On the interface of technology and lessons

Technology supports learning by providing a framework in which communication occurs. Learning requires a person to absorb knowledge from an external source, be it a person teaching or from a book or other written (spoken, recorded) record. Almost inevitably, this requires technology: whether something as simple as a piece of chalk to sketch out a picture or as complicated as a smart board and clickers for a class. The one method of teaching without technology -- speaking -- is still rightfully important, but since the earliest times, teachers have found it necessary to incorporate technology to convey knowledge more effectively than by speaking alone.

This should always be the goal when using technology in teaching: bringing knowledge to students more effectively. Put simply, students are not alike. The notion of "learning styles" only scratches the surface; slight changes in the way a lesson is taught can have remarkable effects on student comprehension. Technology allows teachers to try many different methods with greater ease and facility than they could without it. Technology allows us to try many things, but as teachers, we have to evaluate them for effectiveness and decide whether they're worth it.

Whether students will focus on concepts or technology in a lesson depends on how the technology has been deployed and what kind of technology is used. Obviously, simple or familiar technology is not going to catch a student's eye. When the attractiveness of the technology as such dominates the content of the lesson, however -- that is, the students are more interested in the manipulations they can perform with the technology than the content that's being delivered over it -- they will try to learn the technology first. To keep students' attention on the content, the technology needs to sit "in the background," as it were. If the neat or interesting effects they can get out of the technology require them to familiarize themselves with the content, it will be successful. However, if they can reward themselves by manipulating the technology without paying much attention to the content, they will probably content themselves with doing so.

Accordingly, technology should be a seamless part of a lesson, although the more complex the technology, the harder that is to achieve. Generally, as technology becomes more sophisticated, there are more things you can tweak and pay attention to above and beyond the content of the lesson, as discussed above. On the other hand, limitations, rather than sophistication, of a technology can also interfere with "seamlessness". It may be better to teach with a sophisticated PowerPoint and projector setup than have to be constantly explaining your hastily-sketched chalk diagrams. While it's rare to have a lesson in which technology is completely unobtrusive, that's still the ideal that teachers should strive for, for the reasons discussed above.

While one should avoid over-sophisticated use of technology, the opposite tendency, eliminating technology to avoid the complications it induces, can be just as harmful. As illustrated above, the inadequacies of a simple technology often justify the use of a more sophisticated one. But the only sort of lesson that uses no technology at all is a purely oral lecture or Socratic dialogue. This sort of lesson is not without merit: I don't think it's purely accidental that speaking as an instrument of teaching has survived for so long. However, there are so many cases in which some use of technology will clarify your intent or make your knowledge more accessible to students that trying to eliminate all technology can hardly be recommended.

Finally, to attend to the specific question of Web 2.0 and its classroom uses, it is simply one of many technologies, which needs to be considered in the light of the specific lesson being taught. Web 2.0 applications tend to be collaborative and relatively complex or application-like (as opposed to the more static pages of "Web 1.0"). Using Web 2.0 applications is a good way to further lessons which would benefit from contact with people from other cultures or at remote geographical distances, and to draw on knowledge created by other users of the World Wide Web. Because of its collaborative nature, it also fits well with more constructivist lessons. Content that the teacher feels is best taught in this way is well suited to be delivered with the aid of Web 2.0.

Relative Advantage

Describe the notion of "relative advantage" with respect to improving technology implementation methods. Identify specific teaching and learning problems that technology can help address and how it can create learning opportunities that did not exist.

The term "relative advantage," in the context of educational technology, refers to the ability of technology to enhance a particular learning task in comparison to traditional methods. All technology has some cost to implement and use. To determine whether this is a cost worth paying, one must know what improvements to the learning experience will be obtained for that price.

My own field, science teaching, is a particularly opportune one for technological enhancement. Studying science often requires teachers and students to visualize complex objects or concepts which it would be impossible to depict without computer aid. Modern computers are powerfully equipped to illustrate these objects. Because the graphics they create can be changed in real time, an instructor can show students the shape of, for instance, the electron orbitals around a hydrogen atom at 90%, 95%, 99%, 99.9%... probability, showing how the probability of finding the electron tails off into the infinitesimal as it moves away from the atom. Even a highly skilled teacher would find it difficult to illustrate these on a blackboard.

On the other hand, technology is also easily misused in the classroom. Poorly constructed graphics can confuse students, mislead them, form incorrect associations and misleading analogies in their minds. We often find that the more powerful the technology, the greater the skill required to use it effectively. Edward Tufte, the dean of graphic representation in science, has powerfully demonstrated the vast differences that effective graphics make in the presentation of data. And all of us have suffered "PowerPoint poisoning" at the hands of inept presenters. Teachers introducing technology into the classroom should be careful to correctly calculate its cost — not only in dollars and cents, but in the effort that will be required from them to properly use and deploy it.