Technology and social networking as tools for educational innovation and motivation

ePortfolio

Criterion 2: Innovations in Education

The pace of technological growth and innovation in the Internet Age has easily outstripped any other period in human development, leading to profound and seemingly permanent changes in the way information is created and communicated in the matter of a few short years. The impact that these innovations and the pace of change has had on the business world and on everyday interactions has been well documented and is clearly self-evident in many cases, yet the manner in which many specific new technologies as well as technology in general can and has impacted instruction and education remains less apparent and thus less practically useful. There are many ways that technologies including social networking websites, graphics displays, and a variety of other software, hardware, and information-sharing components can lead to more effective and more authentic learning experiences; specific methods for deriving this utility from current technologies will be explored below.

Authenticity and Constructivist Learning

There are of course other online technologies and websites that can also prove hugely useful to educators; the creation of student blogs that allow for peer comments and interaction as well as the concept of community-edited encyclopedias both encourage critical thinking and verbal communication skills (Woo & Reeves 2007). Interaction is a foundational element of learning in the constructivist perspective, and though not all interaction is actually conducive to learning -- especially not in a formal educational setting -- properly planned and implemented online interactions can create real-world learning experiences through authentic discussion rather than rote instruction (Woo & Reeves 2007). Similarly, the use of PowerPoint and similar information-organizing programs can transmit a skill set that is both directly useful in the real world, as increasing employment opportunities require the ability to coherently and succinctly present information to others, and that is also useful in a more abstract sense in that students begin to learn how to organize information in a highly visual manner. Technology enables students to learn process without divorcing it from the factual information and data inherent to traditional educational expectations.

Technology can be used in a variety of different contexts and with many different overall instructional paradigms in place, and as long as it is effectively integrated into existing teaching plans and styles -- or if new overall instructional methods are built with a technological focus -- a high degree of efficacy has been found from most technological applications (Hartley 2007). By rooting all learning in direct interaction with media and peers rather than relying on the largely passive instructional methods of traditional education, it inherently and almost automatically becomes more effective as true learning only occurs with interaction in the constructivist perspective (Hartley 2007). As students engage in repeated learning activities that require critical thinking skills in the locating and selection of information, they will also become better able to express themselves in a manner that is academically rigorous and critically convincing. Such interactions also provide a broader avenue for instructor evaluations of learners, as the learning process itself will become more explicitly identifiable and permanent through the use of search functions and even a cursory analysis of information links that were followed and/or overlooked. Again, this enables instructors to determine actual the efficacy of educational activities not only in terms of the absorption of information, but also the degree to which processes are understood and effectively utilized and integrated by students.

Conclusion

There is truly no discernible limit to the ways in which current and developing technologies can impact education. Instructors have a greater responsibility to their students to ensure that critical thinking abilities are well honed in this information age, and there is no better way to accomplish this then plugging into the Internet and engaging in a hands-on and interactive learning experience. Methods of selecting, analyzing, organizaing, and presenting information as well as engaging in critical discussion are all facilitated by current technologies, and should be utilized by instructors.