EDITORIAL - Brief Article

I recently viewed Neptune from Mars, walking slowly toward it and observing the other space bodies nearby. It certainly was the most vivid experience I've ever had in space and probably the most lasting impression of the universe I ever will have.

Of course I didn't really get into space; I experienced my space walk via virtual reality at Indiana University. It is now practical to create very realistic experiences for students who want to walk through an atom or visit the Great Wall of China. In fact, technology now holds the potential to make most learning exciting. I don't know that every student can more effectively learn every topic through more exciting, realistic experiences, but I certainly think there's enough potential to warrant serious consideration.

The reform movement du jour (standards as of this writing, but maybe accountability by the time you read it) is all about increasing student learning. It has included new tests, professional development and even the latest model computers. All of these things are good, but how many of them represent a real cause-and-effect solution to the problem of increasing test scores? The relationships are tenuous at best. Isn't it more likely that a truly adventurous approach that engages and excites learners would result in improved learning and improved test scores?

So you may ask why educators have not embraced such new technologies as virtual reality? Well, it is complex and it is expensive. On the other hand, thousands of arcades across the country exist where people can spend three dollars and operate a hang glider over Nairobi or play golf at St Andrew's. Certainly such devices for instruction are not outside the realm of possibility. It does, however, take tremendous will to invest in expensive, technology-based instruction when the current infrastructure of people, buildings, busses, and books demand ever-increasing dollars.

There may also be a subtle instructional nuance to the lack of action. When I left Mars, it was really my decision to seek Neptune. It would be difficult to "teach" a lesson on Jupiter to students fixated on another planet. Really powerful technology-based instruction demands a personalized, constructivist approach to education that is not popular among educators looking for cookie-cutter solutions to our problems.

Michael F. Sullivan
Executive Director
Agency for Instructional Technology
Publisher, TECHNOS Quarterly

COPYRIGHT 1999 Agency for Instructional Technology
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