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EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY IN POLISH HIGHEREDUCATIONPublished online: 06 Jul 2006.

To cite this article: (1980) EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY IN POLISH HIGHER EDUCATION, Higher Education inEurope, 5:3, 15-16, DOI: 10.1080/0379772800050305

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0379772800050305

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Group of the National Council for <Higher Education. This group also \examines research on educational tech-nology. With regard' to this research,two projects are particularly worthyof note. First, the building of about60 model lecture theatres with vary-ing levels and standards of technicalteaching equipment. After thoroughpractical tests by both teachers andstudents, these theatres will be modelsfor further new designs. The "otherimportant project is a broadly basedstudy of the modernization of text-books and their supplementation withother materials (exercise collec-tions, tests, slides, films, re-cordings, television etc.].

In 1980, as part of this study,a so-called "instructional rebuilding"of several teaching subjects willcommence. The study will measure theinstructional usefulness of theteaching materials and student atti-tudes towards them, and especiallythe level of agreement of the adoptedteaching/learning strategies with thestudents' own learning expectations.

It is predicted that in theperiod 1981-1985 the expenditure onresearch in educational technologywill be doubled. The main stress willbe laid on the creation of education-al technology centres. These centreswill provide methodological and tech-nical bases for further work on in-novations in teaching and learningin higher education. The national in-formation bank on software for dif-ferent educational equipment will •also bs created.

Wider use of educational tech-nology is a part of the overall pro-gramme of modernization and furtherdevelopment of Polish higher educa-tion.

Finally, it should also bementioned that more intensive develop-ment of international co-operation inthe field of educational technologybecomes an urgent need. Recognizingthis situation the International

EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY IN POLISHHIGHER EDUCATION

I There is general agreement^concerning the need for more effective

forms and methods of the educationalorocess. Search of the new solutionsjoint to the growing importance ofzducational technology. The followingxrticle, written for "Higher Educa-tion in Europe" by Dr. StanisiawTarmark, Chief of the Department ofNew Teaching Techniques of the Tech-vical University of Poznah3 discussesthe growing use of educational tech-nology at the Polish institutions of

Wiigher education.

I The rapid growth of Polish•higher education in the late 1960sIrequired modernization of the teaching•process and learning methods.

In 1966, some institutions ofhigher education formed departmentsof technical means of teaching. By1970 all higher education institu-tions had such departments, andseveral small institutes of educa-tional technology had been created.These departments are concerned withteaching new teachers the utiliza-tion of educational technology andequipment, the production of teaching

Eaterials and the methods of usinghem in the teaching process as wells the research and development ofinstructional materials. At presentit is indispensible for a new univer-sity teacher to complete a postgraduatecourse of this kind.

At present the majority of thePolish institutions of higher educa-tion are well equipped with the basichardware of educational technology,such as: magnetic/chalk boards, dif-ferent types of projectors, tape andvideo tape recorder. Some of theinstitutions are also operatingclosed-circuit television systems.

The process of the moderniza-tion of the use of educational tech-nology is co-ordinated at the nationallevel by the Educational Technology

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Symposium on Educational Technologyis organized in Poznah every twoyears. The twelfth session of thesymposium will be held from 15 to 17October 1980.

Dr. Stanisław Jarmark

DEVELOPMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONSTECHNOLOGY AND US HIGHER EDUCATION

Many educators and plannerspoint out that higher education facesa series of historically significantdevelopments in communications tech-nology. The response to these de-velopments will have a strong impacton the whole system of higher learning.The following article analyses trendsas well as their potential consequences3

using as an example the situation inthe United States. This article isbased on the editorial written byGeorge W. Bouham, Editor-in-Chiefand Publisher of the US magazine"Change".

There are at least two inevi-table laws that govern the adaptationof new technologies to human use. Theadvent of new inventions almost alwaysprecedes a complete understanding ofwhat human uses will be made of them;and secondly, such social utilizationis vastly accelerated once it becomeswidely affordable. What now lies closeat hand is a new age of "narrowcasting"communications, and its scope andpotential impact on the way the nationinforms itself and communicates set atotally new stage for the educationalneeds of an entire people. The oftenjustified assumptions held by mosteducators about the past incompati-bility between such technologies andeducation are likely to criticallyblind them to an entirely new ballgame. The new telecommunications de-velopments may enrich a nation that

not only wishes to be entertainedthrough these narrowcasting systemsbut may also wish to be enlightenedand intellectually enriched. And un-less the academic community approachthese new technologies with an openmind about such potential partnershibetween education and technology, nomuch can or will be expected.

Education very much needs thenew telecommunications in the decadeahead, and telecommunications willrequire the best educationally based"software" to provide the widestpossible spectrum of services. Anever renewing reformulation of edu-cation is a consonant condition of -social progress.

Up to very recently education'flirtation with mass communicationshas been lacking in success. Withbut few notable exceptions, educatorresistance to employing modern tech-nological tools has been matchedonly by the disappointingly smallparticipation rate of learners. Ifthe eighties and nineties were to bebut a technological extension of thesixties and seventies, there wouldbe little reason now to reconsiderthe fundamental assumptions of alarger education-technology partner-ship. But the great technologicaljump ahead makes any such past mindsets obsolete. .

Past and recent experience wittthe educative uses of television inthe United States can be brieflysummed up as follows:

- with few exceptions open televisiorhas not lent itself well to learn-ing;

- in higher education the only sig->nificant national initiatives inthese areas have been those of theAmerican Association of Communityand Junior Colleges. It now exertsincreasingly interesting leadershipthrough a special task force on theuses of mass media in learning.Thanks to the close collaboration

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