Teaching and Learning with Technology

Beyond Constructivism

Concetta M. Stewart,Catherine C. Schifter,Melissa E. Markaridian Selverian

• Editore: Routledge
• Anno: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781136973802
• Edizione: 1
• Argomento: Pedagogía
• Categoria: Educación general

Today, new media is both augmenting and extending the traditional classroom with a variety of technology-based tools available to both students and faculty, and has created "new" virtual classrooms for anywhere, anytime availability to education. Despite the enormous potential for technology to support the educational enterprise in this emerging "creative" economy, technologies are still not yet fully integrated in the classroom and their association with educational outcomes is as-yet unclear. This book profiles scholarly work from around the world to examine closely the effectiveness of the newest media in education at bridging the gaps among and between teachers, students and subject matter at all levels, from K-12 through adult education. These pieces are theory-based investigations with implications for future research, theory and application. Contributors examine how the fields of education and new media have evolved and are continuing to evolve pedagogically and practically, from predominantly instructivist, with a passive, one-way teaching format; to constructivist, including teacher- and learner-controlled, sensorially immersive and socially interactive exchanges. This book will be of interest to students and faculty in the areas of new media in education, including distance learning, online learning and "virtual" learning.

Part I
Introduction and State of the Field

In this first chapter entitled “Technologies and the Classroom Come to Age after Century of Growth,” Catherine C. Schifter and Concetta M. Stewart provide background of new media and technology uses in elementary, secondary and higher education, particularly over the last 30 years. They further establish the pedagogical and theoretical frames threading through the book that guide the uses of and forecast the potential for new technologies in teaching and learning through the concept of telepresence.

1
Technologies and the Classroom Come to Age

After Century of Growth

Catherine C. Schifter and Concetta M. Stewart

INTRODUCTION

Technologies that mediate the student-teacher experience, often called “media” in education, have been a physical presence in educational settings for centuries, long before their electronic and digital transformation. Much has been written to capture this technological presence in the classroom, often in the form of how-to and promotional pieces and from the pedagogical perspective of one-way, passive instruction. Over the last decades in particular, however, there has been a major transformation in the form and capacity of educational technologies as well as in the pedagogical interpretation of how to use them constructively. With the onset of digitalization, teaching and learning technologies have grown more sophisticated in their ability to present subject matter vividly, seamlessly and interactively. When they are used effectively, these new media can enable both teachers and students to immerse their senses in the material and to engage in two-way communication with and about the subject matter. In essence, the focus on new media in education has become less about its structural novelty and more about its transparent ability to bring students, teachers and subject matter closer together for enhanced teaching and learning experiences. Because of their ability to evoke psychological perceptions or illusions of students, teachers and subject matter that are “virtually” real, new media in education are increasingly referred to as virtual.

The recent widespread availability of wireless, broadband, and high definition; the growing availability of such Internet resources as streaming video, three-dimensional (3-D) software programs, and interactive graphical Web sites such as Weblogs (blogs) and wikis; and greater access to improved and affordable virtual reality (VR) are creating new opportunities for teaching and learning. With the growth of these opportunities, nonetheless, is a proliferation in the challenges. Chief among these challenges is the gap between the “digital natives” (K–16 students) and the “digital immigrants” (teachers). Likewise, there remains a profound (digital) divide around the world in terms of economic and social class. Further, theoretical guidelines to direct the design, implementation and assessment of technologically advanced learning systems are sparse. So, despite the enormous potential for technology to support the educational enterprise in this emerging “creative” economy, technologies are still not yet fully integrated in the classroom and their association with educational outcomes is yet unclear.

Educators and practitioners are beginning to refocus their research to address these opportunities in the laboratory and in the field. This book profiles scholarly works that closely examine the effectiveness of the newest media in education at bridging the gaps among teachers, students and subject matter at all levels, from K–12 through adult education in the U.S. and abroad. These pieces are theory-based investigations with implications for future research, theory and application. Through an examination of these works, the editors identify the pedagogical and practical evolution of the classroom, from predominantly instructivist (Margules, 1996; Morgan, 1978), or passive, one-way teaching formats; to social constructivist (Vygotsky, 1962), or teacher- and student-controlled socially interactive exchanges; to cognitive constructivist (Piaget, 1970; Satterly, 1987), or psychologically engaging, multisensory experiences leading to cognitive (thoughtful) and affective (satisfying) responses. The authors present, interpret and forecast the potential of this evolution from the context of the communication concept telepresence (Lombard & Ditton, 1997).

Telepresence is a framework of psychological illusions evoked by technology that is influenced by such theories as Social Presence Theory (Short, Williams, & Christie, 1976), Media Richness Theory (Daft & Lengel, 1984) and to a lesser extent Uses and Gratification Theory (Katz, 1959). Uses and Gratification Theory began to shift the focus of media use away from the instructivist perspective of what effect media have on people to what people do with the media. Social Presence Theory later expanded this media use emphasis to the social constructivist vantage of social interactivity, establishing face-to-face contact as the standard, e.g., an audio-video conference to convey sights and sounds of the participants in real time. Media Richness Theory drew on the cognitive constructivist framework, incorporating some social constructivist and instructivist elements in its media “richness” factors of learner engagement in, instant feedback from and use of natural language through multisensory (spatial) cues and their association with task accomplishment, e.g., a live audio-video conference combined with instructive narrative. Telepresence, defined as a “perceptual illusion of nonmediation” (Lombard & Dutton, 1997, #30) more specifically defines how to evoke spatial and social illusions through the most advanced technologies, showing great promise of integrating the cognitive constructivist, social constructivist and instructivist elements of Social Presence (Short, Williams, & Christie, 1976) and Media Richness (Daft & Lengel, 1984) theories to enhance learning and satisfaction in virtual worlds, e.g., VR that “transports” students and teachers through time and space to an all-at-once engaging, socially interactive and instructive learning world.

The balance of this chapter includes a brief history of the technologies in teaching and the trials and triumphs of their practical and pedagogical evolution from the traditional instructivist classroom to the social constructivist distance learning environment to the cognitive constructivist virtual learning environment through the latter part of the 20th and the early 21st centuries. It continues with an overview of telepresence, categorized in terms of social and spatial illusions evoked through increasingly virtual technologies. The editors propose the conceptualizations of social and spatial telepresence as effective integrators of teaching and learning pedagogies, theories and practices in virtual learning environments; and as essential considerations in the design, implementation and assessment of enhanced virtual learning experiences.

NEW TECHNOLOGY IN CLASSROOMS (A BRIEF HISTORY)

The editors define “new media in education” as new technologies brought into classrooms intending to improve the teaching and learning process. One of the earliest of these technologies first appeared in classrooms in the late 1830s with the introduction of the slate board (Mehlinger, 1995, p. 92). However, the first electronic media used in classrooms was not until the 1930s with film and radio, which were followed by television and video in the 1970s. In the 1980s and into the early 21st century, the computer has been a predominant new medium in education. Most recently, the Internet and a range of digital technologies, from personal digital assistants and MP3 players to 3-D software and VR, have emerged. So, in just this brief overview, it becomes clear that technology has been an integral part of the educational environment for nearly 200 years.

The intention of the authors of this book, however, is not to present a historical accounting of these new media in education. Instead, it is to present a discussion of the shifting technological and pedagogical tides of new media in education in the 21st century and how the media have impacted and continue to impact teaching and learning. The editors acknowledge that, while a growing emphasis on “virtually real” social interactions among and spatial immersion within technology-evoked illusions of students, teachers and subject matter is opening doors to exciting possibilities in education, there have been and will continue to be significant challenges along the way. In this section, the editors discuss issues of implementation faced in educational arenas over the last 30 years, identifying the barriers and opportunities for learning “with” and “from” increasingly sophisticated technologies.

IMPLEMENTATION ISSUES

One of the first and greatest challenges involving new media in education historically has been and continues to be introducing the media to the classroom. In The Children’s Machine: Rethinking School in the Age of the Computer (1993), Seymour Papert posits what it would be like for time travelers from the 19th century to visit the late 20th century. The group might include surgeons and schoolteachers. The surgeons would, no doubt, be totally confused when visiting a modern hospital, with all the technology, new medicines, specialization, and scope. On the other hand, the schoolteacher would probably feel right at home with the classrooms of today, not much different from those of earlier times. In many public school classrooms built in the 1930s or 1940s, especially in poorer urban and rural areas, electrical outlets might remain insufficient still in the 21st century.

In his thoughtful book Teachers and Machines: The Classroom Use of Technology Since 1920 (1986), Cuban noted the “constancy amidst change” in education. Specifically, while there have been many changes in education over the years, the role of new media in those changes was, and continues to be, unclear. Early in the procession of new media into classrooms, the promoters were not teachers but administrators, executives and purveyors of technology who “saw solutions to school problems in swift technological advances” (Cuban, 1986, p. 5). Teachers were typically not the ones suggesting the purchase of reel-to-reel projectors or putting televisions into classrooms. The same was true for computers. The few K–12 teachers in the 1980s who embraced microcomputers in classrooms were those willing to take a chance on a new, unproven medium, which was hyped as having great promise to revolutionize education as it did business. While these observations relate to K–12 schools, the same could be said about new media moving into higher education. Things are beginning to change. As the first decade of the 21st century nears an end, and the Internet has made access to visual and interactive media more facile and affordable and awareness of it more prevalent, many K–12 and higher education faculty are asking for computing capabilities in classrooms and are extending classrooms beyond the walls into cyberspace in many unique and inventive ways, e.g., using blogs and wikis in group collaboration online, and exploring ancient and faraway cityscapes on 3-D Web sites.

Early research on change in schools has demonstrated the importance of awareness on the adoption and implementation of and adaptation to technological innovations (Crandall & Loucks, 1983; Fullan, 1982, 1991, 2001; Gross, Giaquinta, & Bernstein, 1971; Huberman & Miles, 1984; Sarason, 1971; Schofield, 1982; Smith & Keith, 1971; Sussman, 1977; Van den Berg, Van Welzen, Miles, Ekholm, & Hameyer, 1986). Are there support systems and people in place to ensure teacher-training opportunities for technology innovations will be used appropriately? Or as noted by Sheingold, Kane and Endreweit in 1983, “ … the effects of microcomputers on education will depend, to a large extent, on the social and educational contexts within which they are embedded” (p. 431). While their research focused on the use of microcomputers in the classroom in 1983, their findings are generalizable across new media introduction even today. Specifically, they identified six trends emerging from research studies on microcomputer use in schools that would impact use and effectiveness:

1. access to microcomputers,

2. emergence of new roles in response to microcomputers,

3. integration of microcomputers into classrooms,

4. quantity and quality of software,

5. preparation of teachers for using microcomputers, and

6. effects and outcomes of the instructional use of microcomputers.

“Access to microcomputers” has certainly improved over the 30-plus years microcomputers have been in schools. However, a persistent “digital divide” is apparent, with more powerful computers likely to be found in affluent schools. Thus the poor schools’ computers are less likely to have enough memory and power to run current software versions, and are often incapable of accessing the Internet. Infrastructure in older buildings is a limiting factor as well. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 that created the E-Rate afforded poor urban and rural school districts the opportunity to upgrade schools to ensure better infrastructure for computing (Federal Communications Commission, 1996). However, broad-based accessibility was still unrealized as recently as the turn of this last century. For instance, higher education did not have access to the E-Rate funding, so the availability of computers in college classrooms was dependent on the motivation of specific faculty and administrators.

“New staff and teacher roles emerged” with the advent of microcomputers in schools. One example is the Audio-Video Committee of the National Educational Association, which became the AECT (Association for Educational Communications and Technology) during the 1970s. No longer were members concerned only with whether the video projector worked or whether there were enough light bulbs for the overhead projectors. At issue was how the new microcomputers and software could be used in the classroom. The need for computer teachers in schools was also looming in 1983. These individuals could have been former AV staff, librarians or simply teachers who were the early adopters of computers and demonstrated they could be successful in teaching with computers. While the early Apple II s...

Indice dei contenuti

• Routledge Research in Education
• Contents
• Figures
• Tables
• Permissions
• Foreword
• Part I Introduction and State of the Field
• Part II Achieving Social Closeness through Authentic Learning Exchanges
• Part III Media-Rich Environments Building Stronger Connections
• Part IV Complex Virtual Systems
• Part V Discussion and Conclusion
• Contributors
• Index