Instructional Design - Technology for Effective Learning

A report released by Educause Center for Applied Research note that most undergraduates today are "digital natives " who have grown up immersed in technology in some form (2007).  Out of 27,864 students surveyed at 103 two- and four-year colleges and universities, close to 61 percent of them believed that technology improved their learning.


As students become more and more connected to each other through various online mediums, they're also becoming more untethered, with laptops and smart phones keeping them physically apart. As a result, the  Web 2.0 paradigm of "immersive environments" and dynamic information promise to upend traditional pedagogies and even the way students learn, the report concluded. 


However, technology itself is no panacea. Technology can be effective for student learning only when it is used pedagogically. Related learning theory, therefore, is of importance in guiding the use of technology for teaching and learning. The links below comprise of a list of learning instances using technology or tools that are of related learning theory oriented. Click the text to view the instances.

Animation

Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. As such, animation may demonstrate some actions and/or processes that are very difficult, if not impossible, to explain with plain text.

 

Wave motion in time and space (Dynamics/Music)

Capacitance vs. Voltage of PN Junctions (Engineering)

Video on menu (Tutorial)

Molecules in motion (Biology)

 

interactive quiz

Some of the characteristics of Web 2.0 are: rich user experience, user participation, dynamic content. The two samples below show how interactive the learning could be, both were developed with Captivate. (made with Camtasia and/or Captivate)

 

Accounting Drills (Accounting)

Quiz 1  (Healthcare)

Quiz 2  (Medicine)

 

tutorials
The workshop that we do to help faculty learn tools in face-to-face settings are now easily reproduced with technology and deliver it to users anytime anywhere through the internet. Again, web 2.0 is used to represent the rich information that web 1.0 could not.  

Google Scholar (Google Search)
Uniform CPA Examination (Accounting)
Tutorials on Micromedex (Nursing/Healthcare)
tools of social constructivism orientation
Learning is a social process. It does not take place only within an individual, rather, it is a process of interaction between individuals who are members of a community. Meaningful learning occurs when individuals are engaged in social activities. Individual learners with different experience and prior knowledge negotiate meanings and reach a common ground through discussion, debate.  

authentic learning
Authentic learning is a pedagogical approach that allows students to explore, discuss, and meaningfully construct concepts and relationships in contexts that involve real-world problems and projects that are relevant to the learners. We learn what happens in the "real world", and become "cognitive apprentices" to the experts.  When we learn about math, we learn to think like mathematicians.  When we learn about the weather, we learn to use tools that a meteorologist would use.  

cognitive apprenticeship
Cognitive apprenticeship is a theory of the process where a master of a skill teaches that skill to an apprentice. It is a method of teaching aimed primarily at teaching the processes that experts use to handle complex tasks. The focus of this learning-through-guided-experience is on cognitive and metacognitive skills, rather than on the physical skills and processes of traditional apprenticeships. Students work on projects or problems with close scaffolding of the instructor. 

collaborative learning
Collaborative learning is an educational approach to teaching and learning that involves groups of learners working together to solve a problem, complete a task, or create a product. Collaborative learning is based on the idea that learning is a naturally social act in which the participants talk among themselves.   


problem-based learning
Problem-based learning is a student-centered instructional strategy in which students collaboratively solve problems and reflect on their experiences. It is an approach that challenges students to learn through engagement in a real problem. It is a format that simultaneously develops both problem solving strategies and disciplinary knowledge bases and skills by placing students in the active role of problem-solvers confronted with an ill-structured situation that simulates the kind of problems they are likely to face as future managers in complex organizations.  


  
 

URL: http://users.cstl.semo.edu/pan/index.htm
Developed at CSTL, Southeast Missouri State University
Last updated: April 28, 2009