Program design and implementation (CAS HEiE) - week 3

Week 3 - Technical Infrastructure

• Interactive Class: Monday October 31: 17h00 - 19h15
• Interactive Class: Wednesday November 2: 17h00 - 19h15 (Guest presentation par Beekee)
• Public tutoring session: Friday November 4: 17h-19h

Educational Technology Overview

Educational technology is concerned with the use of technology in order to improve education. Alternative names:

• Instructional technology
• Educational communications and technology
• Learning technology
• Technology-enhanced learning
• Digital learning
• Media didactics
• EdTech
• E-learning

Educational technology is a field, educational technologies refer to various technologies used in education and learning.

All of online, classroom, workplace and informal learning can use educational technologies

Functions of a learning environment

A learning environment is a system that can be defined in terms of a set of functions that must be present.

Learning envrionment model (Sandberg, 1994)

• Each function is implemented with structures and roles. Some or all of them can be supported by technology.
• A good learning environment can have almost no technology or a lot of technology.
• Also, good technology can be very simple (paper, walls, Lego bricks, text-based virtual reality, ....)

Schulmeister (2005) distinguishes e-learning environments of type A (learning material driven) and type B (communication drivent). The former represents for example traditional distance teaching, the latter small online classes.

Schulmeister's (2005) e-learning types A and B

The great media debate

• Media are mere vehicles that deliver instruction but do not influence student achievement any more than the truck that delivers our groceries causes changes in our nutrition. (Clark, 1983)

“Whenever you have found a medium or set of media attributes which you believe will cause learning for some learners on a given task, ask yourself if another (similar) set of attributes would lead to the same learning result” and conversely “If you suspect that there may be an alternative set or mix of media that would give similar results, ask yourself what is causing these similar results” (Clark 1994:28).

• However, one can argue that different media do have different affordances: attributes of media do influence learning gains, but these attributes must be explained in terms of more general variables. E.g. the difference between an explanation in a text an in a video could be a demonstration effect.

Media “possess particular characteristics that make them both more and less suitable for the accomplishment of certain kinds of learning tasks.” (Kozma, 1994)

Discussion: How much difference does a media make ?

Typology of EdTech use

Educational technology is often tied to the type of learning and its associated pedagogic strategies:

Learning I-II-III	Major learning content types	Example designs that can use technology	Favored families of technologies
I: know that	I-a Facts : recall, description, identification, etc.	·     direct instruction ·     programed instruction ·     mastery learning ·     e-instruction	·     Presentation of contents (texts, pictures, diagrams, multimedia animations) on various technical supports.
	I-b Concepts: discrimination, categorization, discussion, etc.	·     discovery learning ·     exploratory learning	·     The computer as a library
II: know how	II-a Reasoning and procedures: inferences, deductions, etc. + procedure application	·     simulation, ·     virtual laboratory	·     Various kinds of interaction that include quizzing software, CBT, Simulations, microworlds etc.
	II-b Problem solving and production strategies: identification of sub goals + application of heuristics/methods	·     case-based learning ·     inquiry-based learning ·     problem-based learning	·     Various computer-mediated communication (CMC) tools such as email, forums, audio/video conferences, virtual environments, social software, etc.
III: knowing in action	III Situated action: action strategies in complex and authentic situations	·     project-oriented learning	·     Social software, portalware, word processors, CAD systems, simulation software, laboratory software, etc.
IV: Other	IV Other: e.g. motivation, emotion, reflection, i.e. elements that could intervene in all the other categories	·     ARCS, ·     learning portfolios	·     Tools that favor presence and reflection.

• Online services
• Authoring tools

Hype cycles

Outside of the field of research, use of technologies in education is often technology hype driven, a process that leads to mixed results. About every 15 years new players enter the field and push new technology without understanding prior experience ....

The third rule is to appreciate the historical amnesia in much of educational technology. Every few years the same ideas are reinvented and heralded as a new innovation, for instance MOOCs were proclaimed by some to be the first attempt at online learning, which had in fact been working effectively for 15 years or so. A related prediction then will be that exactly the same technologies we see now will be present in the future, but under different names.

(Martin Weller, 2019

The five stages of Gartner’s hype cycle (Source: Wikipedia)

Example

Hype Cycle example (2016, from a dead web site)

Digital literacy and autonomy

Digital literacy for teachers

• TPACK: Make sure that participants (in particular teachers) master technology and can combine tech with pedagogy and subject knowledge and the three together.
• TPACK = Content (CK), Pedagogy (PK), and Technology (TK).
• Intersections between three primary forms: Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), Technological Content Knowledge (TCK), Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK), and Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK).
• conteXtual knowledge (XK): the organizational and situational constraints that teachers work within.

Revised version of the TPACK image. © Punya Mishra, 2018/2019. Reproduced with permission

Digital literacy for learners

A similar reflection must be done regarding student readiness. Mastery of digital skills is not enough, students must be able to cope with different types of pedagogies and use technology for learning and interacting with content.

Teacher autonomy

• Services providers, do-it-yourself, coordination and definition of roles, group dynamics, road blocks, use of online services

Learner autonomy

• Personal learning environments

Learning Materials

• Learning materials includes text, interactive and non-interactive multimedia, video etc.

In higher education, text with illustrations dominates.

Single source publishing of text-book like materials

• Learning materials should in principle by delivered in a variety of formats:
  • Print version (usually PDF)
  • Online version for computers (usually HTML)
  • Hypertext version for mobile devices (usually HTML)
  • Book version of on-line reading (e.g. PDF, HTML, Epub)
  • Book version for off-line reading (e.g. Epub3)

• Example Teaching in a digital age or EduTechWiki (to a lesser degree).

User experience

• Usability
• Perceived usefulness
• Promotor score
• Pleasantness

Week 3 assignments

Week 3 mini project

• Define elements of the technical infrastructure, describe their function and how they support teaching and learning, support follow-up (learner support), community and evaluation
• Learning materials
• Hosting, service and support model

Week 3 exchange

• Examine technical infrastructure and plans for the creation of learning materials of at least to other participants and comment
• Discuss comments.