Technology, Instructional Design and Role of Teachers

In this Technology impact on Learning Outcomes: Can It be Be Measured?  Ruth says:

Additionally, misconceptions exist around the direct role of technology in the learning process, and, often, the technology is regarded as the teacher rather than a tool used by teachers and students to support the dynamic process of learning. As such, teachers sometimes distance themselves from these tools in the hopes that their jobs will remain secure. (If everything is being painfully scrutinized and you simply do what you do as a teacher because that is how you learned and were taught, then it is very probable that your outlook is threatened and that you would become insecure.) Why do you grade the way you do? Why do you create assignments the way you do? How do you know that the learning outcomes of the course you are currently teaching truly reflect student needs and global application requirements?

Is that the major challenge that some teachers are facing, even in Higher Education?  Instead of using technology as an enabler, would teachers be hesitant in embracing them as a tool in teaching and learning in their classroom practice?  How could teachers make better use of technology in the instructional design?

The following are three characteristics of process-based instructional design:

• Focus on how rather than what. Teachers who encourage students to focus on “how” something works or happens are more likely to develop students who can think beyond what is currently happening to what might happen more efficiently and effectively.
• Focus on why rather than when. Additionally, teachers who encourage students to ask “why” questions are more likely to develop thinking skills that help students to move beyond the understanding of simple tasks and the fulfillment/completion of simple tasks toward the more complex skills of problem solving.
• Focus on future trends rather than current practices. The ultimate result of these kinds of approaches to learning is that we will see students who can move toward future trends and progressive organizations and methods, who can move toward change rather than stagnate within existing practices that may or may not meet the demands or the needs of clients and participants.

Has technology become the teacher that would render the redundancy of the teacher?  Enjoy this Web 2.0

Learning can be DIY (do it yourself) under the Web 2.0, while the learner would become peer teachers to each other, especially under networked learning environment.

It is common to have police officers teaching police officers, military officers teaching military officers and teachers teaching teachers.  So, would it be feasible for  learners teaching learners under the Web 2.0 mediated learning ecology?  Given the vast open learning course ware freely available on web – like MIT course ware, many people are already exploiting its use in their learning process. 

Learning is no longer restricted to the traditional class-room based face to face teaching. E -learning in the form of video classroom and recorded Elluminate sessions could provide learners with added choices of whom, when, where, what and how they would like to learn from.  These forms of learning and education could be obtained often for free, except the price paid for the broadband or cable internet connection fees by the learners. 

Teachers may still be required in Higher Education, but would they be playing different roles in this technology mediated education and learning environment?  How about teachers as creators of resources, creators of learning space, co-creators and co-designers of courses and instructions with the learners, collaborators with learners, and co-assessor with learners?