June 1999 — Editorial

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Assessing Technology

By Dr. Sylvia Charp, Editor-in-Chief

The Teaching Learning and Technology Group (TLT), an affiliate of the American Association for Higher Education, has a project titled "The Flashlight Project - Developing tools for Local Evaluation of Educational uses of Technology." The Flashlight Evaluation Handbook includes survey questions, interview guides, cost analysis measures and research designs to help educators answer some of the most commonly used questions about technology and educational improvement. According to S. Gilbert, President, "our goal is to help colleges and universities foster collaborative efforts, assess their progress and achieve more realistic goals for improving teaching and learning with technology."

As we expand the use of technology in education, with ongoing assessment, we need to look to the next step. Not everyone is enamored with technology as it exists today. For example, Peter F. Drucker, often called the father of modern management, made the following comments in an interview in Computerworld (April 26, 1999): "I am not unimpressed with the potential of technology. But I am very surprised that computer people pay no attention at all to where they have made the greatest impact. The greatest impact during the past 50 years has been on operation, not on management information."

Technology is as powerful a tool in education as it is in many other endeavors. We are ready for Knowledge Management - a combination of technology and knowing how to use it most effectively and efficiently. This should include:

  • Focusing on the ultimate goals, rather than immediate solutions.
  • Helping individuals manage the growing amount of information available.
  • Providing opportunity for knowledge to reach the knowledge worker.
  • Encouraging sharing of best practices and ideas.
  • Establishing technology infrastructure to support knowledge initiatives.

Knowledge management as a process requires rethinking of how we acquire, filter, collate, distribute and share information. In education, it is still in its infancy.