The limitations of instructional technology

The authors present five reasons why high technologies have failed to have much impact on education. They are as follows: (1) teaching and learning are inherently human activities with affecting (e.g. attitudinal)-as well as achievement-oriented objectives; high technology substitutes machines for humans; (2) instructional media, like all media, have an affect on the users that transcends the content material. Like the media of television, the effect is thought to be detrimental to intellectual development; (3) the hardware and software have not yet reached the required level of perfection; (4) the use of the technology requires skill, knowledge, coordination, management, and organizational expertise which the educational bureaucracies have been unable or unwilling to commit to this purpose; and (5) sophisticated technology costs too much and part of this cost is the high level of expertise needed to apply it. Although the primary technology discussed is computer-assisted instruction, the limitations described apply to most instructional technologies.<
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