by Francois Marchessou
April 2004
Richard Cornell Wins the 2003 AECT International
Contributions
Award
1. What attracted you to
Educational Technology field?
During 1960-62 my mentors at SUNY
Brockport were the late Dr. Sherwin
Swartout and Melvin Smagorinsky, a video professor who had received his
training at Michigan State under Charlie Schuler. As I was
completing
my B.S. in Elementary Education they evidently saw I might have
potential
in furthering my studies in the area of Instructional Communications
and
they were instrumental in assisting me to gain acceptance in that
program
at Syracuse University.
Once at Syracuse I studied under
Walter J. Mars, Gene Oxhandler, Bob
DeKeifer (all now deceased), Bob Cox and, of course, that mentor of all
mentors, Don Ely! They all managed to convince me that the
emerging
field/profession of instructional media was THE ideal place for me to
develop
my own career. They were right!
2. Why did you join AECT; why the
Int'l Division?
My first mentor at Brockport, Sherm
Swartout, was very active in AECT,
then called DAVI, the Department of Audiovisual Instruction. When
I went on for my master’s degree at Syracuse it was “expected” that all
students in our Instructional Communications major would become active
members of DAVI. While an impoverished student attending Syracuse
on the G.I. Bill, I nevertheless managed to attend my first national
DAVI
convention in Kansas City in 1962. Bob Cox, from Syracuse, was an
active proponent of internationalization and made sure I met numerous
people
who had formed the International Division. A few years later
Florence
Thomason was working on a history of that Division with Tom McPherson
and
others and she asked me to write the preface to that document. I
was hooked! There would be no turning back from that point
onward.
3a. What trends have you seen in
educational technology in other
countries as different from the US? 3b. You are not only the US
Representative
to ICEM, UNESCO, but the first US Rep. to be elected President. Then to
be re-elected President of ICEM is quite a compliment.
Thank you for your kind words.
Let me reply to your second comment
first, then address trends internationally.
Like most organizations, when one
steps forward to help, those who do
so get noticed. Being ICEM President was never my goal,
especially
when I attend my first ICEM Congress in The Hague. I disremember
when that was but blame Howard Hitchens for getting me into it.
At
that time, Hitch was involved in ICEM, given that he worked in the
National
Education Association’s DAVI officer under the guidance of Dr. Anna
Hyer,
then Executive Director of DAVI.
I do recall that our final ICEM dinner
was held on a pier jutting into
the North Sea and we did so in the midst of near-gale force
winds.
Loved it! Ron McBeath was, by then, very active in ICEM.
The following year ICEM met in both
Mondavio and Ferrera, Italy.
It was my second time being with the ICEM members, almost all of whom
represented
their various Ministries of Education. It was an ICEM custom in those
days
that any and all its members would be required to sing a song from
their
individual nation. I was doomed! But…I sang…and sang and
sang
and sang. From knowing only one or two in The Hague, I suddenly
found
innumerable new international friends! Indeed, the power of song
bridged
all culture gaps and the custom continues to this day.
Ron McBeath became my mentor and ally,
making me an “Official Observer”
at The Hague, and groomed me to assume his role as the United States
Member
to ICEM. He taught me to remain silent when need be, to speak if
I could contribute, and to measure my words with care. He taught
me to open myself to new experiences, to be forthcoming when help was
needed,
and to offer help at every turn. This series of new-found habits
served me well and in Vienna, I assumed the role of U.S. Member to
ICEM,
thanks to Ron’s support. Fortunately, my institution, Florida
Technological
University (later re-named the University of Central Florida) was
supportive
of my efforts, thanks to understanding allies, Dean Calvin C. Miller,
and
the late Dr. David Hernandez. They too saw something of value in my
international
outreach. Had they not, all would have been lost.
In 1962 ICEM met in Reykjavik as the
host of Asgeir Gudmundsson, who
would subsequently become ICEM President. The
following
year my master’s students and I hosted the ICEM Congress in Orlando,
and
in 2005, we return there for yet another Congress, this time in
collaboration
with AECT. In Lisbon in 1965 Asgeir was elected ICEM President
and
I was elected to the ICEM Executive. He asked me to assume the
office
of ICEM Vice President at that meeting. The rest is history.
Now then – what trends have I seen
over the years and across the many
nations of ICEM?
Clearly the evolution of computing has
impacted what is done in classrooms
across the world, from Pre-K to Adult. There remains a serious
and
continuing unbalance of equity of access for all, a major initiative of
UNESCO, through which ICEM is affiliated as a NGO.
I see more academics, especially those
from Europe and Asia, changing
the ways in which they present, increasingly adopting media as a means
to facilitate their ideas, as opposed to standing at the podium and
reading
their paper verbatim.
ICEM, much as AECT, has had to make
major accommodations in the move
away from “audiovisual” to computer-based instruction. ICEM,
founded
in 1950 as primarily a Pan-European organization dedicated to the
exchange
of audiovisual materials, has for over half a century, specialized in
media
production and until recently, was struggling with how best to adapt to
the emerging technologies. This dilemma continues but slowly it
is
emerging as an international organization that has become known for its
contributions to the literature and its continuing work on adapting to
new processes in instruction. The organization, once an elite
group
of Ministerial representatives, has evolved to a far broader individual
membership base while continuing to serve a number of ministries
through
provision of media and research exchange.
Finally, I see progress being made,
especially in Western Europe, in
adoption of sound instructional design methodologies. The same is
happening in much of Asia, sans the People’s Republic of China, wherein
the wish to implement ISD is there but the methodologies remain
elusive.
Slowly this picture will change. Much remains to be done across
Eastern
Europe, Russia, Latin America and on the African continent.
4. What is your view of the current
U.S. role in ICEM?
Under the most able leadership of ICEM
President Marina McIsaac (the
second American to assume the ICEM Presidency!) and United States
Member
to ICEM, and Bob Doyle of Harvard as Deputy Member, I envision an
emerging
critical mass of individual ICEM-USA members. I say this because,
across the miles and over the years traveling abroad, I see a continual
and massive move toward globalization. McLuhan’s Global Village
envelops
us all, be we kindergarten teachers or corporate CEO’s of a
multinational
organization. There is no turning back!
If such is the case, what can we offer
our members? What can we
bring to AECT? We bring understanding of global trends and, more
importantly, needs. We bring viewpoints from across many nations,
and the realization that, increasingly, we collectively have far more
in
common than we do differences. As technology professionals, we
are
fortunate (damned?) in knowing we are in a field that is ever-changing,
and it is doing so at lightning speed. We, ALL of us, need
mechanisms
to understand the changes which impact us, and to take solace in
knowing
that all of us share the problem of dissemination and use. ICEM,
together
with the AECT International Division, can and should take a leadership
role in bringing international trends to the attention of our
collective
memberships.
Among our two organizations we have
the brain power to serve the world
in things technological. It remains for us to do so! Not to do so
may result in deficits of knowledge and use that all of us need to
address.
This especially important during a time in which over one-third of the
world’s population speaks a single language – Chinese! China and
other Chinese-speaking countries are rapidly closing the technology gap
and it could well be that, a decade hence, most of what you read will
be
in Mandarin, not English!
5. What changes do you predict, or
would you like to see, in ICEM
and in the International Division of AECT?
Both AECT and ICEM are undergoing
dramatic metamorphoses as we struggle
for organizational self-identification. Currently the AECT Board
is re-conceptualizing its strategic plan and in June of this year, will
focus on further study and discussion in Chicago of this work.
ICEM moved its charter and accounts
from Switzerland to Germany
(April 2004) and now operates under the legal statutes of the German
court.
Both organizations will require the
input of its current members as
well as engage in a major membership outreach to others of like mind
and
work. As has been stated previously, we have much to offer
in the way of expertise, to say nothing of that “great pedagogical
secret”
known and practiced by us in the field – the wise and ethical use of
technology
in education. Our organizational competitors may give lip service
to “wise use” but, at least from my viewpoint, they miss the mark due
to
their continuing entrepreneurial emphases. AECT and ICEM bring
with
them a strong sense of ethics and a humaneness that is all too often
obscured
by other organizations.
6. What international goals do you
see for AECT?
Please see my responses above.
7. What advice do you have for
colleagues regarding international
perspectives?
Never, ever stop learning! Read,
view, listen, discuss, and then
find a nice shade tree beside a flowing brook and spend hours in
thought
and reflection as to what it means to truly be a technology
professional
in education and training.
As you walk along a beach, take in the
view and envision your role in
the future of our profession.
Find a small plot of ground and plant
a garden. Tend and nurture
it as you would your own field, weeding, watering, fertilizing, and
protecting
it along the way. Let your hands feel the dirt, let the sweat of
your brow fall upon the soil, and soon, the fruits of your labors will
emerge…just as they do with your students!
Consider that each of you lives in a
world comprised of multitudes of
differing cultures, and that increasingly, your job, your colleagues,
your
students, will reflect those diverse cultures. Will YOU
understand
their points of view, their differing cultural outlooks? Will you
make an effort to learn, albeit slowly, some of the language they
speak?
Will you reach out a hand of help?
8. What advice can you give to
students?
Learn all you can from your teachers
for they are with you but for a
limited time and the treasures they bring you are from the heart and
soul.
Be assertively critical when you see,
read, hear, and think about concepts
being learned. Question your teachers, your peers, yourself.
Give yourself time for quiet
reflection as you learn. Consider
what the content being taught means to you, to your own future students
and colleagues.
Never forget that we are in a helping
profession and your job is to
do just that!
Let the work you do be yours, honestly
cited, and yet filled with your
own point of view if such is important to what you are writing. Give
credit
where it is due, always!
Develop your own sense of ethics and
adopt a personal code that enables
your success.
Take joy in laughter and in meeting
others, especially those from cultures
different from your own!
Give yourself time…to think, to laugh,
to cry, to learn.
Learn to work as a member of a team
and to honestly contribute what
you can and to help those less capable.
Remember that you cannot do everything
for everybody and know how to
say no when appropriate.
Finally, know when to say yes and do
so happily!
