The Estimation and Control in E-Learning Systems are based on the well-known idea that they are Techniques. In this chapter, the authors pose a broader question: are they Technique or Technology? The chapter analyses last publications by Prof. Vardan Mkrttchian and Dr. Azat Khannanov on this question. The chapter moves out and proves that the two discussed terms mark different approaches to E-Learning Systems. In this chapter to substantiate this thesis, the authors are to review these terms in their basic values. In this way it is possible to rely on a solid foundation of concepts “technology” and “method” and draw conclusions for the comprehension of the processes directly in the field of education.
TopIntroduction
The term “technology” (from the ancient Greek. Τέχνη / techne / - art, skill, ability; λόγος / logos / thought, reason, method, mode of production) was coined by the German scholar, Professor of the University of Göttingen Johann Beckmann (Khannanov, 2014). In 1777 he published a book with the characteristic title “Introduction to the technology or knowledge about plants, factories and manufactures,” (Khannanov, 2014).The Industrial Revolution, among other things meant specialization in blue-collar occupations, complexity and rapid modernization of equipment (latecomer loses in competition), as well as a sharp quantitative growth involved in industrial production. All these factors made it impossible for traditional methods of generate and transmit knowledge about how to do things.
The developments of industry in modern times have become impossible without the system and general of the disparate and emphasizing individual skills of craftsmen. Before this, every craftsman was involved in the development of this «logos», independently applied the full range of necessary knowledge and skills and rarely modified them during the professional career, (Khannanov, 2014). Now there was a need for Supremes Lenik (s) who would think for everyone, keep in mind all operations constantly inventing new ones. But craftsmen in principle cannot be numerous due to the limited number of people with the relevant skills in the population. The problem was solved by the division of «logos» and «techne», (Khannanov, 2014).
The latter involves the initiative and the interested parties' points of view as the main conditions for the existence of the subject. Technology with its focus on the human being as an object (essentially an appendage to the machine) has a very limited application, at the lower levels of primary production. Therefore, an adequate way of organizing and managing oneself and others’ (in the case of the education system) is a learning “method”.
The definitions of the term are “method” (technique) (from the Greek. /Μέθοδος / - way of research, knowledge, theory, and doctrine) are numerous. But, from my point of view, it is not “a set of methods and operations” and not “a way to achieve a certain goal.” In the five-volume Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Khannanov, 2014) feel closer to the definition of “a system of regulatory principles of transformative, practical or cognitive, theoretical activity” given. The common feature of regulatory principles is that they are both reproductive (i.e. allow a transfer of previously accumulated experience and knowledge), and productive, since they create the conditions for autonomous creativity, creation of a new content.
Does the method possess a prescriptive nature? Of course, it does, as a flow chart. But the regulation occurs at the level of regulatory principles, including the system of values, categorical apparatus, the implications of the laws and patterns and so on.
Thus, the main feature of the method of technology is that the method is an understanding of opportunities in the corridor of “the ways of knowing” rather than the enforcement of step by step instructions. “Being a scholar in terms of study is, of course, methodical, but in terms of methods is only a maxim of art, which he applies in accordance with its own original approach to the problems selected,” writes Michael Polanyi, one of the founders of the modern discipline of “knowledge management”,(Khannanov, 2014) .
Very important is the fact that the information transmitted via the method in the process of thinking is internalized, immersed in the context of human values, attitudes, intentions, and so on. Only in this way the information “glued” to the inner world of a human can be called knowledge. Complementing the well-known definition, we can say that knowledge is an integral form of existence results of cognitive human activity in its semantic (meaning), axiological (values) and pragmatic (interests) aspects that exists in the context of his experience and intentionally directed to the future. And in this, the approach and the main feature of knowledge is the method of technology (Khannanov, 2014).