April 15, 2000

We have one Phorum assignment for the week for Staff Development.

Staff Development:  "Technology and Change: Impossible to Resist"

In you copy of Computers in Education 00/01 by Hirschbuhl and Bishop, you will find a fascinating article by Diana Oblinger on page 17.  This article will provide you with a useful reference as you continue to put technological changes into context.  You will want to read the whole article, but for this week, only pages 17 - 24 will be necessary. 

A few choice quotes: 

• "The growth in network bandwidth means that soon the speed of the network will be faster than the speed of your computer."
• "Digital magnetic storage is already less costly than paper and will continue to be the dominant medium for the storage of active data."
• "Everyone will be forced to rethink the strategic fundamentals of their enterprise." (Cited in Evans & Wurster, 1997)
• "Technology has changed our perception of time.  Perhaps most telling is our adoption of the notion of web years; a web year lasts three months!"
• "The pace of change is also evident in the emergence of new industries.  For example, the wireless industry anticipates needing almost 300,000 technicians and engineers by 2007.  This industry did not even exist five [seven] years ago."

Your assignment:

In "Technology and Change: Impossible to Resist", Oblinger presents numerous questions regarding the institutions in which we work.  Pick three questions most relevant to your work and answer them in a Phorum posting on the thread we've created for you.  This exercise may also provide you with an additional perspective regarding the presentations of your web assignment for the semester.