Using technology to re-design teaching

We tend to use learning technology as an add-on to existing ways of teaching or to completely replace existing ways (i.e., online). Even when we opt for blended or hybrid models, often the technology is added on rather than integrated and rarely is the teaching re-designed from the ground up.

This article describes an example of how teaching was completely re-thought and re-designed to make effective use of technology. The example isn't new. It is Virginia Tech's Math Emporium which as been around for about ten years

"The key is letting computers do what they do best—grading multiple-choice tests, providing 24/7 access to text, audio, and video, connecting people to one another at a distance—while retaining the human element when only real people will suffice. The Virginia Tech Math Emporium is staffed twelve hours a day with a combination of upper-division math majors, graduate students, and faculty, each of whom is prepared to help students with any of the Emporium-based courses."

The Math Emporium approach has had a positive impact on student success while lowering costs significantly.

The real point of the article, however, is the negative impact of rising tuition fees. It argues that savings generated by the Math Emporium and other creative uses of technology aren't being passed on to students and the steadily rising cost of higher education is not sustainable:

"If higher education costs continue to spiral upward, student debt loads will grow, default rates will rise, and graduation rates will stagnate or decline. Low- and middle-income students and families—people at the margins of economic opportunity, for whom a college education means the most—will disproportionately suffer. Traditional four-year colleges and universities will increasingly become enclaves of privilege, places where class divisions are reinforced rather than broken down. Fed up with unaccountable colleges and uncontrollable prices, the public will gradually withdraw from its historic commitment to higher education, weakening institutions that are vital for the nation’s competitiveness in the twenty-first century."