Design of Technology-Enhanced Learning

Matt Bower

• Editore: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Anno: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781787149113
• Argomento: Education
• Categoria: Education Technology

Winner of the Association of Educational Computing and Technology (AECT) 2018 Design and Development Outstanding Book Award
Educators and researchers worldwide are confronted by a tantalizing challenge – how should contemporary technologies be used to enhance learning? This book provides a broad academic and teaching audience with an integrated understanding of learning technology research, and how it can be used to enhance the design of learning environments. Whereas some books focus exclusively on research relating to learning technology and others propose ways to use technology effectively, this book synthesises research for the purpose of informing best practice. After laying pedagogical, technological and content foundations, it examines research relating to the educational use of Web 2.0, social networking, mobile devices and virtual worlds. Analysis across these contexts leaves readers with a nuanced understanding of how technology-enhanced learning design principles may (or may not) be abstracted across different learning technology environments. Providing an integrated portrayal of learning technology research enables educators (academics, school teachers, pre-service teachers and educational designers) to immediately adopt evidence-based approaches in their teaching. The comprehensive synthesis of the literature also helps learning technology researchers to more clearly identify the interrelationships between different areas of learning technology research, as well as position their work amongst the practical problems of the field. Rich with examples, this book is suitable for those who want to adopt a design-based and research-driven approach to enhancing learning using technology.

CHAPTER
1

Technology Integration as an Educational Imperative

ABSTRACT

This chapter lays contextual foundations for the study and application of technology-enhanced learning design. Key drivers for the integration of technology into learning are identified, including the intrinsic desire to improve learning outcomes, the development of student digital learning skills, curriculum and syllabus specifications, professional requirements, providing greater access to learning, and catering to student dispositions. The need for a critical approach is established, for instance, by avoiding misconceptions such as ‘digital natives’ and ‘technological determinism.’ A ‘scholarship of teaching’ perspective that uses research evidence as a basis for technology-enhanced learning design is selected as the means for further inquiry.

Integrating Technology as a Tantalizing Challenge

Educators worldwide are faced with a tantalizing problem. With the rapid and widespread advances in technology, how on earth should we design tasks and environments in order to optimize interaction and learning? This book addresses this question by examining research relating to the educational uses of technology, so that we can develop an evidence-based understanding of how different design considerations may influence learning activity and outcomes.

This book is written from the perspective that teachers need to position themselves as designers of their courses and classes (Laurillard, 2012). Instead of focusing upon the use of pre-packaged digital content that requires little teacher thinking or student contribution, we will be considering how teachers and students can use technology to effectively design, create, and share. Using preexisting digital modules is relatively straightforward, whereas the design and implementation of effective technology-enhanced learning tasks is the wicked and intractable conundrum of our field.

Like great art or science, we will not assume that any mechanical prescriptions can tell us how to design. Rather, distilling the relevant research evidence relating to technology-enhanced learning design enables us to construct an understanding of what has gone before, allowing design to occur from a research-informed and principled basis. This is not to promote a form of ‘technological determinism’ (Oliver, 2011; Selwyn, 2010), where we assume that certain designs will lead to fixed outcomes. Unlike the hard sciences, education is inextricably influenced by the context in which it operates. However, applying a ‘scholarship of teaching’ approach (Kreber & Kanuka, 2013; Trigwell, Martin, Benjamin, & Prosser, 2000) where we engage with and in the research of the field enables us to discern patterns and ideas that can guide our practice.

Before thinking about how to best integrate technology into learning and teaching, it is important to first consider the broader sociopolitical context surrounding the use of technology for educational purposes and what we are trying to achieve. There are several key drivers for integrating technology into our courses, including the intrinsic desire to improve learning outcomes, the development of student digital learning skills, curriculum and syllabus specifications, professional requirements, enabling access to learning, and catering to student dispositions. These will be addressed in turn below.

Key Drivers for Integrating Technology

USING TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE LEARNING OUTCOMES

Ideally, educators would decide to integrate technology into their lessons and courses based on an intrinsic desire to improve learning outcomes and the student experience. Notwithstanding the limitations of using technology for educational purposes, which will be discussed throughout this book, practitioners, researchers, and organizations propose a number of arguments for utilizing technology in teaching. Digital technologies can facilitate personalized learning, for instance, where the learner can decide to choose a certain learning pathway (OECD, 2016b). They can enable collaborative learning whereby knowledge construction results from interaction and negotiation (OECD, 2016b). Digital technologies can also be used by teachers to collect data that enables them to take advantage of learning analytics in their classes (OECD, 2016b).

Newhouse (2015) provides several other compelling ways in which technology may be able to enhance learning. Technology can be used to investigate real world phenomena through the collection of data and representation of knowledge, thus facilitating higher-level problem-solving and thinking skills. By making students more active participants in their learning (through manipulating, observing, and constructing) and supporting efficient execution of lower level tasks (such as computation), technology can promote more productive and engaged learning. Technology can also facilitate more authentic forms of assessment, and cater to students with special needs through assistive technologies (Newhouse, 2015).

Adding to these, Oblinger (2012) points out that technology can enable students and classes to connect with industry experts, broadening out the boundaries of the learning community. Simulations and gamification can be used to provide students with experiential learning, for instance, whereby nursing students practice procedures or business students trade stocks. As well as providing intelligent feedback on progress, technology can offer feed-forward advice about what to learn next. Technology can also provide students with peer-to-peer support through social networking systems (Oblinger, 2012). Thus, there are several compelling practice-based reasons that educators may choose to integrate technology into their lessons.

DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS’ DIGITAL LEARNING SKILLS

Almost all aspects of our world are being transformed by digitization (Vuorikari, Punie, Gomez, & Van Den Brande, 2016). Increasing use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the workplace is raising the demand for people with skills to use technology for professional purposes (OECD, 2016a). Consequently, digital competence – the confident and critical use of technology – is vital for participation in today’s society and economy (Ferrari, 2013; Vuorikari et al., 2016). Yet, data from the European Commission Digital Economy and Society Index found that almost half (45%) of the European Union population aged from 16 to 74 had insufficient digital skills to adequately participate in the economy (Vuorikari et al., 2016). Over 40% of workers who use technology every day do not have the requisite skills to sufficiently operate office productivity software (OECD, 2016c). Accordingly, countries around the world are taking active measures to promote and develop digital literacies (OECD, 2016b).

There are numerous organizations and initiatives that advocate the learning skills that individuals and society require for a successful future. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is the peak global body concerned with the integration of technology into learning and teaching. The ISTE Standards for Students (ISTE, 2016) outlines a set of seven capabilities students need in order to learn effectively and live productively in an increasingly global and digital world (pp. 1–2):

1. Empowered learner – students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving, and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences.
2. Digital citizen – students recognize the rights, responsibilities, and opportunities of living, learning, and working in an interconnected digital world, and they act and model in ways that are safe, legal, and ethical.
3. Knowledge constructor – students critically curate a variety of resources using digital tools to construct knowledge, produce creative artifacts, and make meaningful learning experiences for themselves and others.
4. Innovative designer – students use a variety of technologies within a design process to identify and solve problems by creating new, useful, or imaginative solution.
5. Computational thinker – students develop and employ strategies for understanding and solving problems in ways that leverage the power of technological methods to develop and test solutions.
6. Creative communicator – students communicate clearly and express themselves creatively for a variety of purposes using the platforms, tools, styles, formats, and digital media appropriate to their goals.
7. Global collaborator – students use digital tools to broaden their perspectives and enrich their learning by collaborating with others and working effectively in teams locally and globally.

The capabilities, which are now in their third iteration, provide a compelling and aspirational vision for what we might aim to achieve through the integration of technology into education.

Alternately, and intended for those in and beyond the field of Education, the updated European Commission’s Digital Competence Framework for Citizens (DigiComp 2.0) identifies five technological competence areas that people require to participate in contemporary society: (1) information and data literacy, (2) communication and collaboration skills, (3) digital content creation, (4) safety, and (5) problem solving (Vuorikari et al., 2016). These dimensions are deconstructed into 21 subcomponent descriptors that can be used for technological skills assessment, development, and tracking purposes (see https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/digcomp/digital-competence-framework for further details).

The well-established Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21 – a coalition of business people, education leaders, and policymakers) proposes another model of contemporary learning capabilities for students (see Figure 1.1). The framework builds upon the more traditional ‘reading, writing and arithmetic’ (3Rs) view of core learning capabilities, by advocating the value of other crucial learning outcomes such as life and career skills, information media and technology skills, as well as learning and innovation skills (critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity). See http://www.p21.org/about-us/p21-framework for further information about the learning outcomes and associated resources. Thus, digital literacies feature explicitly through the development of information media and technology skills, but also implicitly as means by which students may develop critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creative competencies. The C21 Canadians for 21st Century Learning & Innovation ‘Shifting Minds’ framework (http://c21canada.org) constitutes a commensurate initiative. Taken together, we can see across the frameworks a general trend toward empowering learners with constructive, creative, collaborative, and socially oriented problem-solving capabilities using technology.

Figure 1.1. Framework for 21st Century Learning Proposed by the P21 Initiative. Source: Courtesy of the Partnership for 21st Century Learning, http://p21.org

EVOLVING CURRICULA AND POLICY DOCUMENTS

Countries and educational jurisdictions around the world are recognizing the importance of learning technologies and digital capabilities, and increasingly incorporating technology-related outcomes into their curricula and policy documents. For instance, at the school level, the new Australian Curriculum released by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) has ICT capability as one of its seven general capabilities that are viewed as essential to help students live and work successfully in the 21st century (see http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/GeneralCapabilities/Pdf/ICT for further details). While educational standards and outcomes in the United States are controlled by individual states, the recently developed US Common Core State Standards have increased the amount of technology that is incorporated into the curriculum (see http://www.corestandards.org). In the United Kingdom, school students are required to study Information and Communication Technologies in all years, though schools can follow the designated programs of study or develop their own ICT curricula (see https://www.gov.uk/national-curriculum/overview for more information and further links). In Singapore, the fourth Masterplan for ICT in Education (http://ictconnection.moe.edu.sg/masterplan-4/overview) and the Singapore National ICT Masterplan set a vision for ICT integration in schools.

In Higher Education, the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA) Next Generation Learning report emphasized the importance of having a technologically capable workforce for national prosperity (BECTA, 2010). The Australian Government’s Transforming Australia’s Higher Education System vision statement argued the need for graduates to have acquired contemporary learning capabi...

Indice dei contenuti

• Cover
• Title Page
• Chapter 1 Technology Integration as an Educational Imperative
• Chapter 2 The Technology Pedagogy and Content Knowledge (TPACK) Framework and Its Implications
• Chapter 3 Pedagogy and Technology-Enhanced Learning
• Chapter 4 Technology Affordances and Multimedia Learning Effects
• Chapter 5 Representing and Sharing Content Using Technology
• Chapter 6 Design Thinking and Learning Design
• Chapter 7 Design of Web 2.0 Enhanced Learning
• Chapter 8 Designing for Learning Using Social Networking
• Chapter 9 Designing for Mobile Learning
• Chapter 10 Designing for Learning Using Virtual Worlds
• Chapter 11 Abstracting Technology-Enhanced Learning Design Principles
• Chapter 12 Technology-Enhanced Learning – Conclusions and Future Directions
• Index