Recharging the
Electronic Classroom
By Dan Gordon
Current research into new media technology aims to move students beyond
the production line model of education and into an era of “constructive”
learning
When Marshall McLuhan suggested a generation ago that “the new electronic
interdependence re creates the world in the image of a global village,”
he could not have realized the extent to which his words would resonate
today. Remarkable advances in information technology have ushered in an
era of practically limitless possibilities. The Internet, born at UCLA
a little more than a quarter of a century ago, is democratizing the learning
process, making a wealth of information available to anyone for the browsing.
Digitized, networked interactivity now brings people from anywhere and
everywhere into the same room, virtually speaking.
But the dramatic changes currently taking place go far beyond mere
accessibility of information and ability to interact electronically. Researchers
are casting the new technology in ways that are revolutionizing the process
of learning. From grade school through graduate school, students are using
the computer and its myriad capabilities to explore subjects in ways that
not even the most innovative teacher could have designed or implemented
when this decade began.
Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich has likened the U.S. educational
system in its traditional, positivist form to an industrial production
line, with students passing through at a constant rate, each receiving
a fixed amount of instruction before moving on to the next level. Assessment
is often based on the student’s ability to memorize facts; whether he or
she is prepared to put these facts to use is another, more complex matter.
Can a “constructivist” approach to learning make a difference? It depends
on the learner, says Eva Baker, professor and acting dean of UCLA’s Graduate
School of Education and Information Studies. A compelling lecturer may
do just as well, or better, than a computer based program when it comes
to engaging certain students. However, Baker notes, “the general view is
that to truly understand something, people have to construct the meaning
of it themselves -- not reinvent the wheel, but take the knowledge they’re
exposed to and incorporate it into a structure they have developed.”
At UCLA, new media are augmenting traditional lectures and textbooks
with heavy doses of visualization, computation, modeling, design, interactivity
and group learning. Rather than rely on implicit acceptance of abstract
concepts and models -- as has so often been the case in the command and
control instructional formats -- with the aid of on line simulation, data
visualization and virtual reality, students are discovering for themselves
how concepts and models are generated. Texts are being digitized and integrated
with other media forms, while computer networks are facilitating virtual-learning
groups of students and allowing faculty to expand their office hours, with
student queries and faculty responses posted on-line for all to see.
Among the most important attributes of the new technologies are the
mechanisms they provide for self assessment and revision. No matter whether
a student is conducting research on the Internet, learning from a multimedia
program or collaborating in a networked environment, instructors can review
the nature of the interface and weigh its effectiveness. “We can now look
at the process as well as the outcome,” Baker explains.
“The important question is how research can be used to optimize the
use of multimedia so that it isn’t just a bells and whistles exercise,”
Baker believes. She suggests that program designers do a thorough accounting
of what it is they want students to be able to accomplish, then design
multiple routes along which students may achieve those goals. By accounting
for students’ varying learning curves, the best of the new programs exploit
the technology’s ability to individualize instruction.
The researchers featured in this article are among the many at UCLA
who are moving beyond artifice and challenging electronic technologies
to create opportunities for learning that never existed before. In the
following best case scenarios — pace McLuhan — the medium is only part
of the message.
Recharging the Electronic Classroom...
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