A tug-of-war between two departments

Salam all,

Few ridicules the research done on educational technology from a computing department. They claim that education is the job of educational department. True enough, people from the education department is also looking at the use of technology in education. Whose job is it to dwell into technology and education actually? Why must labeling others with 'none computing', 'a waste of computational knowledge' and alike? What good will it brings to you?

Research is an endeavour to seek a betterment in life no matter in what area you are working in. It may call for a marriage among few different fields. An educationist may be excellent at learning theory but lacking in the algorithm, systems architecture, interaction technology etc. A computer scientist is good at programming and coding but are at lost when talking about behaviorisme, cognitivisme and constructivisme or pedagogy? What is a game without a programming and graphics? What is an educational game without programming, graphics and education? A little bit of this and that makes our life perfect. A little bit of this and that cooked a delicious meal. The same goes with research. A little bit of this and that field boiled an interesting and beneficial outcome to mankind. Be it big, be it small, each new findings are the contribution to the body of knowledge. No research is difficult, no research is very easy. Everything comes with its own price tag depending on the domain, breath and depth.

If the lines between departments are so thick and allows no penetration, water will remain water, no coffee will come out of it. If we confined to only doing research within our own area without a peep into other field, no benefit will come out of the research as it will be tasteless and self enjoyed by their own clan. What is a highly sophisticated technology if it is not designed to be used in other field? A good sytems architecture, a fine algorithm has to be put to use by human. And human are everywhere in the vast areas of field, what's wrong with designing solution for a betterment in education when education is the key success factor in one life?

Criticism is good but is not always the best.

wallahua'lam

-just my 2cents thought-

p/s. This posting might sound different, but it is part of my journey. For, whatever we do, we do it for Allah. With sincerity, rewards await, insyaAllah.

Comments