Choosing &
Using Technologies in Education & Training
Choosing and Using
Communication and Multimedia Technologies
Decisions about the choice of technology
should be chiefly driven by 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 choice of technology rather than
perceived needs, these considerations are equally important or
even more so.
Rationale
In keeping with the principle of client focus,
the chief reason for selecting a particular type of technology
must be its ability to satisfy the requirements of learners.
Included in this requirement is the feasibility of access for
learners. Important associated aspects are the degree to which
the technology facilitates or impedes the ability of teachers and
other education workers to provide support for the learners, and
the suitability of the technology to support the content of the
program. A further determining factor is the cost of the
technology. In order to make a suitable choice of technology, a
balance between these factors must be achieved. No particular
technology is ‘good’ or ‘bad’; sophisticated
and simple technologies all have their place. The essential
criterion is suitability for the purpose.
The various forms of networked technologies can
be grouped in different ways according to types of user
requirements and characteristics. Some of the ways in which they
can be grouped are discussed in this section.
Degree of Interactivity
‘Interactivity’ is a word so
over-used at present that its meaning has become indistinct. If
we take its base meaning to refer to persons or things that act
to or upon each other, it is clear that this can happen in any of
several ways.
The Communications Futures Project
identified three levels of information service interactivity.
These are:
| Distributive
services: broadcast, or ‘one to many’. |
 |
These technologies enable material to be sent
from a single source simultaneously to many users. Examples
include both broadcast and pay TV, radio, and books and other
forms of mass-distribution print materials.
| Centralised
interactive services, or ‘many to one’. |
 |
These technologies enable many users to
interact with and select information from a single,
centrally-located server mechanism. These include both well-used
applications such as computer-managed learning systems which
allow learners to download assignment material, and applications
which are at the threshold of their existence, such as
video-on-demand services.
| Communicative
services; ‘one to one’ or ‘many to
many’. |
 |
These technologies allow users to communicate
with any or all of the other members of a network. They include
applications such as terrestrial videoconferencing and
audiographics which enable members of a group to work together,
and e-mail and other applications which permit materials to be
transmitted to selected individuals or organisations.
Format of Material
Useful distinctions can be made between the
requirements for voice, text and moving visuals. Many of the
current leading edge developments in technology are associated
with attempts to provide video access more readily.
Degree of Interactivy
| FORMAT |
Distributive |
Centralised
Interactive |
Communicative |
| Voice |
Radio |
Interactive Voice Response |
Telephone
Audio conference |
| Text |
Books
Printed Learning Materials |
Fax
Audiographics
World Wide Web |
Mail
E-mail
Newsgroups |
| Visual |
Satellite/ Pay TV
Broadcast TV |
Video library
Video-on-demand on Cable Networks (ADSL) |
Video conference
- desktop
- group
- bandwidths |
Time and Place Dependence
Much of traditional learning has taken place
with a high degree of time and place dependency, requiring
students to be at a particular place at a particular time.
Distance education and open learning are the result of attempts
to free learners to varying degrees from these restrictions.
Networked technologies provide further options.
The degree of time dependency is
sometimes distinguished by the terms synchronous (happening at
the same time) and asynchronous (not time dependent) modes.
Place Dependence
| TIME DEPENDENCE |
High |
Semi |
Low |
| High |
Class |
Audiographics
Video conference |
Telephone
Audio conference
Radio |
| Semi |
Self-paced and drop-in classes or
tutorials
Satellite/ Pay TV broadcast (recordable)
|
. |
Free to Air TV |
| Low |
Library |
E-mail
World Wide Web
Video-on-demand |
Print
Interactive Voice Response |
Scale of Effort
Technologies vary enormously in the cost of
set-up and maintenance. In some cases an individual teacher or a
department can make a decision to invest in a particular
technology; in others the cost is significant enough to require a
decision by the organisation as a whole; in others again, the
technology is not feasible unless the whole system (state or
national vocational training system or its equivalent in other
sectors), or at least a consortium of organisations, adopts the
approach. The table below gives an indication of how this
dimension might be categorised.
| |
System Effort |
Organisation
Effort |
Individual
or Department Effort |
| Lock-step class |
. |
. |
X |
| Video conferencing (pc-based) |
. |
X |
|
Video
conferencing
(group) |
X
|
. |
. |
| Audio graphics (high-tech
versions) |
. |
X |
. |
| Audio graphics (low-tech versions)
|
. |
. |
X |
| Broadcasting |
X |
. |
. |
| Self-paced and drop-in classes |
. |
. |
X |
| Audio conferencing |
. |
. |
X |
| E-mail |
. |
X |
. |
| World
Wide Web |
. |
X |
. |
| Interactive
multimedia |
. |
X |
. |
| Computer managed learning |
. |
X |
. |
| Print |
. |
. |
X |
Learning Resource Materials
Whatever medium they are presented in, learning
resource materials will present learners with some or all of
their program content. They must therefore be of good quality in
both content and presentation.
In relation to content and structure, the materials must:
- either be complete in themselves, or
provide signposts to further content;
- be accurate and up to date;
- be true to the curriculum;
- be in keeping with the design of the
program as a whole, and the teaching methods adopted;
- have a structure which is readily apparent
to learners;
- enable learners to monitor their own
progress; and
- encourage active participation in
learning.
The presentation of the materials should
be of excellent quality, and of a standard of sophistication in
keeping both with the scale of the project and the medium in
which they are presented. For example, a program with many
learners and expected to continue for several years would justify
a glossy presentation, while a program of short duration, with
very few learners, and where the learning resources are a back-up
for interaction rather than the central source of content, might
allow for a less glamorous presentation. Learners’
expectations of video presentations are generally based on their
experience with broadcast television, so that a commensurate
standard would be expected unless a clear indication was given to
them of why their expectations should be different in a
particular case; on the other hand, most people have experience
of a wide range of styles and qualities of print materials, so
that they would tolerate print materials anywhere along that
range.
Delivery Methods and Technologies
There are no clear-cut rules about how to
determine the most suitable technologies for the intended
learning purposes. Distinctions blur and technologies can be used
innovatively in different ways and combinations. Go to Technologies
for Teaching and Learning to find
guides to thinking about these dimensions and relating them to
the characteristics of the learning situation that is being
designed. Some of the methods will be suitable as the main method
of delivery, while others will be best used as a medium of
support.
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Further
reading on:
Computer
Mediated Communications