I
welcome you both to my class and to an important
extension of the class which are taking - my
website. This
year marks the third year for the existence and
ongoing development and commitment I have for
technology, a commitment which is showcased in the
design and usefulness of this site. What I have
learned in the past two years has been taken to
this site. This website represents a process, a
long span of production and reflection. It
is the purpose of this website to foster better
communication and dialogue between myself, the
student, the parent, and the educational community
as a whole. To this end, the site offers several
features which I hope you find useful during your
study. The
site provides links to essential course
information: grades, syllabi, class notes, and
research links. The site is used during actual
classroom study, bridging the gap between
technology and traditonal instructional
practice. What
better place to raise these and other questions
that on/in the global Internet? Like the oxygen we
breathe, technology is the big force, omnipresent
and inescapable. It appears as a force of nature.
The world we see is being left behind. A new
untellable world is unfolding. As the human race
accelerates into the twenty-first century, we enter
a virtual, digital environment, a world where far
and near, past, present and future are simultaneous
realities. These
are the questions that motivated the website that I
offer for your participation, inquiry and dialogue.
In closing I offer a reflection that articulates
the point of view of this site:
"...The crisis that we are
approaching today is of yet another order. For it
entails the transition, not from one form of
society and power to another, but to a new
environment...The present crisis...is a total
crisis triggered by transition to a new and
previously unknown environment, the technological
environment....The present change of environment is
much more fundamental than anything that the race
has experienced for the last five thousand
years."
-
Ellul
,
All
Rights Reserved, 2000 --