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
and perhaps more engaging for
make them easier, more practical,
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 students grade
Larger increases in test scores for low achieving students
Increase students 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

http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/tiol.html

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 teachers 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 servicessuch as
social networking sites, wikis, communication tools,
and folksonomiesthat 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 ill-defined 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 contrastedfrom 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: [w.ki] <WICK-ee> or [wi.ki] <WEE-kee>
[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
the game.
evolve while the player is away from
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
Residents)[4] with tools to view
provides its users (referred to as
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 Todays 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

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
Technologys 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