Technology alone is not enough
Many
studies reinforce that technology alone cannot achieve learning
outcomes: ‘the tool provides the means, the students and teacher
construct the meaning’ (Luehmann & Frink, 2009, p. 277). The role of
the teacher is critical in the successful use of any
technology-enhanced learning experience and to realise the potential
that technology offers, teachers need to adopt appropriate pedagogies
and scaffold students’ learning as well as integrate technology into the
curriculum (Kubieck, 2005). For example, students can be reluctant to
comment on others’ work (Ellison & Wu, 2008). They can also struggle
with the formality that assessment imposes on the more informal
‘non-academic’ mode of discourse of blogs and wikis (Farmer et al.,
2008; Hemmi, Bayne & Land, 2009) and mandatory comments can lead to a
lack of substantive feedback (Ellison & Wu, 2008). To create a
responsive and expressive student audience, appropriate guidance in
giving constructive feedback is needed (Kajder, 2007) along with
appropriate assessment. In addition, technology allows access to a vast
amount of scientific information which is often non-linear, fast-paced,
rich and embedded in other contexts. Selecting, organising and
integrating this type of information can produce high cognitive load
which affects learning. As a result, strategies such as segmenting,
looking for patterns in information and understanding different genres
may also be required (Pace & Jones, 2009).
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