Just Click OK: Technology, Autonomy, and Educational Decision Making

When we decide to use technology we should consider the possible learning outcomes.

Some sample student projects will illustrate:

(An early foray into Web education).

Further discouragement might be had in examples like those collected at the "no significant difference" Web site:

The results in this paper have shown that when virtual lectures are used in place of traditional delivery methods there is no significant difference in attainment level as measured by end of year examination marks.

Many hundreds of thousands of such comparative studies [between technology-assisted and traditional instruction] have been made in the past, and the usual result when the comparisons have been done using sound research is that there is no significant difference.

(The No Significant Difference Phenomenon http://nova.teleeducation.nb.ca/nosignificantdifference/.)

Not only is the no significant difference phenomenon more complex than initially supposed (see the "significant difference" Web site, when weighed against additional potential benefits, technology use has the potential to extend teaching and learning. As Steve Gilbert notes there are many reasons to "bother" with technology.

One example of the kinds of intangible benefits of using technology can be seen in the ability to tap into discourse communities. You may be interested in an online workshop

Also of interest are resource-based opportunities

Further, students themselves attest to the benefits of participating in technology-assisted learning.

We can look at another example of student work with technology:

(A more extensive effort at Web education).

And we can look at some of the student commentary about the assignment (student responses are reproduced pseudonymously and edited for clarity):

[Joseph] I have a much clearer understanding of what the story means now than - the first time I read it.

[Wanda] it was definitely better than writing papers!

[Mary] This is the only class I've learned anything about computers.

[George] I think it was harder as I took the paragraphs and tried to understand what Crane was - saying, it made the story much easier to understand

[Mary] I like the use of computers.

[Jean] Oh yeah, that was harder, this was more interesting working in - groups, and putting our own interpretations in

[Franklin] I thought that Brian had an amazing discovery

[Nancy] seeing everyone else's interpretations made it easier to understand

[Franklin] he discovered that the wind correlated with the emotions of the - sailors

[Adam] Because the whole class was involved you could expand off of other's - ideas. And what you didn't know, you could learn from someone else. We had - groups, but we all worked together.

 

Key points to consider regarding learning outcome decisions:

Move on the Time Commitments

Daniel Anderson
University of North Carolina
iamdan@unc.edu
http://sites.unc.edu/~daniel/ok