Technology, the Columbus Effect, and the Third Revolution in Learning.

摘要

Writing and printed books have influenced learning profoundly. The emergence of writing brought about a revolution in learning by freeing learners from requirements for face-to-face interaction with sages and other human sources of knowledge, lore, and information. Although learning became neither inexpensive nor universally available after the development of written language, its content became available anytime, anywhere. A second revolution occurred with the development of moveable type and books. These developments also made the content of learning, teaching, and educational materials available anytime, anywhere but more widely and, significantly, less expensively. Can we improve on books. Computer technology arises as a possibility. Computers can adapt the sequence and type of operations they perform to the conditions of the moment. In instruction, they can adapt the content, sequence, type, difficulty, granularity, and so forth of their presentations to learners or problem solvers based on ongoing, dynamic assessments of their individual needs. For this reason, computer technology may be effecting a third revolution in learning. While preserving the capabilities of books to present the content of instruction anytime, anywhere, computers can also provide the interactions of teachers, instructors, tutors, and mentors as needed by individual learners and users. This is not something books, movies, television, or videotape technologies can do affordably or to any significant degree. By presenting the content and the interactions of instruction, computers promise a new and significant capability for learning that is available anytime, anywhere. This capability may produce a third revolution in learning, with a significance equal to that of the development of writing and books.