Learning Technology: The Myths and Facts

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See also: Learning in the Information Age | New Model Learning | Learning Theories and Styles | Instructional Design
Educational Technology - an Introduction for Teachers and Learners | Learning and the Impact of Technology
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An earlier version of this paper appeared in the May 2004 issue of the International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning. This paper is available as a PDF eBook.

Abstract

This paper considers some of the major issues in the field of learning technology. It seeks to identify areas in which technology has greatest potential to contribute to the learning process, and also those areas in which the application of technology is inappropriate or detrimental.

Issues described include the support of different kinds of learner, learning environments, reusability and accessibility. Questions raised include the changing role of learning in the information age, the extent to which learning materials may be re-used and how misunderstandings between the various contributors to learning technology projects may be overcome.

The paper concludes with a description of a hypothetical example of an effective application of learning technology.

What is Learning Technology?

Learning Technology, Educational Technology, Instructional Technology, e-Learning, Computer Assisted Learning (CAL), Computer Based Training (CBT)….. One or more of these closely related terms seems to occur in almost every discussion on education and learning these days. But what do they mean? And how might they shape the educational landscape of tomorrow?

A widely accepted definition of Instructional Technology is that provided by the Association for Educational Communications and Technology Definitions and Terminology Committee. "Instructional Technology is the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning." (Seels & Richey, 1994).

This paper employs a slightly simpler definition of learning technology as any application of technology, particularly computer and information technology, which contributes to the learning process.

Learning technology per se is not new. The first maths teacher to bring an abacus into his classroom was using technology to aid learning. Projectors, tape recorders and televisions have featured in schools for decades. Even the use of computers is in education is not new. Riley (2002) describes how simulations and modelling programs "were in the mainstream of 1980s computer-assisted learning". This author can remember a modem connected teletype unit in his maths class of the mid-70's.

However, rapid advancements in the power and capability of desktop computers along with the proliferation of the Internet have led to intense interest in the potential of the computer as a learning tool.

This paper seeks to provide an overview of learning technology and to explode some of the myths about surrounding the field. It identifies areas where technology is most able to add value to the learning experience and also raises a number of questions which need to be addressed if the potential of the discipline is to be fully realised.

What Learning Technology Can - and Cannot - Do

Learning Technology has the potential to bring improved learning opportunities to a larger audience than has ever previously been possible.

It is able to support a more active learning experience through a high degree of learner involvement, thus promoting a deeper understanding. Dale's "Cone of Experience" (adapted from Wiman & Meirhenry, 1960) suggests that people remember 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, 50% of what they hear and see, 70% of what they say and write, and 90% of what they say and perform at a task. Confucius makes the same point even more succinctly: "Tell me and I'll forget. Show me and I'll remember. Involve me and I'll understand". My own experience as a student on a master's course in multimedia revealed that I learned least in formal lectures, a little more in organized tutorials, and most of all during the completion of assignments. Active learning is an effective approach for developing deployable skills.

Learning Technology places the learner in control of their own education. It is better able to meet the individual's learning requirements by providing a (potentially) unique experience to every learner, tailored to their individual circumstances and characteristics.

It is able to support communicative and collaborative activity irrespective of the physical distance that may separate participants. Communicative activity reinforces and extends knowledge promotes a broadening of understanding through the sharing of ideas. Even where an individual comes into conflict with the group consensus, that conflict forces the individual either to justify their opposition or else to modify their belief.

Schacter (1999) analyzed five large scale studies of educational technology (including a meta-analysis of over 500 individual studies) covering a range of ages and levels. Schacter concludes that "students with access to computer assisted instruction, or integrated learning systems technology, or simulations and software that teaches higher order thinking, or collaborative networked technologies, or design and programming technologies, show positive gains in achievement on researcher constructed tests, standardized tests, and national tests".

Fletcher (2003) argues that technology-based instruction is effective because it allows greater individualization and Interactivity than traditional classroom instruction. Fletcher concludes from the evidence that "technology-based instruction will reduce the costs by about a third and either increase achievement by about a third or decrease time to reach instructional objectives by a third".

Learning Technology does not obviate the need for work on the part of the learner. It is not yet possible to download knowledge and experience directly into the brain. To understand something we must engage with it, a process which requires effort.

Learning Technology does not obviate the need for work on the part of the educator. Delivering content electronically does not automatically transform it into an effective aid to learning. In fact what might have been a very good aid to learning in its original form may lose its merits through inappropriate "electronification". The most effective use of learning technology requires considerable planning and effort on the part of the educator to best exploit the strengths of the target media.

Learning in the Information Age

The final decade of the twentieth century saw exponential increases both in computing power and the number of people able to access computers and the Internet. Numerous commentators have described the proliferation of information and communication technologies (and in particular the growth of the Internet) as bringing about a transition as marked as that of the industrial revolution. We are said to be moving from the industrial age to the information age, in which radically different rules will apply in every aspect of society, education being no exception. (N.B. a Google search on the phrase "information age" retrieved some 725,000 results.)

Society's transition to the information age is likely to impact on learning and education in two ways. Firstly, rapidly improving technology will enable higher quality learning to be made available to an ever-growing audience through increasingly sophisticated modes of presentation. Secondly, the very nature of the information age may require a different kind of preparation (i.e. learning) from its membership than was the case in the industrial age.

In the industrial age the majority of human roles could be described as algorithmic. Most circumstances determined the pre-defined procedure to be followed upon their occurrence. People left school or college, learned the rules of a given trade of profession, and expected to remain within that trade for life. Large corporations, with deep hierarchies were the norm, in which instructions from above were expected to be unquestioningly carried out. It could be argued that an approach like Skinner's behaviorism which sought to develop specific responses to given stimuli was most suited to industrial age learning.

It is likely that members of the information society will need to learn continually throughout their lives in order to keep up with the rapid and relentless change that is characteristic of the age. Because it is unlikely we shall be able to enjoy perpetual studenthood, learning will need to be presented in increasingly flexible ways (e.g. distance learning, open learning, part-time and mixed mode study…).

It is likely traditional corporate structures will be forced to change in order to survive in the new economy. Small (2000) describes the limitations, in the information age, of the traditional managed team operating as part of a rigid hierarchy. Instead he proposes the concept of temporary, virtual teams, brought together by an initiator, someone able to "identify a win-win situation where cooperation can produce benefits" and "produce enough evidence that profits will result from [the] proposed cooperation". Such teams aren't "held together by rules, but by benefits of mutual advantage."

Structural changes together with the increasing mechanization of algorithmic tasks imply the need for more creative, innovative and interpretive skills. Such abilities are more likely to emerge from a constructivist approach to learning in which individuals construct their own individual mental models of the world in order to make sense of their experiences. Learning is the process of adding to or refining this mental model.

All Kinds of Learner

The continued and increasing state of social and economic flux of the information age means the need for lifelong learning will become a reality for most people in the twenty-first century.

Rather than being something that tales place between infancy and early adulthood, learning will become a cradle-to-grave activity. Rather than catering only for those with a certain predisposition, effective post-compulsory learning will need to be made available to the majority.

Rather than being an activity that takes place mainly in a classroom with rows of students seated at desks paying close attention to a teacher standing before a blackboard at the front, learning will take a variety of forms.

Of course there will still be institutional learning that takes place mainly in classrooms on campus. But distance learning seems set to become a major growth area of the early twenty-first century, offering learners the chance to study where and when they choose, scheduling their learning around work and family commitments. A third category of learner may also be identified, the attached learner. Attached learners fall somewhere between the extremes represented by their institutional and distance colleagues. Attached learners spend some of their learning time on campus while the rest is spent at a distance. They may be part-time students, or those out on work placements.

For distance learners learning technology can provide access to tutorial and peer support as well as relief from the inevitable isolation. The lone learner is brought into contact with colleagues and mentors from around the globe. Technology also provides an extremely efficient mechanism for delivering learning materials on demand. Such materials may be traditional study texts or fully interactive multimedia learning experiences. Simulations offer the distance learner almost the same degree of involvement as their institution-based counterparts by way of virtual laboratories and rich, interactive models. The World Wide Web provides access to a huge amount of content. Quality assured digital libraries and portals may serve as a roadmap to the more valuable resources.

On-campus learners may also benefit from learning technology, albeit in different ways to those at a distance. Simulations and models extend conventional laboratory facilities in supporting active learning by enabling ideas introduced in the classroom to be put into practice. Learning environments (see below) can provide access to pre- and post-lecture materials and serve as a gateway to a wide range of digital resources. They may also provide a shared workspace for group assignments as well as extending the learner's immediate peer group by linking them with others from around the world.

Learning Environments

Known by terms including Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), Online Learning Environments (OLEs) and Managed Learning Environments (MLEs) these facilities offer technology mediated support for the learning process in a number of areas. Additionally, MLEs offer access to institutional administration systems allowing learners to view grades, update personal details, pay fees etc. online.

Learning Environments may offer any, or all, of the following features:

A repository of learning materials, e.g. lecture handouts, PDF files, PowerPoint presentations etc., i.e. the environment serves as an efficient distribution mechanism.
A portal to additional (i.e. external) quality assured resources.
A communication facility which may be synchronous/asynchronous, tutor-student, student-tutor and/or student-student. This facility could include inter-institutional communities and/or guest lectures/seminars.
Archiving of real-time events for the benefit of those unable to participate at the time.
A shell for interactive/multimedia course materials. In this case the environment would provide each learner with access to the right materials at the right time, possibly determined by personal preference and/or prior performance.
Online assessment - both formative (for guidance only) and summative (assessed as part of final grade).
A collaborative working environment, e.g. a communication facility plus shared file space for group assignments.
Links to administration systems, i.e. the environment is an MLE.

Many institutions make use of "off the shelf" products, the current market leaders being WebCT and Blackboard. Others develop their own environments to suit their specific needs. Considerations in selecting a learning environment include:

How easy is it to use - for academics, tutors, administrators - and learners?
To what degree can it be customized / accessed at HTML or server level?
What does it cost? And how is it licensed - institutionally, per user, per seat (i.e. per user per course)?
Does it conform to accessibility (see below) guidelines?
Does it conform to emerging interoperability (see below) standards?
Can it be used off-line (e.g. for distance learners with poor Internet connectivity), or is there an alternative such as e-mailed discussions?
What is the minimum platform/connection required to run it?
Will it interface with the institution's administrative systems?
Does it support single sign-on authentication?, i.e. once logged in will students be able to access other resources without having to repeatedly log in?
Can closed access discussion areas be created for group work?
Does it use the pull (e.g. bulletin board) or push (e.g. mailing list ) model or both for supporting communications? Ideally a combination of the two will be supported with learners receiving regular e-mails informing them of new additions to the VLE; additionally there will be a web-based, searchable archive of messages available.

Accessibility

Learning technology may make the opportunity of learning available to a wider audience than ever before and as such has the power to promote a fairer and more equal society. The issue of accessibility is concerned with ensuring that the opportunities offered by the technology truly are available to as large and diverse a group as possible. In particular it is concerned with ensuring that learners with disabilities, including those who may be accessing materials through assistive technologies such as screen readers, are not unduly disadvantaged.

Accessibility concerns are not solely altruistic. The number of people worldwide with some form of disability represents a massive potential audience that few educational providers (or indeed commercial operations) can afford to exclude. Additionally much educational provision is, or will soon, be subject to accessibility legislation.

In the USA Section 508 of the 1998 Rehabilitation Act requires that Federal agencies' electronic and information technology (including Web) content is accessible to people with disabilities. In the UK the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (SENDA) will make it illegal to discriminate against disabled students by treating them less favourably than others. Institutions must make reasonable adjustments to provision where students with disabilities would otherwise be at a substantial disadvantage. SENDA came into effect on 1 September 2002.

Learning technology practitioners should endeavour to make their outputs accessible to as wide an audience as possible and must make themselves aware of any legal requirements governing their work. Further guidance may be found from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI - see http://www.w3.org/WAI/). Authoring software producers such as Macromedia (Dreamweaver, Flash etc.) may also publish guidelines on developing accessible applications with their software (e.g. see http://www.macromedia.com/macromedia/accessibility/).