Danielle Blevins
Community Psychology
February 2, 2004
In reading both of the articles "Technology and the Postmodern Universit" and "Greater Expectations" I noticed a common theme of learning and knowledge. Professor Art Warmoth focuses mainly on technology and how it will affect our University system and the availability of knowledge and the other article focuses on learning and how to create greater expectations. As our access to knowledge changes many things have to change as well. The school systems is one of many things that will be greatly influenced by the spread of technology, and there needs to be some way to keep the school system standards high and achievable.
Higher-level education is becoming more and more important because of the easy access to knowledge. Employers are no longer saying that the knowledge is enough; they want the degree that goes along with it. One point that "Greater Expectations" made was that everyone involved in the education process needs to focus more on learning, the author outlines this in his six steps in "Promoting Greater Expectations on Campus: Starting down the Path."
Professor Art Warmoth also makes some very good points in his article entitled "Technology and the Postmodern University." In his article he outlines ten things about universities that will change due to technology, one point that really stuck to me was "Any form of knowledge and information can be capitalized and concentrated using the new technology, will be capitalized." One reason this stuck with me is because its outcomes are twofold, it can be very profitable and great if used for the right reasons, however it can be very dangerous and scary as well. In "Greater Expectations" the author(s) is making very strong points that there should be human interaction in the process of obtaining knowledge, as well as giving steps to help increase it. In "Technology and the Postmodern University" Professor Warmoth also agrees that human interaction is an essential part to the quest for knowledge. There is also a brief discussion in "Greater Expectations" of a learning community and maintaining the learning environment. The author(s) of "Greater Expectations" also puts a great importance on the students active learning, which cannot be achieved via the inter net, such as experiments or drawing on the students diverse experiences to enrich the classroom.
In reading Professor Warmoth‚s article it does raise many good points that are a cause for concern, such as the wide spread of knowledge to whom ever wants it. Another thing that is a cause for concern is the capitalization of knowledge, in creating or gaining knowledge for money you are losing the true knowledge, which is where the distinction of knowledge and wisdom comes in. Don't get me wrong both articles offer many advantages for technological advances such as they both want to improve our school system and "Greater Expectations" gives ways to do that. Some ways that the article suggests are providing sustained resources for universal readiness and college success, produce standards and assessments that focus on intellectual capacities and reflect the complex nature of learning and learning styles, and by creating a mechanism to coordinate advanced placement, dual enrollment, and remedial college courses. (Greater Expectations, Pg. 49)
Both articles have the same concern for knowledge at the college level and they both want to see people succeed. There are many things to be concerned about as well as excited about, however I think that both articles want to keep knowledge at the top of the list of importance.