Educational
Technology
Under Revision
Designing Delivery and Management Strategies
With a variety of educational media resources available to teachers, one of the first decisions that they need to make is which medium is going to be the most effective. Over the past few decades, teachers have become accustomed to using overhead projectors, VCRs, filmstrips, cassette players, and slide projectors to supplement the traditional methods of instructional delivery such as textbooks, chalkboards, and lectures. Computer the Internet and other technological advances offer teachers challenging new ways to deliver instruction.
These new media provide a variety of learning strategies which may help teachers meet the needs of their students. However, teachers will need to adjust their teaching methodologies and make careful decisions about which media will be the most effective.
Select methods, media, and materials to meet the needs of the audience and to address course objectives. Media differ in their characteristics and in their suitability for different purposes. Computers and lectures are interactive. Video or audio and presentations are not interactive and not only require learners to be passive but to proceed at a predetermined pace. Media may demonstrate either visual or audio characteristics, or both. Whenever possible, both characteristics of media and learner characteristics should be considered and accomodated.
Generally, instructional designers feel that instructional products should be adaptable to individual learning styles and that different learning styles should be considered when selecting media. Instructional products should also be adaptable for use by persons with disabilities. Instructional media should accommodate learners with learning disabilities, visual or hearing impairments, and motor disabilities.
The suitability of media are also variously suited to instructional contexts. Projected media like PowerPoint are generally better suited to the lecture hall than to individualized instruction since they contain a limited amount of information and instructors tend to elaborate on the information contained in each slide. Interactive media such as the Internet may be well suited to individualized instruction since learners are able to explore information linked tocontent Web pages.
In Distance Education: A Systems View, Michael Moore and Greg Kearsley describe the steps required for media selection:
Identify the media attributes
required by the instructional objectives or learning activities.
Identify the student characteristics
that suggest or preclude certain media.
Identify characteristics of
the learning environment, which favor or preclude certain media.
Identify economic or organizational
factors, which may affect the feasibility of certain media.
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Factors Influencing Media Selection:
* Learning Task
* Learner Characteristics
* Context
* Organization
Strategy
Learning Task Considerations
1. Which objectives can be reached
by the learners on their own?
2. Which objectives can be achieved
through interaction between
learners
themselves?
3. Which objectives can be achieved
through formal presentation and
through interaction
between teacher and learner?
Learner Characteristics
1. Which students have a sense
of responsibility for their own achievement?
2. What is the student's degree
of prior knowledge and ability level?
3. Students' preferences for
grouping should be considered whenever possible.
Context
1. What facilities, equipment,
and production capabilities are available?
2. What are teacher preferences?
What teacher
training resources, aides, and management
devices
are available?
Management Criteria
1. Access
to instructional materials should be easy.
2. Learners should be assessed
as to their readiness for the instruction.
3. Learners should be directed
to appropriate sections of instruction with minimum time and effort.
4. Each step, section, or assignment
should include navigational guides, transitions or references.
5. Instructional elements should
be identified in terms of both content and purpose.
6. Assessment should be documented
so that both management and learners know precisely what is required, when
work should be completed, and what standards apply.
7. Exit from the instruction
should be well documented and diagnostic of future needs.
8. Record keeping should be
adequate for organizational purposes.
Organization Strategies
Would the material be most effectively
presented or examined individually or in a group setting?
The WWW, Web Pages & Hypertext
Computer based instruction or
computer assisted instruction has usually been thought of as any type of
instruction using computers including drills, tutorials, and simulations.
However with the development of materials on the Internet, we should also
consider hypertext to be a form of CBI. Hypertext materials can be used
by individual students or in group situations. Hypertext can present new
material or it can be used to reinforce classroom instruction.
Sites
From Revolution to Reconstruction
Distance Education
Distance Education offers a variety of options. In its simplest form, many instructors are putting their course schedules and syllabi on the Internet for students to access whenever necessary. Some are making their lecture notes or class outlines available.
History 121 at CFCC
Dr. Ellis L. Knox Lecture Notes for Western Civilization
With the use of fiber optics,
it is feasible to use the Internet and E-Mail to conduct classes which
are supported by technology or taught entirely by means of the Internet.
College Writing on the Internet
Programs such as CuSeeMe allow an instructor at one site to teach to students at other sites on campus or at sites on campuses across the country.
Rationale for Web-Based Instruction
An Educational Environment Using WWW
Learning
in Hyperspace
Learning
in Hyperspace
Interacting
in Hyperspace
Interacting
in Hyperspace
Delivering Instruction on the World Wide Web
Back issues of the School Improvement Research Series
Does
Higher Education Need What Technology Has to Offer?
Articles from Active Learning
World Wide Web - what can it do for education?
Teaching on the Internet is Learning
Teaching and learning on the Internet
The benefits of using multimedia in higher education: myths and realities
Can learning via multimedia benefit weaker students?
Using
the World Wide Web
for the management of online learning resources
Some active learning implications of the information era
Issue 6 Embedding technology into teaching
Issue 7 Teaching in the twenty-first century
CTI
Primers
These primers are intended to provide a brief introduction
to a range of technology and learning issues. They have been written to
help academics understand the new technologies available and integrate
them effectively into their courses, with the emphasis on active and student-centred
learning, and can be downloaded as PDF files and printed off or used online
as a gateway to further resources.
The Technology Source The Archives
FNO The Education Technology Journal
Educom
Review :
Learning, Communications & Information Technology
Educational Resources Information Center
Instructional Technology Research Online
International Technology Education Association
Technology Counts The State of the States
Educational Technology Network
ERIC Question & Answer Service PedagoNet Search Education-line
e.journalEducation World The Internet Public Library Kid's Web
The Library of Congress Randall Library
ELECTRONIC, TEXTS, BOOKS, ZINES
Berkeley
Digital Library SunSite
