How Far Technology Has Moved Us Forward In Terms of Education and Learning?
Though this post is independent, I am sure you will get the most out of it if you read the previous one before you continue.
According to the “technology as activities” view, humans have always had innate engineering skills — designing, making, & assessing. The means through which we pass our knowledge to others have evolved since the development of the very first communication mechanism among humans. Only few of these means have made it this far. This fact embodies the very essence of the term “technology”. The invention of language is probably the biggest and the most significant technological invention in human history. Language, since its invention, has been a paramount instrument for humans to communicate and pass knowledge among and to each other. Language of course is a tool, an instrument, or a technology if you will, that is possible thanks to a natural phenomenon, which is the “sound”. And humans have used this medium to devise a communication mechanism; the spoken language.
Language was later exploited in different ways which have improved the communication part considerably — storytelling, poetry, singing, to name but a few. Language has been also used for teaching and learning purposes. In the first ages of human history, diction was used for educational purposes, and humans could not think of something else to fulfill that need. It was “sufficient”. Until the next major technological invention came; writing. Only then invisible issues related to spoken language started to appear. The problems of storing knowledge permanently, communicating and passing knowledge to someone who is far away without being there(through a messenger), establishing proofs and pressing charges, as well as other unnoticeable issues such as structuring knowledge, etc. All seem now to have a reliable solution.
New technologies, both in terms of communication mechanisms and mediums, allowed for improved communication and knowledge transmission. And as the collective human knowledge grew and got diverse and complex in its nature, the problem-solving process we used to exercise unconsciously, started to be a deliberate practice and it became an integral part of our lives. The invention of the printing press was another technological breakthrough that impacted not only the communication and the spread of knowledge, but also has dramatically influenced civilizations; impacts and benefits we still witness to this day.
The aforementioned technologies, along with others, became so ubiquitous and common to the extent that we became unaware of their presence anymore, or at least of their technological nature. They are all educational technologies through which we transfer and construct knowledge. Spoken language, writing, drawing, printing, and other tools such as the black/white-board, etc, that facilitate the former processes, are all examples of educational technologies.
So far, it seems we are doing great in terms of education and learning. In fact, it has never been better. Knowledge is accessible more than ever before.
Wait, are we really?
Maybe it is happening all over again. Maybe there are issues we cannot see. And maybe we are not getting the best out of technologies out there? Can we do something about that? Is it at least possible to know what the problems are?
Learning Technology? or Educational Technology?
Until recently, technology has no clear definition whatsoever. As explained in the previous post, over the last decades, technology definitions and our understanding of it was driven by examples of application. This has lead a to a proliferation of definitions, most of which, if not all, are flawed and incomplete. The same is true for specific types of technology, such as educational technology.
Practitioners, researchers, policy makers, designers, users, etc. Each group has their own different definition. ICT, E-learning, learning technology, Web-based technology, instructional technology, etc. Again, the problem of defining a concept through examples is obvious here. Which has affected the field negatively and caused confusion to newcomers as well as practiced engineers. For the rest of this post, I am going to use only one term that describes the usage of technology in general for learning and training purposes; educational technology.
Misconceptions
Before I proceed, though. I want to clarify something that is one of the major points of this post.
1- Educational Technology is all about technology. Rushby and Surry differentiate between “Technology in Learning” and “Technology of Learning”. The former is the consequence of the misconception we are talking about. Forcing technological instruments on education will mostly do harm more than good. An example of that is using a technology that is not meant for educational purposes originally for an educational objective. A common example is social media, and other general purpose tools.
2- EdTech is all about ICT. This misconception is the result of not having a clear definition of the term “Educational Technology”. Information and Communication Technology is certainly of vital importance in this field. However, considering it everything we need in order to solve educational issues, or that it is the most important part when it comes to EdTech is a wrong start. This also implies, as stated by Rushby and Surry, that everything related to ICT as well as the latest trends and devices can be used to support learning and education. Which is not true.
If we are to step back and try to define, or better yet redefine, educational technology in light of what was discussed in the previous post and what we said above, we might get a more accurate and promising definition. “Technology as knowledge” could help us do that and eventually allow us to be more effective and successful when it comes to solving educational issues through technology.
The AECT — Association for Educational Communications and Technology, defines educational technology as:
…the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources.
This is by far the most comprehensive and the most accurate definition of this term. We can see now that technology is only a tiny, but important, part in the process of improving education and solving its problems. To get a better idea of other important areas involved in the process and contextualize EdTech in the big picture, you can inspect the following diagram.
One of the areas EdTech works on is Learning and Performance improvement.
Working and being effective in the EdTech field involves being familiar with at least one of the other intersecting areas besides technology.
Unfortunately, we have not gotten to this point yet. We find ourselves constantly being blown away by the unbelievable things technology can accomplish now — augmented reality, virtual reality, machine learning, to name but a few. This gives us the impression that we can revolutionize nearly all other domains through these new abilities, especially education. Yet, every time a new technological innovation comes into existence, we start envisioning how it would make our world better and promising, and how it will considerably improve the society only to end up with an expectation failure after a short while. In other words, we are constantly disappointed by the unnoticeable change powerful technology brings to education. Why is this the case?
We have already talked about some issues and misconceptions that caused us to get to this point. And hopefully, the answer to this question will be clear by the end of this article.
Learning Approaches
This is not an article about learning theories, but it is critical to realize that it is of vital importance to have a fair idea and be aware of the educational and the learning approach adopted in a particular setting if we are to devise a technological solution. As we have come to conclude earlier, we are more likely to solve our problems if we have a solid understanding of the domain and phenomenon we are applying technology to.
Basically, there are three main approaches that are likely to be used in a formal educational setting. These approaches are based on three different learning theories; Behaviorism, Cognitive Information Processing(CIP), and Constructivism. With the first one as the most commonly used approach. Each of these approaches has its own intricacies; methods, procedures, roles, elements, mediums, channels, structure, and essentially everything involved in the learning approach is different for each theory.
This has implications in terms of the educational program, instructional design, pedagogy, evaluation and assessments methods, and the role of the instructor as well as the student. Thus, applying and using technology so as to improve processes involved in education and learning will be different for each different approach.
If we are not aware of these facts, solving educational problems and improving learning processes will have a short-term benefit at best, and a negative impact, at worst.
“A key problem that particularly besets information and communication technologies(ICT) in learning is that the champions tend to be well informed about the technology itself but often less competent in the broader aspects of learning.” — Rushby & Surry
You can’t Improve what you don’t Measure
There is a technological concept related to businesses called “Data Warehousing”. The principle behind this technology is that data should never be lost — intentionally or unintentionally. A Data Warehouse is of vital importance when it comes to business intelligence and business decisions. It is used as a repository for internal and external data, which is later used for analytics to support decision-making and improve business processes.
Why don’t we see this in education? At least as much as in businesses? Is education of less importance than business?
I strongly believe that if we implement only the tenth of the practice we just talked about in education, we will be somewhere else, completely — a much higher and better point than where we are now in terms of learning and education.
George Santayana explained the issue of not remembering, or not retaining data — previous experiences, failures, ideas, etc, in a much better way:
Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. In the first stage of life the mind is frivolous and easily distracted, it misses progress by failing in consecutiveness and persistence. This is the condition of children and barbarians, in which instinct has learned nothing from experience.
This is another important piece to add to the answer we are trying to build up.
An essential element
I have always wondered about the rationale behind tests and assessments, and I have always failed to come up with a convincing reason. Why do we need tests? I am not sure of your answer. And if you do not have one, I advise you to ponder over this question. My answer to it is that the reason why I would take a test is to get a glimpse of my progress in terms of the subject I am learning. I know this sounds obvious, but sadly enough, it is not. For me, a test is a way to measure not only the knowledge I gained to a point in time, but also to keep track of my perspective. Is the knowledge I gained and constructed correct? Also, it is about how I solve problems; it is not only about the content, but also about a process. It is about discovering myself and being more aware of my learning journey. Unfortunately, tests do not seem to do that.
Worse still, after a test is evaluated and graded by the instructor, often times the data the learner gets is useless. And even if the instructor is the best teacher in the world and provided a detailed feedback, there is a good chance it is still useless because the student cannot not retain that information in order to combine it with previous feedbacks and improve his learning process and cognitive abilities. I am going to stop here in terms of tests and assessments.
Recording data and keeping track of it is of critical importance not only when it comes to tests, but it is also essential for performance and learning and teaching processes. Data in educational settings should be the basis for the development of better methodologies and educational practices. Otherwise, we will keep making the same mistakes over and over again, only in different ways — which feels like we are not committing the same mistakes, and that is even worse. Rushby and Surry provide the best explanation of this issue in their book — The Wiley Handbook of Learning Technology:
In the film Groundhog Day, the protagonist is forced to experience the events of a single day over and over again. He is free to act in any way he chooses, but whatever he does the day always finishes in the same way. […] People who have been involved over any length of time with educational technology will recognize this experience, which seems characterized by a cyclical failure to learn from the past. We are frequently excited by the promise of a revolution in education, through the implementation of technology. We have the technology today, and tomorrow we confidently expect to see the widespread effects of its implementation. Yet, curiously, tomorrow never comes. (Mayes 1995, 28)
The answer
Until now, technology only got us so far. Technology has improved many aspects in education. However, even though it has the potential, it has not revolutionized education and learning yet. The reasons are that: (a) technologists do not have a close relationship with the student and the instructor, which means they will never have a complete understanding of the processes involved in learning and teaching and of the practical issues in educational settings. (b) Technologists have little to no knowledge about the science of learning and teaching(that includes instructional design, cognitive science, educational psychology, pedagogy, and everything related to the field); eventually, that is what we want to do; improve all or some of the processes involved in education. And (c), not enough attention and importance are given to recording and analyzing data related to learning and teaching in educational settings.
Of course there are other issues not related directly to education and EdTech such as accessibility and availability, the absence of cultural values, and security and privacy. These are important aspects that should be taken seriously to unlock the potential of technology so we can move to the next level in terms of education.
I want to conclude by one of my favorite statements by Thomas C. Reeves:
“We need a sea-change in the nature of our commitment to relevant as well as rigorous research and development. Rather than continuing to conduct one-off studies focused on ‘things’(e.g., tablet computers) we need to engage in long-term educational design research agendas focused on significant problems (e.g., the weak information literacy skills of learners at every level from elementary school through graduate school and beyond).”
I hope you enjoyed reading this post and got something out of it. I strongly believe education is the key to a promising and prosperous future. Help me get it to as many people as possible by clapping and sharing it.
Thank you! ^^
