read a lot of
clarifying description. Icons and graphics are also more prevalent
and meaningful.
Students today have to be able to integrate content presented in
small chunks, accurately interpret shorthand messages, become adept
at creating messages that will be understood, and be visually
literate.
Last but certainly not least, students today need more
motivation than ever if they are going to learn all they can via
technology.
If UCLA decides to offer more online courses, students will need
to be especially motivated to do the work because the interpersonal
interaction so important to staying involved in a course will be
significantly reduced.
Today, when technology is only a part of UCLA’s learning
environment, the Internet and word processors make it incredibly
easy to download, cut and paste.
Papers, projects and presentations can easily be created from
what others have done. The well-motivated student will resist this
temptation, because she or he realizes that learning comes from
doing the work by oneself.
Technology is here to stay, and it will continue to evolve. It
has definitely created a need for students to know more and have
more communication skills than ever before.
Multiple literacies are what every student needs in order to
benefit from all that technology offers.
Dorr is the dean of the UCLA Graduate School of Education
& Information Studies.