Learning Technologies | Really Random Reflections

Learning with Mindtools
I think it’s important that we shouldn’t focus on just the tool itself. Instead we should look at the development of the pedagogy surrounding the tool. The debate can’t be about whether to include the technology like a wiki or not it has to be about how to use the tool effectively. Therefore, I think my focus would have to be analyzing the way I could my pedagogy shape the way a wiki is used in a classroom. Take the three scenerios below.

Caution: This does not mean every technology should be integrated into a class, nor does this mean that every class needs to integrate technology. From the discussion in the classes, I think everyone is aware of this, but others in our schools might not see it this way. It’s not an all or nothing scenario. I feel it should look like a spectrum.

Scenerio 1: I give students a list of topics related to website development that students will use a wiki to collaborate and discuss on. I provide no framework for how the wiki will be evaluated or how it is tied to our class activities or instruction.

Scenerio 2: I give students a list of topics related to website development that I require students to have within the wiki. They are given 15 minutes at the beginning of class to build on their wiki with on their prior knowledge. I then review some concepts on website development. Following the instruction, students take 15 minutes to evaluate the wiki again, and make necessary changes and modifications.

Scenerio 3: I give students a list of topics related to website development that I require students to have within their wiki. They are given 15 minutes at the beginning of class to build on their wiki with on their prior knowledge. I then review some concepts on website development. Following the instruction, students take 15 minutes to evaluate the wiki again, and make necessary changes and modifications. Student are then asked to go and find further evidence that supplements or gives an alternate view that is expressed on the wiki.

The above scenarios were just off my head and are probably not research sound, and are not wildly innovative but each are using the wiki differently. Image if a wiki was used only by one person as a sort of knowledge management system and not as a collaboration piece. It’s a completely different situation. Which choice is more appropriate and will promote greater student achievement on a unit test. I’d rather debate that over which is better using to wiki or not to wiki?

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Why I believe what I believe ... The Great Media Debate
In the field of Learning Technologies there was a media debate surrounding the question “Do media influence learning?� I’ll make a crude summarization of the debate. Take 5351 for a really good time on this debate. Some (Richard Clark) argued that regardless media doesn’t change a learning. And others (Robert Kozma) stated that media do change the way we learn. There were a great many others that wrote somewhere in the spectrum. Fortunately, David Jonassen’s wrote an article saying both sides were completely missing the point. I don’t see research that tries to compare the use of using a tool or not, but it is often the discussion in technology programs. Instead, we should be examining how the tool is being used and whether it has sound pedagogical implications. See the synopsis below. (If my 5351 professor is reading this, I hope I got this summary right)

Richard Clark, Professor of Educational Psychology and Technology, USC
Photo Source: University of Southern California
Media DO NOT Influence Learning
Clark might argue that it media alone does not influence learning because learning is indicative of the teachers quality of teaching. For example, you can teach addition of 10’s by using cubes and rods (groups of 10 cubes). The teacher can facilitate learning the use of media. Even if a teacher uses electronic manipulative on a software program the learning does not change it’s the same.
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Robert Kozma, Emeritus Director, Center for Technlogy in Learning
Photo Source: Center for Technology in Learning
Media DO Influence Learning
Kozma argued students will learn in a completely different way when they use media. For instance, if you give a student a handheld device (PDA) students will learn a much different way because of the multiple affordances available to learners. The learning process changes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------David Jonassen, Director for the Center for the Study of Problem Solving, University of Missouri
Photo Source: Univesity of Missouri

You're All Wrong!
Jonassen was the outcast of this debate and basically told everyone writing they were wrong. He said the comparison between learning with media or without media can’t be made. Using a cross media comparison (learning with a tool or without a tool) teaching and learning is completely different! We should not focus on the value of the tool itself, instead, what pedagogy should be used when using this tool.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Don't Get Me Wrong
I’m not meaning to devalue the discussion we’ve had about innovations (Rogers) these are important indications of what technologies should be adopted and which we should wait on. I believe the integration efforts tend to focus a lot on what the tool does, but it’s not the tool that changes learning it’s the teaching (pedagogy) with the tool that effects learning. This is why I think the RAT framework is so important! It is a scale of sorts that tells that how we (I) as a teacher are using technology - Replacement, Amplification, Transformation.