THE ROLES OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY IN LEARNING

FOCUS QUESTION

• •What are the roles of educational technology in learning?

ACTIVITY

• •Go back to your learning experiences in school. Recall specific ways by which the use of educational technology helped you learned.
• •Volunteer to share your experiences with the rest of the class

ANALYSIS

• •TECHNOLOGY can play a traditional role, as delivery vehicles for instructional lessons or in a constructivist way as partners in the learning process.

In the TRADITIONAL WAY:

• •The learner learns from the technology and the technology serves as a teacher.

In the TRADITIONAL WAY:

• •In other words, the learner learns the CONTENT presented by the TECHNOLOGY in the same way that the learner learns knowledge presented by the teacher.

In the CONSTRUCTIVIST WAY:

• •TECHNOLOGY helps the learner build more meaningful personal interpretations of life and his/her world.

In the CONSTRUCTIVIST WAY:

• •Technology is a learning TOOL to learn with, not from.

In the CONSTRUCTIVIST WAY:

• •It makes the learner gather, think, analyze, synthesize information and construct meaning with what technology presents. Technology serves as a medium in representing what the learner knows and what he/she is learning.

DISCUSSION QUESTION

• •Based on the experiences shared, which greater role did technology play in your learning experiences: technology-as-teacher or technology-as-partner in the learning process?

ABSTRACTION

• •From the traditional point of view, technology serves as source and presenter of knowledge. It is assumed that “knowledge is embedded in the technology (such as content presented by films and TV programs or the teaching sequence in programmed instruction) and the technology presents that knowledge to the student. (David H. Jonassen, et al, 1999)

ABSTRACTION

• •Technology like computers is seen as a productivity tool. The popularity of word processing, databases, spreadsheets, graphic programs and desktop publishing in the 1980s to this productive role of educational technology.

ABSTRACTION

• •With the eruption of the INTERNET in the mid 90s, communications and multimedia have dominated the role of technology in the classroom for the past few years.

ABSTRACTION

• •From the CONSTRUCTIVIST POINT OF VIEW, educational technology serves as learning tools that learners learn with. It engages learners in “active, constructive, intentional, authentic, and cooperative learning. It provides opportunities for technology and learner interaction for meaningful learning.

ABSTRACTION

• •In this case, technology will not be mere delivery vehicle for content. Rather it is used as facilitator of thinking and knowledge construction.

ABSTRACTION

• •From a constructivist perspective, the following are roles of technology in learning:

ABSTRACTION
1. TECHNOLOGY AS TOOLS TO SUPPORT KNOWLEDGE CONSTRUCTION:

• • –For representing learners’ ideas, understandings and beliefs
  • –For producing organized, multimedia knowledge bases by learners

ABSTRACTION
2. TECHNOLOGY AS INFORMATION VEHICLES FOR EXPLORING KNOWLEDGE TO SUPPORT LEARNING-BY-CONSTRUCTING

• • –For accessing needed information
  • –For comparing perspective, beliefs and world views

ABSTRACTION
3. TECHNOLOGY AS CONTEXT TO SUPPORT LEARNING-BY-DOING

• • –for representing and simulating meaningful real-world problems, situations and contexts
  • –For representing beliefs, perspectives, arguments, and stories of others
  • –For defining a safe, controllable problem space for student thinking

ABSTRACTION
4. TECHNOLOGY AS SOCIAL MEDIUM TO SUPPORT LEARNING BY CONVERSING

• • –For collaborating with others
  • –For discussing, arguing, and building consensus among members of community
  • –For supporting discourse among knowledge-building communities

ABSTRACTION
5. TECHNOLOGY AS INTELLECTUAL PARTNER TO SUPPORT LEARNING BY REFLECTING

• • –For helping learners to articulate and represent what they know
  • –For reflecting on what they have learned and how they came to know it
  • –For supporting learners’ internal negotiations and meaning making
  • –For constructing personal representations of meaning for supporting mindful thinking

• •Whether used from the traditional or constructivist point of view, when used effectively, research indicates that technology “ increases students’ learning, understanding and achievement but also augments motivation to learn, encourages collaborative learning and supports the development of critical thinking and problem solving skills”.

• •Russel and Sorge (1999) also claims that the proper implementation of technology in the classroom gives students more “control of their own learning and... Tends to move classroom from teacher-dominated environments to ones that are more learner-centered. The use of technology in the classroom enables the teacher to do differentiated instruction considering the divergence of students’ readiness levels, interests, multiple intelligences and learning styles. Technology also helps students become lifelong learners.

APPLICATION

• •Based on the roles of educational technology from the constructivist’s perspective given above, identify under which role and process is illustrated by each of the following:

• •1. Water samples from ponds, steams and faucets were analyzed locally, then transmitted to researchers who pooled the data and returned them to all sites, where students drew conclusions and compared them with those of other classes.

• •2. Students were asked to give a graphic presentation of the causes and effects of alcoholism.

• •3. Students were asked to conduct an in-depth research on the causes and effects of global warming by extensive use of books, journals and the internet and to give a PowerPoint presentation of their findings.

• •4. Students were assigned to gather proposals from various sectors on how to solve the present rice crisis and on how to prevent the same in the future and make a video presentation on their interviews.

• •5. Student groups were asked to read and analyze a comic strip and present their own thinking also by way of comic strip.

• •Give at least 3 uses or functions of educational technology. Categorize them either as technology as teacher (source of knowledge) or technology as partner in learning (one that engages the student in thinking and in the construction of knowledge and meaning). Use the table given below. An example for each category is given for you.

TECHNOLOGY AS TEACHER (TRADITIONAL PERSPECTIVE)	TECHNOLOGY AS PARTNER IN LEARNING (CONSTRUCTIVIST PERSPECTIVE)
1. Video presentation on the tourist spots in the country.	1. Setting up an experiment shown through video presentation and requiring the student to predict the outcome of the experiment.
2.	2.

• •The constructivists’ thinking is this: Technology cannot teach students. Rather, learners should use the technologies to teacher themselves and others. Do you agree with the constructivists?

• •Is there anything pedagogically wrong with the traditional use of technology as a presenter of knowledge like the teacher as a source of knowledge?

• •Why use technology in teaching?

SUMMING UP

• •Educational technology plays a various roles. From the traditional point of view, it serves as presenter of knowledge just like teachers. It also serves as a productivity tool. With internet, technology has facilitated communication among people. From the constructivist perspective, educational technology is a meaningful learning tool by serving as a learning partner.

Personal Postscript
NO OTHER CHOICE BUT TO LEARN HOW TO USE RECENT TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM

• • –The younger generation of teachers is admittedly better than the older generation of teachers when it comes to the use of the most recent technology, like the computer. The younger crop of teachers, unlike the older generation, was blessed with basic computer courses in their college curriculum. But if the older group of teachers would like to remain responsive and relevant by keeping their teaching fresh, interesting and challenging, there is no choice but to learn how to use them. An “idiot’s guide” to computer may encourage you to learn how to use the computer in your teaching.