March
2009
Meaningful Learning with Technology0
One of the readings this week described the concept of meaningful learning and how technology can be used to support it. It begins by talking about using standardised testing as a form of assessment and how this does not foster meaningful learning. Standardised tests assess skills and knowledge that are out of context, and do not encourage collaborative learning; all of which decreases the level of meaning the students gain. Students are not fully engaged in this process and make no attempt to fully understand the knoweldge being tested because they are more concerned about achieving a passing grade. (Jonassen, Howland, Movra, & Crismond, 2008).
I agree with this argument that standardised tests are not a meaningful activity. Generally, when students are preparing for a test they focus on memorising facts and figures, rather than understanding this information. When the test is completed, they are not likely to retain this information because it holds no meaning to them.
The reading goes on to discuss what meaningful learning involves. According to Jonassen et al (2008), meaningful learning is when students choose to be engaged in a task that employs ‘active, constructive, intentional, authentic and cooperative activities’ (p. 2). When technology is used to engage students in these types of learning, students will be able to make more meaning (Jonassen et al, 2008).
Technology can be a powerful tool in the classroom when students learn with the technology rather than from it (Jonassen et al, 2008). This means that students should use it to ‘represent what they know’ (Jonassen et al, 2008, p. 6) in a way that is meaningful for them. When used in the correct way, technology can get students to think and reason. This is meaningful because ’students learn from thinking’ (Jonassen et al, 2008, p. 7).
The video below shows several ways that technology can be implemented in the classroom to support meaningful learning:
Therefore, it can be seen that using technology is extremely important for creating meaningful learning for students. This is because when ’students use technologies to investigate, explore, write, build models, build communities, communicate with others, design and visualise, they are engaged in deeper levels of thinking and reasoning’ (Jonassen et al, 2008, p. 10). I believe that teachers should aim to make technology a significant part of their teaching and use it in fun and creative ways so that students will get the most out of it.
References:
DSC_8855 by lord mayhem (flickr).
Jonassen, D., Howland, J., Marra, R.M. & Crismond, D. (2008). Meaningful Learning with Technology (3rd ed.). New Jersey: Pearson.
Integrating ICT by INTO eLearning (blip.tv)
