The Roles of Educational Technology in Learning

The Roles of Educational Technology in Learning

Why do we make use of technology? it's been many years since technology arrived in our classrooms and we can't deny the fact that it brought a great deal of help to us students. 

From the traditional point of view. technology serves as a source and presenter of knowledge. It is assumed that knowledge is embedded in technology and that technology presents the knowledge to the students.

From the constructivist point of view, educational technology serves as a learning tools that learners learn with. It engages learners in active, constructive, intentional, authentic and cooperative learning. Learners make use of technology as facilitator of thinking and knowledge construction.

The Roles of Technology in Learning:

• Technology as tools to support knowledge construction: for representing learners' ideas, understandings and beliefs, for producing organized multimedia knowledge bases by learners
• Technology as information vehicles for exploring knowledge to support learning-by constructing: for accessing needed information , for comparing perspectives, beliefs and world views.
• technology as a context to support learning-by-doing: for representing and simulating meaningful real-world problems, situations and contexts, for representing beliefs, perspectives, arguments and stories of others.
• Technology as a social medium to support learning by conversing: for collaborating with others, for discussing, arguing and building consensus among members of community.
• Technology as intellectual partner to support learning by reflecting: For helping learners to articulate and represent what they know, for reflecting on what they have learned and how they came to know it, for supporting mindful thinking.

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 supports augments motivation to learn, encourages collaborative learning and supports the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills.