Using Technology to Enhance
Student Learning:
Uses, Impact & Next Wave
General Thinking About the Use of Technology in Teaching
Technology, including, information technology (IT) has great potential
to support improved student learning in STEM, but there is nothing
inherent in the use of technology in teaching, by themselves, that
would lead to improvement in student leaning.
Innovations in teaching that lead to improve student learning in
STEM are possible without technology but the capabilities of IT
make them easier, more practical, and perhaps more engaging for
students.
Use of technology, including IT, is evolutionary rather than
revolutionary.
From Enhancing Undergraduate Learning with Information Technology: A
Workshop Summary (2002) -- Center for Education (CFE ) and Why People Learn
How is Technology to Enhance Student Learning?
Basic Skills Instruction
 Computer assisted instruction to drill
 Multi-media software - teach to a variety of learning styles
 Videodiscs - strengthen basic skills
 Video and audio technologies - bring material to life
 Distance learning - at least as effective as traditional methods
of instruction
 All forms - develop new skills related to use of technology
itself, necessary in workplace
http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/tiol.html
How is Technology Used to Enhance Student Learning?
Advanced Skills Instruction
Interactive educational technologies, including:
***Computer-generated simulations
***Videodiscs
***Internet
***CD-ROM
 Students learn to: organize complex information, recognize patterns,
draw inferences, communicate findings
 Learn better organizational and problem-solving skills
http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/tiol.html
How People Learn Chapter 9 on Technology and
Learning summarizes how new technologies are used
 Bringing exciting curricula based on real-world problems into
the classroom;
 Providing scaffolds and tools to enhance learning;
 Giving students and teachers more opportunities for
feedback, reflection, and revision;
 Building local and global communities that include teachers,
administrators, students, parents, practicing scientists, and
other interested people; and
 Expanding opportunities for teacher learning.
How Does Technology Impact Student
Achievement, Attitudes, & Behaviors?
Quantitative (Achievement)
 Often modest increases in teacher given student’s grade
 Larger increases in test scores for low achieving students
 Increase student’s understanding of concepts
Qualitative (Attitudes and Behaviors)
 Improved student attendance
 Motivation and Interest
 Attitude and
 Improved student retention
 Improve workforce skills
 Improve workforce placements.
http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/tiol.html
http://fermat.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10270&page=13
Podcasting Lectures
http://educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EQM0634.pdf
Concerns about evaluation of technology and learning
 Technologies do not guarantee effective learning, however. Inappropriate
uses of technology can hinder learning--for example, if students spend most
of their time picking fonts and colors for multimedia reports instead of
planning, writing, and revising their ideas. And everyone knows how much
time students can waste surfing the Internet. (How People Learn)
 The level of effectiveness of educational technology is influenced by the
specific student population, the software design, the teacher’s role, how the
students are grouped, and the level of student access to the technology.
http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/tiol.html
 Assessment methods are often traditional – fact recall, pencil and paper.
http://fermat.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=10270&page=13
Uses of Web 2.0 – The New Wave of Innovation in
Teaching and Learning
 What is Web 2.0?
Web 2.0, a phrase coined by O'Reilly Media in
2004[1], refers to a supposed second generation of
Internet-based services—such as social networking
sites, wikis, communication tools, and
folksonomies—that emphasize online collaboration
and sharing among users. O'Reilly Media, in
collaboration with MediaLive International, used the
phrase as a title for a series of conferences and
since 2004 it has become a popular (though illdefined and often criticized) buzzword among
technical and marketing communities.
What does folksonomy mean?
A folksonomy is an Internet-based information
retrieval methodology consisting of collaboratively
generated, open-ended labels that categorize
content such as Web pages, online photographs,
and Web links. A folksonomy is most notably
contrasted from a taxonomy in that the authors of
the labeling system are often the main users (and
sometimes originators) of the content to which the
labels are applied. The labels are commonly known
as tags and the labeling process is called tagging
Podcasting
Podcast
A podcast is a multimedia file that is distributed by
subscription (paid or unpaid) over the Internet using
syndication feeds, for playback on mobile devices and
personal computers[1]. Like 'radio', it can mean both the
content and the method of broadcast. The latter may also
be termed podcasting. The host or author of a podcast
is often called a podcaster.
Though podcasters' Web sites may also offer direct
download or streaming of their content, a podcast is
distinguished from other digital audio formats by its ability
to be downloaded automatically using software capable
of reading feed formats such as RSS or Atom.
What is a blog?
BLOG
 A blog is a website where entries are made in journal style and
displayed in a reverse chronological order.
 Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular subject,
such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more
personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and
links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its
topic. Most blogs are primarily textual although some focus on
photographs (photoblog), videos (vlog), or audio (podcasting),
and are part of a wider network of social media.
 The term "blog" is a portmanteau of "Web log." "Blog" can also
be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
Next term --- WIKI
Source Wikipedia
WIKI
A wiki (IPA: [ˈwɪ.kiː] <WICK-ee> or [ˈwiː.kiː] <WEEkee>[1]) is a type of Web site that allows the visitors
themselves to easily add, remove, and otherwise edit
and change some available content, sometimes without
the need for registration. This ease of interaction and
operation makes a wiki an effective tool for collaborative
authoring. The term wiki also can refer to the
collaborative software itself (wiki engine) that facilitates
the operation of such a Web site, or to certain specific
wiki sites, including the computer science site (an
original wiki), WikiWikiWeb, and on-line encyclopedias
such as Wikipedia.
Next term – YASNS
Source Wikipedia
YASNS
An acronym for the phrase "Yet Another Social Networking
Service," referring to the wide range of social networking
services such as Myspace and Friendster.
With a lull following the much-unnoticed creation and
disappearance of the original SixDegrees.com, the world
wide web has been hit with a blizzard of social networking
web sites, with Friendster rekindling the craze, and sites
such as Orkut, Facebook, and hi5 following. The term
YASNS, or Yet Another Social Networking Service, has
been coined to refer to them collectively, in the long
standing tradition of the phrase Yet Another
Next term --- MMORPG
Source Wikipedia
MMORPG
 A Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) is an
online computer role-playing game (RPG) in which a large number of
players interact with one another in a virtual world. As in all RPGs, players
assume the role of a fictional character (most commonly in a fantasy
setting) and take control over many of that character's actions.
MMORPGs are distinguished from single-player or small multi-player
RPGs by the number of players, and by the game's persistent world,
usually hosted by the game's publisher, which continues to exist and
evolve while the player is away from the game.
 MMORPGs are very popular, with at least one commercial game, World of
Warcraft, reporting millions of subscribers[1][2]. South Korea had a high
early subscriber base with the national hit Lineage, but numbers have
dropped drastically[3] -- though still impressive given the national
population.
Next term --- Second Life
Source Wikipedia
Second Life
Second Life (SL) is a privately owned, partly subscription-based 3D virtual world, made publicly available in 2003 by San Franciscobased Linden Lab,[2] and founded by former RealNetworks CTO
Philip Rosedale. The Second Life "world" resides in a large array of
servers that are owned and maintained by Linden Lab, known
collectively as "the grid".[3] The Second Life client program provides
its users (referred to as Residents)[4] with tools to view and modify
the SL world and participate in its virtual economy, which
concurrently has begun to operate as a "real" market. At precisely
8:05:45 AM PDT, October 18th 2006, the population of Second Life
hit 1 million Residents.[5]
What is RSS
RSS is a family of web feed formats used to
publish frequently updated pages, such as blogs or
news feeds. Consumers of RSS content use
special browsers called aggregators to watch for
new content in dozens or even hundreds of web
feeds. The initials "RSS" are variously used to refer
to the following standards:
***Really Simple Syndication (RSS 2.0)
***Rich Site Summary (RSS 0.91, RSS 1.0)
***RDF Site Summary (RSS 0.9 and 1.0)
RSS formats are specified in XML (a generic
specification for data formats). RSS delivers its
information as an XML file called an "RSS feed",
"webfeed", "RSS stream", or "RSS channel".
[citation needed]
Bottom Line on Use of Technology in Teaching
Student-Centered Teaching
Is it having a positive impact on student learning?
How Today’s Teenagers View Media
 Never read a newspaper
 Never intend to own a land-line phone
 Less interested in television than past generations
 Believe that everything will move to mobile
 Expect the Internet to be always available
 Community at the center of Internet experience
 Want to be active participants
 Want to move content freely from platform to
platform
“Surveying the Digital Future,” 2006 , USC Annenberg School for
Communications (Slide from Walter Baer)
Online References
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The Academic Culture and the IT Culture: The Effect on Scholarship and
Teaching
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0462.pdf
Digital Rights
http://www.educause.edu/issues/dmca.html
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/NET0303.pdf (2pages)
Educause Teaching and Learning Resources
http://www.educause.edu/Browse/645?PARENT_ID=107
Enhancing Undergraduate Learning with Information Technology: A Workshop
Summary (2002)
Center for Education (CFE)
http://fermat.nap.edu/books/0309082781/html
The Horizon Report
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/CSD4387.pdf
Podcasting Lectures
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EQM0634.pdf
Social Software in Academia
http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EQM0627.pdf
Technology’s Impact on Learning
http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/tiol.html#Enhanced
Technology to Support Learning
http://newton.nap.edu/html/howpeople1/ch9.html
Web 2.0: A New Wave of Innovation for Teaching and Leaning
http://www.educause.edu/apps/er/erm06/erm0621.asp