Educational Psychology and Technology
Role of Technology in Education,
Role of Technology in Education, 2 Introduction The only constant is change and mankind is in a period of rapid technologically driven change. Although the personal computer and the internet are less than 30 and 20 years old, respectively, information and communication technology (ICT) has revolutionized how we live, work and communicate. The commercial mantra of smaller, faster, cheaper, smarter has put intelligent mobile devices in the hands of today’s learners, but technology has had little real impact upon education. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of technology in education because the problem will only get worse as technology improves. Learning Learning is based upon four tenets: meaningful learning is more than accumulating knowledge; knowledge and skills are linked; learning requires far transfer, being able to apply principles to a new situation; and cognitive load, transfers between long-term memory and working memory are unlimited (recall), but transfers between working memory and long-term memory (learning) are limited because working memory (seven unique pieces held for 20 seconds) can be easily overloaded (Cook & McDonald, 2008). Behaviourists and cognitivists (direct instruction) believe knowledge can be transferred, so they divide learning into small chunks from the simple to the complex. Constructivists believe knowledge cannot be transferred, but must be constructed by the individual, so they use open-ended questions to let learners construct their own answers (cognitive constructivism) and group discussions on answers to correct misconceptions (social constructivism). But an instructional approach must only be as complicated as necessary to achieve learning (Spiro, Feltovich, Jacobson, & Coulson, 1995). Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark (2006) believe that minimal, constructivist-based
Role of Technology in Education, 3 instruction: is less effective than direct instruction for novice and
Role of Technology in Education, 2 Introduction The only constant is change and mankind is in a period of rapid technologically driven change. Although the personal computer and the internet are less than 30 and 20 years old, respectively, information and communication technology (ICT) has revolutionized how we live, work and communicate. The commercial mantra of smaller, faster, cheaper, smarter has put intelligent mobile devices in the hands of today’s learners, but technology has had little real impact upon education. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of technology in education because the problem will only get worse as technology improves. Learning Learning is based upon four tenets: meaningful learning is more than accumulating knowledge; knowledge and skills are linked; learning requires far transfer, being able to apply principles to a new situation; and cognitive load, transfers between long-term memory and working memory are unlimited (recall), but transfers between working memory and long-term memory (learning) are limited because working memory (seven unique pieces held for 20 seconds) can be easily overloaded (Cook & McDonald, 2008). Behaviourists and cognitivists (direct instruction) believe knowledge can be transferred, so they divide learning into small chunks from the simple to the complex. Constructivists believe knowledge cannot be transferred, but must be constructed by the individual, so they use open-ended questions to let learners construct their own answers (cognitive constructivism) and group discussions on answers to correct misconceptions (social constructivism). But an instructional approach must only be as complicated as necessary to achieve learning (Spiro, Feltovich, Jacobson, & Coulson, 1995). Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark (2006) believe that minimal, constructivist-based
Role of Technology in Education, 3 instruction: is less effective than direct instruction for novice and
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