Enhancing the quality of learning: dispositions, instruction, and learning processes by JOHN R. KIRBY & MICHAEL J. LAWSON

Author:JOHN R. KIRBY & MICHAEL J. LAWSON
Language: eng
Format: mobi, pdf
Tags: Cognition, Psychology of., Educational Psychology, Learning
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2013-08-30T18:30:00+00:00

Cambridge Books Online

http://ebooks.cambridge.org/

Enhancing the Quality of Learning

Dispositions, Instruction, and Learning Processes

Edited by John R. Kirby, Michael J. Lawson

Book DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139048224

Online ISBN: 9781139048224

Hardback ISBN: 9780521199421

Paperback ISBN: 9780521145497

Chapter

11 - Using Technology to Foster Meaningful Learning Environments pp. 2

28-248

Chapter DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139048224.014

Cambridge University Press

11

Using Technology to Foster Meaningful

Learning Environments

Neil H. Schwartz & Richard F. Schmid

Abstract

When learning is of high quality , it is well integrated and deep, and capable

of being transferred to new problems and applications beyond the original

context in which the learning takes place. One way to ensure that learning

is of high quality is to design learning environments that strategically uti-

lize processes and tools that support meaningful learning. Over the past

two decades, there has been an explosion in the development of sophis-

ticated digital devices that have the capacity to leverage our knowledge

of how people learn into powerful educational tools. In this chapter, we

address ways in which technology might be understood by teachers so that

these devices can be successfully used to enhance the processes and out-

comes of learning. We begin with an examination of the reasons teachers

tend to avoid, or severely limit, the infusion of technological tools , but at

the same time are positively transformed by using them. Next, we present

activity theory as a lens through which the value of technological tools can

be realized to inform teaching-learning exchanges. Finally, we explore the

empirical research to determine whether, and to some extent why, students

really experience higher-quality learning through technology . Our con-

clusion via massive empirical evidence is that technology can signii cantly

improve learning environments , but only when properly implemented –

that is, improving pedagogy.

According to Lawson and Kirby (Chapter 1 in this volume), when learn-

ing is of high quality, it is well integrated and deep, capable of being trans-

ferred to new problems and applications beyond the original context in

which the learning takes place. Of course, quality is the sine qua non

of all valuable enterprises, and learning is no exception. A major issue,

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Using Technology

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however, is how quality can be infused into educational practice and sus-

tained there so that both the processes and outcomes of learning are authentic

and useful.

One way to ensure that learning is of high quality is to use tools that are

ef ective in building such quality. In the last twenty years, these tools have

become increasingly technological – computer-based technological devices

in the form of desktop, laptop, and palmtop computers, smart boards, smart

pens, and other learning appliances. h

ese appliances are capable of tak-

ing notes, connecting to the Internet, storing contacts, reading documents,

creating original material, and communicating in real time or threaded

discussions with others around the world. In short, to help generate learn-

ing of high quality, we can now make use of “technological achievements

at the end of the twentieth century that have revolutionized the way people

communicate, exchange ideas, inform one another, and learn” (Schwartz ,

2008 , p. 389).

In the present chapter, we examine the way technological tools need to

be understood by teachers, and the way the devices can be successfully used

to enhance the processes and outcomes of learning.

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