Choosing & Using Technologies in Education & Training
If you want to use technology in a way that will really benefit learners, staff and organisations, we believe that it is important to take a broad view. You will need to look not just at the technologies themselves but also at how your organisation and the people within it will manage them, and, most importantly, what are the needs of your individual and industry clients.
In this section of the site, we have gathered together what we have found to be the vital issues in the form of a Good Practice Framework. On this page are the six Principles that are the backbone of the framework. If you click on one of these, you will be taken to further discussion to support the principle, with links to further reading in the form of bibliographies, case studies, and a checklist that will help you to plan and evaluate your project.
Principle 1:
Stakeholder Interests and Learner Focus
The main guiding force of educational projects using technology
should be the needs of learners and other clients and
stakeholders. This is necessary to identify the educational
outcomes and processes expected from the project, and to ensure
that the project is soundly based in an understanding of
learners’ characteristics and needs.
Principle
2: Organisational
Goals
The organisation should identify how the project relates to its
own strategic goals and position.
Principle
3: Evaluative
Framework
A sound evaluative framework should be adopted to inform the
progress of the project from its early stages and to provide a
basis for decisions about the full and continuing implementation
of the project.
Principle
4: Organisation and
Resources
The organisation should ensure that adequate funding, suitably
trained human resources, suitable facilities and accessible
equipment are available and have actively contributed to its
formation. These are needed not only through the development and
trial stages but for the lifetime of the fully implemented
project.
Principle
5: Teaching and
Learning
The structure and delivery method of the program should be
designed to suit the learning styles and access needs of
learners, the ability of teachers and other staff to provide
support for learners, and the curriculum content of the program.
Principle
6: Technology and
Learning Materials
Decisions about the choice of technology should incorporate
consideration of learners’ needs, the ability of teachers
and other staff to provide support for learners, and the
curriculum content of the program. Resource materials should be
of sound quality, suitable for the purpose, and well matched with
technologies and human resources. In projects which are driven by
the technology choice rather than educational needs, these
considerations are equally important or even more so.
Please add your case studies or comments to this
site