Page 26 - Educational Technology A Primer for the 21st Century

1.1 Introducing Educational Technology 13
For the learner: Make and date an entry in your educational technology journal
entitled “Leading Educational Technologies in Use Today.” Then, make a second
entry entitled “Anticipated Educational Technologies of the Future” and describe at
least one of those (read recent Horizon Reports from the New Media Consortium
located at www.nmc.org).
Technologies also change what people want to do. As more and more resources
became available, especially at the end of the twentieth century, many people began
pursuing areas of personal interest, and there has been a steady growth in informal
learning as a consequence. Many students now want to experience things in school
that are relevant to the kinds of jobs and careers they plan to pursue. Students who
have smartphones and use them outside school want to be able to use them in
school as well, often to the dismay of teachers and possible disruption of intentional
learning activities.
In keeping with the principle that people learn what they do, David Merrill
(2002, 2007, 2013) has described instructional things that are likely to promote
desired learning outcomes. Merrill argues that instruction should be centered on
meaningful and realistic problems, which was probably the case for those being
trained to use an abacus or slide rule. In addition, the instruction can be described in
terms of four kinds of things: telling, asking, showing, and doing.
For the instructor: Conduct an in-class or group discussion relating Merrill’s
first principles of instruction to Gagné’s(1985) nine events of instruction (see http://
edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Nine_events_of_instruction). Which of Merrill’s princi-
ples and Gagné’s events are evident in this chapter?
In general, there has been a shift in emphasis in formal learning situations to
include more showing and doing and somewhat less telling as a result of the
powerful technologies now available. While it seems like the best of times in terms
of what can be done to use technologies to effectively and efficiently support
learning, performance, and instruction, it may seem like the worst of times for those
who are charged with designing, maintaining, and sustaining the technologies used
to support learning. Instructional designers have many more options in choosing
resources and support mechanisms than ever before. Establishing what works best
with whom and in various situations is more difficult than ever before. Cost models
are dynamic, in part because technologies are now rapidly replaced by newer
technologies. Training teachers to make effective technologies that change so
rapidly is an ongoing challenge.
For the learner: Recall the activity to describe making a calculation with the
abacus and the same calculation with the slide rule. What difference did you note?
Someone might argue that to make an effective use of the slide rule, one first needed
to have an expectation about the range for a reasonable solution since it is very easy
to misalign the cursor line on the slide rule and make a big mistake as a result. The
act of reflecting in advance on the problem and a reasonable answer might be
considered a learning activity or a form of asking oneself. Make an entry in your
educational technology journal on the learning value of reflecting and instructional
value of asking as a means to encourage reflection. Provide an example based on
your own experience.