Why Use Instructional Technology?

While only the faculty member can determine if instructional technology is appropriate in a given instance, there are some general implications worth serious consideration.

The value of using information technology in teaching is the subject of much debate. The many studies of its educational impact have produced contradictory results perhaps because of dissimilar interventions and environments.

Because existing data are contradictory, practitioners must set personal goals and benchmarks against which they can gauge the value of instructional technology. These can only be derived from the pedagogical imperatives, not from the technology.

In this context, we follow Chickering and Ehrmann's lead (Implementing the Seven Principles - Technology as Lever, A. W. Chickering & S. C. Ehrmann). In analyzing how instructional technology can help in teaching, they rely upon the American Association for Higher Education's "Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education" from 1987. The Principles, which are based on empirical research, are well respected, and have been distributed very widely. The seven principles are associated with effective teaching outcomes. By this analysis, good teaching practice

1. Increases student/teacher interaction
2. Increases student/student interaction
3. Involves active learning
4. Increases time on task
5. Provides rich and rapid feedback
6. Sets high expectations
7. Respects and provides for different talents and styles of learning

In the right context, each of these goals can be enhanced by judicious use of information technology in the classroom:

1. Increases student/teacher interaction
   Advanced instructional technology provides new modes of communication, including electronic mail, on-line discussion groups, and electronic exchange of documents. Any or all can help make faculty more available, without the limitations and inefficiency of formal office hours.
2. Increases student/student interaction
   The same technologies than can enhance interaction between students and faculty also can facilitate student/student interaction. While most students live together on campus, some do not, and even those who do typically don't socialize as class groups. Electronic discussions, electronic document exchange and e-mail can help them interact as a class at times that suit their schedules. Most of these methods don't even require that participants use the services at the same time (so-called "asynchronous" use).
3. Involves active learning
   Most World Wide Web sites permit or even require the reader to apply structure to the information to be learned. Through a method called hypertext, the author can create active links within a text, and to sources beyond it (as in this document). While the pages of a book can be browsed in any sequence, a book's structure is still ultimately linear. An author can create a hypertext with a suggested structure, but it will remain no more than a suggestion. The learning experience is ultimately structured by the reader's mouse clicks. Furthermore, links may extend to sources beyond the text itself. Active learning is just this type of learning, where the interests of the learner give shape to the process, and where the learner is free to follow his or her own inclinations.
4. Increases time on task
   Most faculty believe strongly that our job is to educate, and not entertain. However, in the same way that a beautifully printed, nicely indexed, and attractive book invites us to linger and continue to explore, so, too, can dynamic, attractive materials keep the student involved with an assignment. "Flash" will never substitute for substance, but as with books - and classrooms - attractive and engaging materials can be motivating.
5. Provides rich and rapid feedback
   Computers are very patient, which is of especially great importance when teaching novices. Computers can also administer skills tests for very immediate feedback. Based on these test results, some systems can even offer additional training and additional customized tests, until the student has mastered the materials. Such methods are most appropriate for basic skills and concepts (ex., foreign language learning, math skills, basic English, etc.)
6. Sets high expectations
   Instructional technology can provide enormously rich materials and structured feedback. Also, information technology can provide access to current, professional information sources, such as on-line databases. In addition, electronic publication of student works is becoming common. Each of these can be used to communicate - and help faculty formulate - high expectations.
7. Respects and provides for different talents and styles of learning
   Lectures and discussions are the most common modes of interaction with a class. Students respond to them in different ways. Some students are quick to learn from lectures - a primarily auditory method, sometimes in combination with visual aids. Other students would do much better if all materials were written out, or if they could refer to extensive daily course outlines. Some instructors make this kind of resource available on line. Some students enjoy and thrive in class discussions; shy students however, might do better with electronically-based discussions. One statistics student might easily understand algebraic proofs, while her classmate might benefit from graphical demonstrations and hands-on exploration and modeling. In each of these cases, different technologies accommodate different learning styles. Obviously, it is not practical to design every class in multiple "modalities", but it's clear that the technology can provide the faculty member with powerful options.

Inevitable Change

Additional reasons to think seriously about instructional technology are listed in a paper entitled "Why Bother?" by Steven W. Gilbert, President of the Technology, Learning and Technology Group. They are also derived from the "Information Revolution" itself. Information technology is bringing many fundamental changes to scholarship, including

• How scholars conduct information research
• Who collaborators and colleagues are, and how they relate to one another
• How scientists collect data
• How new knowledge is published and where

Because these issues are important to our disciplines and to scholarship, we should consider their implications for teaching. Many individuals in our fields now argue that new economic realities and the information revolution itself are going to radically change higher education. It is probably worth exploring the new technologies as we explore these challenging questions, and seek answers for our institution.

The rate of change - and its extent - are both very likely to increase.

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