Educational Technology Topic Guide

This guide aims to contribute to what we know about the relationship between educational technology (edtech) and educational outcomes by addressing the following overarching question: What is the evidence that the use of edtech, by teachers or students, impacts teaching and learning practices, or learning outcomes? It also offers recommendations to support advisors to strengthen the design, implementation and evaluation of programmes that use edtech. We define edtech as the use of digital or electronic technologies and materials to support teaching and learning. Recognising that technology alone does not enhance learning, evaluations must also consider how programmes are designed and implemented, how teachers are supported, how communities are developed and how outcomes are measured (see http://tel.ac.uk/about-3/, 2014). Effective edtech programmes are characterised by: a clear and specific curriculum focus the use of relevant curriculum materials a focus on teacher development and pedagogy evaluation mechanisms that go beyond outputs. These findings come from a wide range of technology use including: interactive radio instruction (IRI) classroom audio or video resources accessed via teachers’ mobile phones student tablets and eReaders computer-assisted learning (CAL) to supplement classroom teaching. However, there are also examples of large-scale investment in edtech – particularly computers for student use – that produce limited educational outcomes. We need to know more about: how to support teachers to develop appropriate, relevant practices using edtech how such practices are enacted in schools, and what factors contribute to or mitigate against successful outcomes. Recommendations: 1. Edtech programmes should focus on enabling educational change, not delivering technology. In doing so, programmes should provide adequate support for teachers and aim to capture changes in teaching practice and learning outcomes in evaluation. 2. Advisors should support proposals that further develop successful practices or that address gaps in evidence and understanding. 3. Advisors should discourage proposals that have an emphasis on technology over education, weak programmatic support or poor evaluation. 4. In design and evaluation, value-for-money metrics and cost-effectiveness analyses should be carried out

Educational Technology: Beyond the Basics

This paper addresses classroom technology as a much deeper concept than many would like to believe. It is not something to be taken lightly by only looking at what is currently available, but rather examined through a brief history, in-depth tests, and the consequences as well as the benefits of new developing technology. Furthermore it is not an issue only important for educators and administrators but requires involvement from parents and more importantly Christians to ensure that students are given the greatest opportunity possible for their future. Since technology is the future of children’s education, it is imperative that it be understood by all those involved to ensure that its benefits are maximized and its problems handled efficiently

Dialectics of Educational Technology and Reposition Islamic Education (Pai) Teacher's Role in Globalization Era

Learning technology as applied disciplines grows and evolves according to the needs of learning: more effective, efficient, spacious, and quickly in the global era. It also facilitates problem solving learning on design aspects, development, utilization, assessment processes and learning resources. Perspective of learning technology in the global era is how Islamic education (PAI) teachers professionally are able to design and create innovative learning environment with reference to the process of national education standard that sets out in the framework of national education. PAI teacher's challenge in the global erais the demands of the learning process that can improve information literacy that is well supported by data and facts to deliver to the students in the era of information society and the knowledge society. So it is needed an approach and innovative method of learning strategies that address the challenges of learning needs in the globalization and information era. Dialectics of technology on learning in a globalization era are characterized by the demands of the students to have critical thinking skills, problem solving, innovative and creative, mastering ICT, fluent communication and multi languages. And also Islamic education teacher competence and interaction and learning technologies such as ICT products that push reposition the role of an advanced teacher trainer, counselor, manager, participants, leader and author of learning works asan abstraction and a high commitment as a base quality of professionalism.Teknologi pembelajaran sebagai disiplin ilmu terapan tumbuh dan berkembang sesuai kebutuhan belajar yang lebih efektif, efisien, luas dan cepat di era global. Selain itu juga memfasilitasi pemecahan masalah belajar pada aspek desain, pengembangan, pemanfaatan, penilaian proses-proses serta sumber-sumber belajar. Perspektif teknologi pembelajaran di era global adalah bagaimana guru PAI secara profesional mampu mendesain dan menciptakan lingkungan belajar yang inovatif dengan mengacu pada standar proses pendidikan nasional yang ditetapkan dalam kerangkan pendidikan nasional. Tantangan guru PAI di era global adalah tuntutan terhadap proses pembelajaran yang mampu meningkatkan information literacy yang baik didukung oleh data dan fakta untuk mengantarkan siswanya menuju pada era masyarakat informasi dan masyarakat ilmu pengetahuan. Sehingga dibutuhkan pendekatan strategi dan metode inovatif pembelajaran yang mampu menjawab tantangan kebutuhan pembelajaran pada era globalisasi dan informasi. Dialektika teknologi terhadap proses pembelajaran di era global diwarnai dengan tuntutan terhadap siswa mempunyai keterampilan dalam berpikir kritis, memecahkan masalah, inovatif dan kreatif, menguasai ICT, komunikasi lancar, multi bahasa. Serta interaksi kompetensi guru PAI dan produk teknologi pembelajaran berupa ICT yang mendorong reposisi peran guru menjadi pelatih, konselor, manajer, partisipan, pemimpin serta pengarang karya pembelajaran sebagai daya abstraksi dan komitmen yang tinggi sebagai basis kualitas profesionalisme

The promises of educational technology: a reassessment

The claims made for educational technology have not always been realized. Many programmes in education based on media and technology have produced useful documentation and supportive research; others have failed. The current, comprehensive definition of educational technology is a helpful key to understanding how a problem-solving orientation is necessary to approach teaching/learning designs. The process of educational technology begins with an analysis of the problem, rather than with the medium as a solution. Examples of appropriate applications come from open universities and primary schools where distance, time, insufficient personnel, and inadequate facilities have led to a search for alternative means for teaching and learning. Less successful programmes tended to have confused goals and an emphasis on one medium. They also lacked: support services, staff training, quality software and a system focus. The threads which run through the more successful programmes are described. The lessons learned from fifty years of media and technology development in education and training are discussed with an eye toward the future. It is clear that educational technology as a problem-solving process will lead the field into the twenty-first century

Ownership of New Works at the University: Unbundling of Rights and the Pursuit of Higher Learning

This booklet offers a framework for present and future discussions of issues surrounding the ownership of intellectual property. It addresses three concepts which are important for education and for the creation and use of information. First, the initial ownership of newly created intellectual property in traditional university settings, and the subsequent disposition of the associated ownership rights, often has been unguided—sometimes to the detriment of teaching, learning, and research. Second, the effectiveness of higher education requires a better understanding of how ownership rights associated with new intellectual property promote the mutual benefit of faculty, staff, students and their learning communities. Third, new models for the allocation of intellectual rights must be considered and designed which anticipate the influence of new technologies on teaching, learning, research, and creative activity in American universities

Already at a disadvantage? ICT in the home and children's preparation for primary school. (ICT Research Bursaries 2004 - Final Report)

The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of socio-economic disadvantage on pre-school children's development of competences in information and communications technologies (ICT). The study focuses on children's experiences of ICT in the home and in pre-school settings in the year before they begin formal education, and seeks to investigate concepts of advantage and disadvantage in this context. The study also aims to investigate teachers' perceptions of children's ICT competences on entry to school

Social technologies for online learning: theoretical and contextual issues

Three exemplars are presented of social technologies deployed in educational contexts: wikis; a photo-sharing environment; and a social bookmarking tool. Students were found to engage with the technologies selectively, sometimes rejecting them, in the light of their prior conceptions of education. Some students (a minority in all the studies) were unsympathetic to the educational philosophy underpinning the technology’s adoption. The paper demonstrates, through an examination of in-context use, the importance of socio-cultural factors in relation to education, and the non-deterministic nature of educational technology. The academic study of technology has increasingly called into question the deterministic views which are so pervasive in popular discourse and among policy makers. Instead, socio-cultural factors play a crucial role in shaping and defining technology and educational technology is no exception, as the examples in the paper show. The paper concludes by drawing out some implications of the examples for the use of social technologies in education

Digital learning objects: A need for educational leadership

Despite increasing interest in technology-assisted education, technology-based instructional design still lacks support from a reliable body of empirical research. This dearth of reliable information hampers its integration into mainstream school systems. In fact, many teachers remain resistant to using technology in the classroom. In order to overcome teacher resistance to technology in the classroom, we have sought to follow a process described by Friesen to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the educational use of digital learning objects (DLOs) from the teachers' point of view. This article explores the opportunities and challenges inherent in using digital learning objects and reports on the impact of DLO use at both the classroom and school levels. By providing research that links students' use of DLOs with the development of key competencies, we hope to sharpen teachers' visions of how DLOs can help them achieve their educational goals, and to encourage DLO uptake for educational purposes. Finally, we envision a DLO that can assist school principals in the facilitation of educational leadership and help transform teachers' attitudes toward technology-based teaching