Humanism and Technology: A Model for Integrating Educational Technology in the Humanities Classroom

Abstract

The strides made in higher education to improve learning and teaching in the sciences have not been matched in the humanities. Teachers in the humanities perceive a fundamental conflict between their values and behaviorally oriented systematic approaches. The model presented will demonstrate how principles from instructional technology can be adapted to the humanities classroom, literature specifically, and increase learning without jeopardizing humanistic values.

Specifically, characteristics from programmed instruction are integrated into the lecture-discussion format. The result is a course design which requires students to master more material than usual and produces levels of mastery skewed to the A-B range even in urban university settings where wide ranges in entering abilities are to be expected. Moreover, the design provides for individual student decision making unavailable in traditional class structures.

An Applied Learning Systems curriculum should address the particular needs of the humanities. Such attention will help enfranchise those instructors and students who have not experienced the benefits which technology can bring to their classrooms.