INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY INTO CONTENT AREA

Integrating Technology into Content Area

Integrating Technology into Content Area

Introduction

Learning environments represent ambitious pedagogy and strive for ambitious outcomes. The designers of these environments are committed to transforming schools and classrooms into dynamic places where teachers teach more effectively and students learn more deeply. Design-based research is a new approach that strengthens the bridge between learning theory and educational practice and advances our understanding of both (Roblyer, 2008). Design work is challenging and complex, requiring collaborations among educational researchers, teachers, disciplinary experts, school leaders, and others. The work is vital for improving schools to meet the needs of our rapidly changing knowledge-based and technological society. The schools of the future are on the horizon and the interdisciplinary efforts of designers promise to create innovative environments that will serve as a foundation for the next generation of schools (Papert, 2007). Does technology improve learning? Mary was sure that if researchers had compelling evidence that students learn more or faster with technology then widespread adoption would have happened by now. So because that has not happened, Mary was pretty sure this proof did not exist. What she found early in her investigation were some studies that demonstrated gains while others did not.

Some researchers made lofty claims and others found no effect. She soon learned to rely on meta-analyses as much as possible (Cuban, 2009). Thus, conflicting findings on the effectiveness of technology in the classroom, for example, become more interpretable. Mary first examined research findings chronologically beginning with the 1970s, in order to see if maybe older technologies (that perhaps delivered more behaviorist, discrete content) were in some ways more effective than today's technology-enhanced learning environments (TELEs) that tend to support ill-structured problem solving. She then turned her attention to the practical matter of technology's effectiveness in specific content areas.

Discussion

In practice, that encompasses several distinct areas of effort. One is planning and installation of technology for education. Since the mid-1970s, this technology has increasingly meant the computers used to teach and manage learning and related activities, but it also includes other hardware and operating technologies, from film and audio equipment to LCD projectors and other sophisticated projection systems (Barren, 2009). A second area of focus for educational technologists is educational software. Some educational technologists develop learning programs that can be taken on a computer.

These programs can be synchronous (occur when learner and instructor are both online at the same time, such as in a chat) or asynchronous (instructor or learner are not online at the same time, such as in a self-study tutorial). (Bell, Schrum & Thompson 2008)Other educational technologists develop software tools that are used to develop these learning programs, such as virtual classroom software (like WebEx and Centra) used to provide synchronous learning experiences, and software for creating tutorials, called authoring tools (such as Dreamweaver Course Builder and Authorware). This software focus is reflected in the definition of educational technology offered by the International Technology Education Association (ISTE): 'Using multimedia technologies or audiovisual aids as a ...