ICT in Education

All about: How people learn (and What technology might have to do with it) (Driscoll, M.P. 2002)

April 22, 2007

Driscoll, M.P. (2002). How People Learn (and What Technology Might Have To Do with It). ERIC Digest. ED470032

This is one of the best articles I’ve come across so far (and one of the shortest, which might help

Driscoll provides a simple and effective overview of factors that influence learning and examines the ways in which technology can be used in each case. My comments appear in blue italics
Learning occurs in context:

• learners attempt to make sense of something new and unfamiliar by drawing upon their prior understandings and experiences
• offering new knowledge in some kind of context makes it easier for learners to apply appropriate prior knowledge
• real world contexts are generally the most widely shared and add relevance to content
• problem solving in the form of games, puzzles and simulations can be made engaging using multimedia technology
• adding complexity makes them challenging and even more engaging
• building skills through sequential exercises allows learners to transfer new knowledge to newer problems

Learning is active:

• Tell me, I forget. Show me, I remember. Involve me, I understand. (Chinese proverb)
• “When students become active participants in the knowledge construction process, the focus of learning shifts from covering the curriculum to working with ideas (Scarmadalia, 2002)”
• Technology tools provide “the means through which individuals engage and manipulate both resources and their own ideas (Hannafin, Land & Oliver 1999)” As opposed to pen and paper? Actually, computer tools would still be easier and more effective here, you’re right
• Other technology tools help to represent knowledge and facilitate communication – e.g. visualisation tools
• Simulations can enable learners to model complex ideas

Learning is social:

• Students benefit from hearing perspectives other than their own in group work. Importance of peer opinion - Just today the Beyond Blue foundation (for depression) was talking about teaching teens the skills to help depressed friends.
• Students may bring different strengths to a complex and lengthy activity
• Learning, then, amounts to increasing participation in and contribution to the practices of a social community
• Concepts such as knowledge building, apprenticeship, and mentoring become paramount, as learners are conceived to be under the tutelage of more experienced peers or instructors.
• A social view of learning focusses attention on making connections among students within a school and between students in the school and the broader community. What about quieter students though – shy ones and less literate ones?
• Students can use software to collaborate “by creating ‘notes’ to express their ideas or integrate outside information about a topic. Then they read and respond to the notes of others, all of which builds a communal database producing shared knowledge about the topic or problem” Like something between a blog and a wiki? More like a blog really
• This can provide opportunities for students to “improve their understanding and become more personally involved in explaining scientific phenomena”

Learning is reflective:

• “Learning is facilitated when students get feedback about their thinking whether that feedback comes from within, a teacher or a peer” Emphasis on source of feedback comes back to the material being taught to an extent
  
• “Then provided the opportunity for revision, students can achieve at higher levels and reach deeper understandings”
• “Many… technology examples… facilitate discussion in the dialogue that they promote among learners. Where dialogue or discussion is not inherent in the tool, teachers bear the responsibility of initiating and guiding it”

My general observations:

Driscoll has succeeded in helping me to get some key concepts of collaborative work – the usefulness of feedback from all sources mainly – that had been eluding me.

My personal feeling is still that group work is rarely shared evenly and can often cover up for learners who don’t understand everything by allowing them to emphasise their strengths in other parts of the project.

What about the use of competition in collaborative work /projects? Could be a motivator for some (possibly a turn off for others though)

Providing a structure for reflection (much like the one listed in my previous post here ) is important – and sadly I think that so is making it an assessable part of the work with clearly stated guidelines and expectations.

Great article though Marcy Driscoll, thanks heaps

Entry Filed under: 911, constructivism, games in education, multimedia, pedagogy, scenarios, strategies, technology. .