LESSON 3 - THE ROLES OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY IN LEARNING

"Technology makes the world a new place" 

•  Educational technology helps the learners to support and represents their ideas and knowledge. Learners will build their own knowledge and improve their learning capacities not relaying to anyone, but teachers will only facilitate the learner to learn in their own with the help of these educational technologies. Because every learner have own abilities to learn from their own way. Educational technology helps a learner explore all the knowledge they want  and   attain their goals in life

• From the traditional point of view, technology serves as source and presenter of knowledge. It is assumed that “knowledge is embedded in the technology (e.g. the content presented by films and tv programs or the teaching sequence in programmed instruction) and the technology presents that knowledge to the students.”

•   Technology like computers is seen as a productivity tool. The popularity of word processing, databases, spreadsheets, graphic programs and desktop publishing in the 1980s points to this productive role of educational technology.

•  From the constructivist point of view, educational technology serves as learning tools that learners learn with. It engages learners in “active, constructive, intentional, authentic and cooperative learning. It provides opportunities for technology and learner interaction for meaningful learning. In this case, technology will not be more delivery vehicle for content. Rather, it is used a s facilitator of thinking and knowledge construction.”

  From a constructive perspective, the following are roles of technology in learning:

• Technology as tools to support knowledge construction.
•  Technology as information vehicles for exploring knowledge to support learning-by-constructing.
• Technology as context to support learning-by-doing.
• Technology as a social medium to support learning by conversing.
• Technology as intellectual partner to support learning-by-reflecting.

•  Whether used from the traditional or constructivist point of view, when used effectively, research indicates that technology " increases students learning, understanding and achievement but also augments motivation to learn, encourages collaborative learning and supports the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills."