Implications For Educational Technology
Winn made significant contributions to the field of educational technology as evident by his extensive research in this area. The following is a list of eight suggestions provided by Winn (2002) for those researchers who are also working in this field, or for future researchers. This list provides useful information on how practitioners can reduce factors that may disrupt research findings and thus assist in improving educational technology research.
- Instructors should not use metaphors that may confuse students or prevent them from understanding concepts.
- Computer learning environments yield greater results when conducted under a constructivist approach. Instructors should allow for mistakes and should not use virtual environments to teach basic facts.
- Educational technology is not a sufficient method for teaching. Educators should implement activities and other methods of communication into their lessons.
- Students must understand the task they have to accomplish and they require scaffolding to obtain their end goal.
- Educators must implement social context in the technology driven learning environment, and acknowledge sharing and collaboration amongst students.
- Educators should involve experts from the outside community in order to make their teaching effective.
- Educators should promote that the students make changes to their learning environment, as this will allow educators to obtain information about student learning.
- Educators, students, and researchers should work as a team since they all contribute to the improvement of educational technology research.
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