Perhaps we might want to reconsider the proposition below: that it is
difficult to introduce new ideas into academia.
Where do new ideas come from?
Many of them come from the academy, whose professors and researchers
generate and disseminate the new ideas and technologies that change our
lives.
For example: the push for the "learning organization" came from Peter
Senge and his colleagues at M.I.T.
What is probably meant by oft-cited "resistance" to "new paradigms" is the
academy's unwillingness to drop face-to-face styles of teaching and
learning favor of using "technology."
What might be noted first is that the academy has a long history of
introducing technology into the college environment: computer labs on
campus are now common, for example.
What has been resisted is replacing classroom instruction with
correspondence, radio, television, CAI, CBT, or CMC.
That is: various forms of "distance learning".
Or: replacing the teacher with computerized "tutors.,"
Is that the resistance to new ideas we are talking about?
Steve Eskow
Dr. Steve Eskow, President
The Pangaea Network
Cliff Plaza House
1933 Cliff Drive
Santa Barbara, CA 93117
Phone: 805-962-2900
http://www.pangaeanetwork.com/tour
--"Dr. Steve Eskow" <dreskow@magicnet.net>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>