Just How Important is Technology?

There was a lot of discussion on technology in week 4. The discussion was based on technology being a driving force behind distance education. Some discussions led me to believe that the overuse of technology has hindered distance education while on the other hand technological advancements have enhanced distance education. In my opinion, technology used to deliver educational content is just as important as the content itself. I agreed with a student in stating that I agree that poor use of technology in any case can be a setback yet research shows that proper use of technology has and will continue to enable students access to unlimited knowledge and information.

In a distance education environment institutions must have in place current technology. I can understand the arguments relating to not placing so much importance on technology but at the same time it shouldn't be counted as ineffective. I also found it interesting that the type of technology used in distance education courses should be the last aspect determined in a distance education course. Why is it that it can't work both ways? Why can't you determine the type of technology you'll use and then build your course around that? I just wonder what the implications of that would be....