Roles of Educational

Technology in Learning
Jan Beau-J P. Napalan, LPT
Lecturer
 Technology
• Technology can play a traditional role, i.e., as
delivery vehicles for instructional lessons or in a
constructivist way as partners in the learning
process.

• In the constructivist approach, technology is a

learning tool to learn with, not from. It makes the
learner gather, think, analyze, synthesize
information and construct meaning with what
technology presents.
 Traditional
• technology serves as a source and presenter of
knowledge.

• “knowledge is embedded in the technology and the

technology presents that knowledge to the student”
(David H. Jonassen, et al, 1999).

• Technology like computers is seen as a productivity

tool.
 Constructivist
• educational technology serves as learning tools that
learners learn with.

• technology will not be mere delivery vehicle for

content, Rather it is used as facilitator of thinking
and knowledge construction.
 Roles (Jonassen, et al 1999)
•  Technology as tools to support knowledge
construction:

• for representing learners' ideas, understandings

and beliefs

• for producing organized, multimedia knowledge

bases by learners
 Roles (Jonassen, et al 1999)
• Technology as information vehicles for exploring
knowledge to support learning-by-constructing:

• for accessing needed information

• for comparing perspectives, beliefs and world

views
 Roles (Jonassen, et al 1999)
• Technology as 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

• for defining a safe, controllable problem space

for student thinking
 Roles (Jonassen, et al 1999)
• Technology as a social medium to support
learning by conversing:

• for collaborating with others

• for discussing arguing, and building consensus

among members of a community

• for supporting discourse among knowledge-

building communities
 Roles (Jonassen, et al 1999)
• Technology as intellectual partner (Jonassen
1996) 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
 Roles (Jonassen, et al 1999)
• Technology as intellectual partner (Jonassen
1996) to support learning-by-reflecting:

• for supporting learners internal negotiations and

meaning making

• for constructing personal representations of

meaning - for supporting mindful thinking
 Whether this or that
• "increases students learning, understanding and
achievement but also augments motivation to
learn, encourages collaborative learning and
supports the development of critical thinking and
problem-solving skills“

(Schacter and Fagnano, 1999).

 Whether this or that
• “proper implementation of technology in the
classroom gives students more control of their
own learning and... tends to move classrooms
from teacher dominated environments to ones
that are more learner-centered.”

Russell and Sorge (1999)

 Application
a) Water samples from ponds, streams and faucets
were analyzed locally, then transmitted to
researchers who pooled the data and returned
them to all sites, where students drew
conclusions and compared them with those of
other classes (Jonassen, 1999).
 Application
b) Students were asked to give a graphic
presentation of the causes and effects of
alcoholism.

c) Students were asked to conduct an in-depth

research on the causes and effects of global
warming by the extensive use of books, journals
and the Internet and to give a powerpoint
presentation of their findings
 Application
d) Students were assigned to gather proposals from
various sectors on how to solve the present rice
crisis and on how to prevent the same in the
future and make a video presentation on their
interviews.

e) Student groups were asked to read and analyze

a comic strip and present their own thinking
also by way of a comic strip.
 Application
Question:

The constructivists' thinking is this: Technology

cannot teach students. Rather, learners should use
the technologies to teach themselves and others. Do
you agree with the constructivists?
 Application
Question:

Is there anything pedagogically wrong with the

traditional use of technology as a presenter of
knowledge like the teacher as a source of
knowledge?
 Roles of Educational
Technology in Learning
Jan Beau-J P. Napalan, LPT
Lecturer