The Learning Curve of Technology in Business
The Learning Curve of Technology in Business
In Learning with Technology the authors say that all learning results from thinking. This seems reasonable. As I recall learning from my own childhood, I remember only those lessons, which interested me. I remember spelling bees and art class and I remember school plays. My best friend who went to school with me from first to twelfth grade remembers her math teachers, collecting milk money and how much she hated to do research papers. She is now an accountant and I am a teacher. I still love school and she still loves using numbers. We took with us only that information, which we thought, was appealing. We were pioneer constructivists! The use of technology does not necessarily promote learning. It is the thought process, the questioning and the thirst for knowledge that results in learning. As a teacher, my responsibility would be to stimulate and support activities that promote self- motivation, investigation and exploration. As Jerome Bruner would say: meaning making. The who, what, where when, why becomes a part of every learning experience as long as the content is initiated by the learner. That is what is so awesome about using multimedia to teach students everything from scientific research to community building to the forms of government.
When proper research methods are engaged the student can then use a multimedia project incorporating their own ideas and experience. Many people do not learn from their studies because they spent no time reflecting on or thinking deeply about their subject. When using multimedia it is essential to make decisions about content, composition, evaluation, revision, editing, and finally publishing. This requires higher order thinking. The student’s decisions necessitate assessment. Memorizing historical facts does not always guarantee a person will remember but working over an extended period of time on a single concept using a variety of senses to gain knowledge of the same issue, will be committed to memory long after the project is over. Learning takes place when reflection, experience and exploration is employed.
Teachers must be willing to help the student be an active participant in his own learning, develop personal learning strategies and ways to encode his or her own material; make the content personal to each student. Teachers must be able...