I would like to respond briefly to the interesting reactions of Ken Mitchell, Benjamin Mitchell, Ron Oliver & Martyn Wild, Serge Pothof, and David Frampton.
(a) I do not really agree with Ken Mitchell's [25 Apr 95] comment that "it is the message that is important, not the technology to deliver it." One reason I do not agree relates to what David Frampton [27 Apr 95] said, that technologies "mediate our 'distributed cognitions' and communications whatever the field of activity."Thus technologies are not something I select to deliver my objectives; they interact with and mediate the learning and teaching process in a way that I want my students to be acutely aware of. Another reason is my own view of learning, at least at senior university level: that learning is a socially constructive process, and that the learner must take responsibility for choosing the best tools to help her in her learning. Thus by definition, learners need to try a variety of tools, in the current state of imperfection of the tools, in order to come to their own awareness of how they can best use the tools to learn.
(b) This leads to my second thought: if we as instructors only have students use "what works" and what the instructor handles very well, then there would be little opportunity to experience the real challenge in the field--that technologies are continually changing, continually offering new learning possibilities, and the role of the educational technologist is to consider how to better design these technologies or strategies to handle the technologies. We cannot do that if we give our senior students a "safe and stable" environment as their course experience. While it may seem more appropriate in many ways, in my opinion it would not prepare them for being professionals in the field.
The last point is also reflective of my own view of university teaching, at least in educational technology. I see it as initiation into a profession, much more than I see it as "courses" organized and delivered by the instructor to a group of recipients. Thus, as my day is filled with the excitement and frustration of new technologies and their possibilities for learning, I try to share this with the students! (With of course, the accompanying problems related to sharing my frustrations.)
Thanks for the very good comments. I cannot give them justice here, as I must prepare my class for tomorrow!