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Also, in a university setting where information technology plays a major role, both professors and students may sense a lack of belonging and a lack of relations that might otherwise exist without the technology. For example, within a wired campus students use email to contact or ask a professor a question, rather than taking the time to visit them in their offices. Potentially, a student could go through an entire year of classes without ever having to talk to their professor, and in all certainty this has happened. It seems that this approach undermines all that education is about. By definition, education is intertwined with enlightening experiences and instruction. Certainly in this technology based class and campus setting the student is receiving instruction, but how could a student ever be enlightened when enlightenment comes from a sense of self-discovery. Many Canadian and American universities and colleges support extremely large classes to cover the institutions annual operating cost and an example of these classes can be seen at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The universities introduction to Psychology enrolls approximately 1000 students and it becomes unrealistic to say that students are engaged, challenged or asked to develop their thoughts or mind. These sorts of advances in personal knowledge can only properly expand under certain conditions and many of these conditions are neglected in just about all North American classrooms. By the time university comes for many students, or “clients” as they will soon be referred to, they have mastered the skills of remaining unknown, cramming and writing last minute papers and assignments. The technology only makes the latter even easier to get away with.

   Another disadvantage comes forth in the idea of men and women, and their different ways of learning and accessibility. Women are underrepresented on the World Wide Web, just as they are in the high-tech occupations and therefore some underlying discrimination may prevail at a university setting. In a survey done by Nielson/NetRatings men log on more than women (an average of 54 sessions compared to 50 sessions), spend more time on average (31 hours versus 27 hours), and view more pages (1900 versus 1700)[17]. Women, compared to men, are much less likely to use or even attempt to access the Internet for a variety of reasons. Many women are intimidated by pornography, prevalent sexist attitudes and the basic idea that technology is more directed towards men. Perhaps, in a university classrooms, where laptops are used women are finding they are even more isolated than an average student might feel. Not only are they neglected by their professors, but many do not feel comfortable with the replacement offered: the Internet.

   Fortunately, when looking at the list of disadvantages it seems that they can all be reversed and used to the advantage of students, teachers, professors, women and anyone else who might feel that they are losing out because of technology. For example, women are under represented in all aspects of information technology but it is that very technology that is bringing women together and bringing technology into their lives. Women, for example, are emerging as the dominant users of the Internet. Following in Nielson/NetRating survey, “...women at work logged onto the Internet 23 percent more this August than they did in August 2001… … while men still outpace women in Internet usage at work, Internet usage by men at work grew only 12 percent year-to-date.[18]”

   Also with online courses, information, training and advertisement for conferences the Internet is basically a meeting place for people to come together and strengthen their role within the world of IT. When it comes to students, technology can play a major role in bringing students and professors together through online discussions and also online communication can make it easier for students to ask questions or set up a time to meet in person with other students or professors. This is where information can be misused, and where it tends to be in today’s classrooms as students are finding they are merely a number in the grand scheme of things but if students are encouraged early on in the education system to interact, discuss, debate and share with their peers and teachers then it seems that the technology will be better used, rather than misused. Traditional

   Aboriginal life seems fitting here, under the topic of technology and ideal teaching styles. In Aboriginal life, the elders of the community are highly respected and listened to by other members of the community. Wisdom is carried from one elder to a listener, not through notes or typing information into our laptops, but is learned only through listening[19]. You must listen to understand, and perhaps that is where technology in the post-secondary system, and basically all educational systems, is lacking. Technology doesn’t hear and it definitely doesn’t listen. [R1]For the general public, there is nothing more real and more engaging than the company of another human being. Technology simply cannot deliver in all areas of human growth and development, but if teachers and professors fill in the needs of students and add technology on top of what they have already developed, the results would be more incredible than anything the education system has seen yet.

   It seems to come down to the fact that technology can only add to education, it cannot make it which seems to be the mistake being made by so many educational institutions today. Therefore, it is becoming more and more apparent that a mix of both worlds needs to be offered to the students from the very beginning of the education system, so that once students reach the post-secondary level they will have both social and technological skills. If students are raised simply relying on the technology of the time, they will lack social skills that are mandatory in most occupations and, more importantly, in life. Besides, as [R2]Aristotle clearly stated human beings are social creatures and why would be want to alter who we naturally are for something as impersonal and unnatural as technology?

   If the post-secondary education system (students, faculty and administration) continue to abuse information technology in the manner it is being misused now, then when you add education to the equation you only add to the severity of the abuse. Education will continue to move farther and farther from what is an ideal education and students will move farther from personal growth and development, to simply being the results of a bigger corporate campus agenda. Isolation, through the use of technology, will continue to hold students back from their full potential because they are never engaged, they are never challenged and from where they stand no one really cares about whom they are and what they’re capable of. It’s often said that children are our future, but ironically they are being treated much less than that.

   If our society truly felt that children and students were the new leaders of our world, than they would certainly be treated quite differently. First of all, education on a whole needs to be reassessed and made a priority. Barriers to proper education such as: who is education really serving, what is the purpose and who fails to benefit? Secondly, the education sector requires much more funding because, after all, education is what brought us to where we and it is what will carry us forward as we continue to discover and grow. Also, funding is necessary because technology in classrooms is necessary since IT is definitely the way of the future. Students need a blend of two things: interactions with other students, and more importantly, their teachers and professors but they also require up-to-date information, opportunities, accessibility and training found only through information technology. Although these suggestions are quite ideal, it seems that they are necessary for the betterment of human kind. [R3]

   After focusing on the many advantages and disadvantages of education, on all levels, but mainly the post-secondary level it can be stated that if we continue to promote education in the direction it has been going, we will eventually find ourselves in an irreversible predicament. Education will be further moved from its original, ideal definition and students will become frustrated with the unproductive, yet socially accepted method of obtaining a degree, yet no knowledge. It is the natural desire of students to feel welcomed and celebrated within the educational system, and quite simply, the only way of doing that will be to make them feel that way. An answer that seems simple enough in theory, but practice has proven that it isn’t so simple after all. Universities are finding themselves blinded by the global recognition, competitiveness and profits that information technology is bringing them and are allowing the bad in information technology to overtake all the good that it can produce. In an article written by Mohammad Hamza and Bassem Alhalabi, they stated that “…If we value thinking, if we treasure the creative potential necessary to withstand future information challenges then we, as passionate educators, must rededicate ourselves to our profession. Only then can wisdom, the capstone of human thinking and the forbearer of all human knowledge, intervene to save a decaying educational system.[20]” The need to repair our current education systems, to allow for the positive flourishing of information technology is one that needs to be addressed before the collapse of the educational system falls upon us.

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[1] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. 2000. [http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/e/e0043600.html]
[2] Anna Tse. 2002. “Art Resource: School of Thought.” [http://www.geocities.com/rr17bb/SchAthens.html]
[3] Career Planning Made Easy Program. 2002. “Careers Fast Track: Putting the Future in your Hands.” [http://www.careersfasttrack.com.au/prod_cpme_uni.html]
[4] MetLIfe General News: 2002 and 2001 Press Releases. “Metlife Survey finds Principals and Teachers’ Opinions on Quality of School much Higher than Students.” [http://www.metlife.com/Applications/Corporate/WPS/CDA/PageGenerator/
0,1674,P250~S211,00.html]
[5] General News: 2002 and 2001 Press Releases. “Metlife Survey finds Principals and Teachers’ Opinions on Quality of School much Higher than Students.” [http://www.metlife.com/Applications/Corporate/WPS/CDA/PageGenerator/
0,1674,P250~S211,00.html]
[6]Media Awareness Network: 1999. “Canadian Internet Use and E-commerce.” [http://www.media-awareness.ca/eng/issues/stats/usenet.htm#canshop]
[7] Rainie, Lee. March 5, 2001. PR News. Potomac. 15 (10): 1
[8] Monroe, Susan. 08/10/01. “Canada Online: Canadian University Revenues Rising.” [http://canadaonline.about.com/library/weekly/aa081001a.htm]
[9] Government of Canada. April, 2002. “The Canadian University Sector.” [http://www.innovationstrategy.gc.ca/cmb/innovation.nsf/SectoralE/University]
[10] Government of Canada. 2002-07-29. “Economic Concepts: Globalization.” [http://canadianeconomy.gc.ca/english/economy/globalization.html]
[11] Shaw, F & Giacquinta, J. Spring 2000. A survey of graduate students as end users of computer technology: New roles for faculty. Information Technology, Learning, and Performance Journal. 18 (1): 21-40.
[12] Katz, R. & Associates. Dancing with the Devil: Information Technology and the new Competition in Higher Education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc: 1999.
[13] Pannozzo, Linda. January/February, 1999. Pepsi U: Universities Jump into Bed with Big Corporations. [http://www.grievousangels.com/highgrader/1999/pespiu99.html]
[14] Hamza, M. & Alhalabi, B. 1999. Technology and Education: Between Chaos and Order. [http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue4_3/hamza/index.html]
[15] Home schooling website: Progressive and Modern education
[16] Margolis, Michael. 1998. Brave New Universities. [http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue3_5/margolis/index.html]
[17] Ballard, Nikki. September 16, 2002. “Women catching up: Internet Usage Stats.” [http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y02/m09/i16/s02]
[18] Ballard, Nikki. September 16, 2002. “Women catching up: Internet Usage Stats.” [http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y02/m09/i16/s02]
[19] Monture-Angus, Patricia. Thunder in my Soul: A Mohawk Woman Speaks. Saskatchewan: Fernwood Publishing Co. Ltd., 1995.
[20] Hamza, M. & Alhalabi, B. 1999. Technology and Education: Between Chaos and Order. [http://www.firstmonday.dk/issues/issue4_3/hamza/index.html]

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