Technologies are
merely tools that can be used in a variety of ways. What matters more is how
technologies are applied. The same technology can be applied in different ways,
even or especially in education. So in judging the value of a technology, we
need to look more closely at the ways in which it is being or could be used. In
essence this means focusing more on media – which represent the more holistic
use of technologies – than on individual tools or technologies themselves,
while still recognising that technology is an essential component of almost all
media.
There is a very
wide range of media available for teaching and learning. In particular: text,
audio, video, computing and social media all have unique characteristics that
make them useful for teaching and learning.
The choice or
combination of media will need to be determined by:
The overall
teaching philosophy behind the teaching;
The
presentational and structural requirements of the subject matter or content;
The skills that
need to be developed in learners; and
The imagination
of the teacher or instructor (and increasingly learners themselves) in
identifying possible roles for different media.
Content is now
increasingly open and freely available over the Internet; as a result learners
can seek, use and apply information beyond the bounds of what a professor or
teacher may dictate.
The SECTIONS
model provides a set of criteria or questions, the result of which can help inform
an instructor when making decisions about which media or technologies to use.
