PowerPoint
People can access pictures and documents from their homes even if they don't have the references in paper format. Presentations, classes, and meetings can be shown/held remotely. Questions can be asked electronically. People in rural communities can now get a degree from a University without having to uproot their lives. Students can use vast informational resources from their own homes. More people are learning on demand... want to know something, find it out... now. In a lot of ways, the anonymity of the online community is a great equalizer. Students are bullied and picked on less, and are less reluctant to ask questions online. A twelve-year-old and a 30-year-old can be equals in a classroom setting in most ways that matter for learning to take place. Handicapped students get treated fairly. No one laughs at the fat kid. No one makes faces because one of the kids has crooked teeth, or dresses funny, or has bruises on her face. ... In other ways, of course, anonymity removes some peoples inhibitions and some people are ruder online than they would ever be in person. ... there are definitely trade-offs... but the fact that some people interact, where they wouldn't even have a chance to, or would be too ashamed to, in "real" life, makes it a *huge* thing for education. In many cases, having to type answers makes people think about them more. Not always, but often, you will get more thoughtful responses online. Even in face-to-face classrooms, the advent of data projectors and advanced video equipment makes the possibilities of the classroom expand. Cutting-edge "viral" education can be injected into even the most mundane classes... because our world is infused with technology. Almost all students have cell phones. If you put clues in a lecture, a handout, or a presentation, and lead students to a website or ask them to text something... many will, and it will spread outside the class. Viral education, if used well, will get students outside your class to come and learn something too. As with almost anything, technology can be used for good *or* evil... it is neither of those things in itself, by itself. If we use technology to advance education, to spread it, and use it in appropriate ways... it is a powerful, powerful tool. *so* much more than moving a 50-year old lecture to
PowerPoint... so, so much more...
