INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND LEARNING IN THE INFORMATION
AGE SCHOOL
DR. ROSS J. TODDSchool of Communication,
Information and Library StudiesRutgers, The State University
of New [email protected]
www.scils.rutgers.edu/~rtodd
Technological Change
1708
“Students today can’t prepare bark to calculate their problems. They depend
on their slates which are more expensive. What will they do when the slate is dropped and breaks? They will
be unable to write”
(Teachers’ Conference, 1708)
Technological Change
1815
“Students depend on paper too much. They can’t clean a slate properly.
What will they do when they run out of paper?
(Principal’s publication, 1815)
Technological Change
1907
“Students today depend too much on ink. They don’t know how to use a pen knife to sharpen a pencil. Pen and ink
will never replace the pencil”
(National Association of Teachers Journal)
Technological Change
1928
“Students today depend upon store-bought ink. They don’t know how to
make their own. This is a sad commentary on modern education”
(Rural Teacher, 1928)
Technological Change
1941
“Students today depend upon these expensive fountain pens. They can no
longer write with a straight pen and nib. We parents must not allow them
to wallow in such luxury to the detriment of learning ”
(PTA Gazette, 1941)
Technological Change
1950
“Ball-point pens will be the ruin of education in this country. Students
use devices and then throw them away. Businesses and banks will
never allow such expensive luxuries ”
(Federal Teachers Journal, 1950)
Technological Change
1976
“I can never imagine that anyone would ever need more than 640K”
(Bill Gates, once a school boy library monitor)
Information Technology: The Promise• flexibility to meet the individual needs and abilities• immediate access to richer source materials • present information in new, relevant ways which help students to
understand, assimilate and use it more readily • motivate and stimulate learning • enhance learning for students with special needs • motivate students to try out new ideas and to take risks • encourage analytical and divergent thinking • reduce the risk of failure at school • encourage teachers to take a fresh look at how they teach and the
ways in which students learn • help students learn when used in well-designed, meaningful tasks
and activities • offer potential for effective group work.
• http://production.edna.edu.au/sibling/learnit/itpot.html 1996
Are search enginesmaking today's
students dumber?
The Learning Return on our IT Investment: Research to Date
• Significant positive effect on achievement. • Use of online IT for collaboration across classrooms in
different geographic locations has also been shown to improve academic skills.
• Positive effects on student attitudes toward learning and on student self-concept: more successful in school, more motivated to learn; increased self-confidence and self-esteem when using computer-based instruction.
• Technology is most powerful when used as a tool for problem solving, conceptual development, and critical thinking; This involves students using technology to gather, organize, and analyze information, and using this information to solve problems
Current Research Suggests..
• Changes brought about by technology are more evolutionary than revolutionary.
• Level of effectiveness of educational technology is influenced by the teacher’s role in instruction, how the students are grouped, and the level of student access to the technology.
• Constructivist or student-centered approaches are better suited to fully realizing the potential of computer-based technology.
• inquiry, collaborative, technological, and problem-solving skills developed using technology can lead to increased positive impact on students’ independence and feelings of responsibility for their own learning.
INFORMATION AND TECHNICAL LITERACIES
The scaffolds for effective engagement and utilisation of
information in all its forms (electronic, print, popular culture)
for constructing sense, understanding and new
knowledge
Learning through Information Technology:3 Essential Dimensions
• Understand the complex nature of information in this digital environment
• Understand how students use this digital environment, and how they learn, or don’t learn, through it
• Understand the pedagogical implications: effective instructional design
THE TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE
InformationMisinformationMalinformation
Messed up informationUseless information
(Burbles, 1997)
THE TANGLED WEB WE WEAVE
InformationMisinformationDisinformation
(Floridi, 1996)
Disinformation & Misinformation
• Disinformation: Deliberate attempt to mislead or deceive, resulting in inaccurate information; arises whenever the process of information is defective:Lack of objectivity: eg. PropagandaLack of completeness: eg. Lack of evidenceLack of pluralism: eg. Range of viewpointsLack of security: eg technical mishandling, virus, hacking
• Misinformation: An honest mistake, unknowing misrepresentation of facts; out of date
• Result: availability of inaccurate information
Students on the WWW
Some ResearchEvidence
Learning in an Information Age School
• Understand the complex nature of information in this digital environment
• Understand how students use this digital environment, and how they learn, or don’t learn, through it
• Understand the pedagogical implications: effective instructional design
Electronic Information Seeking(McNicholas & Todd, 1996)
• Design of research activities: foster construction or foster replication (plagiarism)
• Constructing an appropriate search• Working with search engines• Critiquing web sites and making quality
assessments of the information• Constructing personal understanding
Connecting with WWW Information: Research tells us• High levels of information overload• Inability to manage and reduce large
volumes of information• Failure to retrieve documents based on
aboutness / topicality• Formulating ineffective search queries• Lack of in-depth examination of sites
Connecting with WWW Information: Research tells us• Failure to utilise Boolean operators• High levels of insecurity and uncertainty• Lack of understanding of search engines• Simplistic searches based on guesswork or
novice knowledge• High expectation of technology to make up
for poor searching techniques• Limited use of systematic, analytic-based
strategies
Interacting with WWW Information: Research tells us
• Range of coping strategies: including accepting errors and delegation
• Absence of critical and evaluative skills• Not questioning the accuracy or authority
of information• Inappropriately favouring visual cues
Utilising WWW information: Research tells us
• Information management issues: time, workloads, deadlines
• Make use of any somewhat-relevant sites• Tendency to plagiarise• Willingness to construct answers on
limited information
How do Birds Sing?
Cybercheating goes digital
www.schoolsucks.com
www.evilhouseofcheat.com
www.freeessays.com
www.thesaurus.com
www.phuckschool.com
Also go to: (for extensive listing)http://www.coastal.edu/library/presentations/mills2.html
Learning in an Information Age School
• Understand the complex nature of information in this digital environment
• Understand how students use this digital environment, and how they learn, or don’t learn, through it
• Understand the pedagogical implications: effective instructional design
Pedagogical Interventions
Systematic and explicit development of information literacy scaffolds
across school
planned collaborative diagnostic
guided, staged and transferable
How do students develop intellectual scaffolds for
working with IT?• Mysteriously: someone else has taught them• Vicariously: by sitting at a computer
terminal• Serendipitously: by just doing assignments
through haphazard information seeking• Slavery: getting someone else eg parents• Systematically and explicitly: embedding
learning scaffolds into teaching process
It’s not just Good and Bad Websites!Creating Meaning
• Information on the Net represents people’s versions of reality, past, future, knowledge, culture, ideology, power
• Need to make clear the ideologies and ideological workings of texts
• Need to make explicit the belief systems inscribed in texts
• To enable people to read the world and the word - past, present and future
(Misson, 1998)
Keys to Success in Using IT to Construct New Knowledge
• Have high levels of reading literacy (including visual literacy)
• Able to define problems, frame questions, explore ideas, formulate focus, investigate, analyze and synthesize ideas to create own views, evaluate solutions and reflect on new understandings;
• Able to use technology and information tools to create information products that accurately represent their newly developed understanding;
• Can communicate ideas using oral, written, visual and technological modes of expression – individually or in teams;
• Are ethical, responsible users of information who demonstrate concern for quality information and value different modes of thought.
“The True but Little Known Facts about Women and Aids,
with documentation”
• http://www.ithaca.edu/library/research/AIDSFACTS.htm
“Ban dihydrogen Monoxide”
• http://www.netreach.net/~rjones/no_dhmo.html
Martin Luther King Jr:
An Historical Examination
• http://www.martinlutherking.org/
The Challenge
“YouBegin
ConstructingThe RoadBy Walking
It”
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