Theory Focus: Course Readings

Overview:

Analyzing instructional technologies involves theoretical as well as practical considerations. Therefore, one goal of this course will be to look into theories that have guided research and practice in educational technologies in recent years.

All core readings and recommended readings for this course are available online. Discussion will likely center on the core readings. The recommended readings are entirely optional, and were selected to add context to the discussions.

Expect to put about two hours per week - that is, about an hour per discussion - into reading these book chapters and journal articles. (Don’t be afraid to skim – it was difficult to pare down the list and still do justice to the topics). Expect to spend two to three more hours per week discussing the readings in our Ed Psy 490-I WebBoard.

There will be a different discussion every 3 to 4 days, as outlined in the course schedule.

Discussion One: Theories about Educational Technology (WebBoard responses due Thursday, June 7)

CORE READINGS

A. Wilson, B. G. (1997). Thoughts on theory in educational technology. Educational Technology, Jan-Feb (1997), 22-34.

URL: http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~bwilson/theory.html

Wilson makes the point that theory is important to understanding educational technologies, in helping us envision new worlds, in helping us make things, and in keeping us honest.

B. Koschmann, T. (1996). Paradigm shifts and instructional technology: An introduction. Chapter 1 in CSCL: Theory and practice, ed. T. Koschmann. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Library URL: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ereserves/item.asp?id=1861

CTER URLs:

PDF: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/koschmann.pdf

HTML: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/koschmann.htm

Text: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/koschmann.txt

Koschmann holds that CSCL (often but not always taken to stand for ‘Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning’) represents a new guiding paradigm for many shapers of educational technology. In this chapter, he contrasts CSCL with paradigms involving Computer Assisted Instruction, Intelligent Tutoring Systems, and ‘Logo-as-Latin’ strains of cognitive constructivism.

Discussion Two: “One Right Answer” Paradigms (WebBoard responses due Sunday, June 10)

CORE READING

C. Cram, D. (1961). Explaining “teaching machines” and programming. San Francisco: Fearon.

Library URL: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ereserves/item.asp?id=1862; http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ereserves/item.asp?id=1863; http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ereserves/item.asp?id=1864

CTER URLs:

PDF: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/cram1.pdf; http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/cram2.pdf; http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/cram3.pdf

HTML: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/cram1.htm; http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/cram2.htm; http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/cram3.htm

Text: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/cram1.txt; http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/cram2.txt; http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/cram3.txt

I found this long out-of-print book in a used bookshop on campus several years ago. It’s the quintessence of a behaviorist approach to educational technology. Pages 1-14, 77-81 and pictures on 83-86 are plenty to give the flavor. Although this book predates the advent of personal computers by many years, much “educational software” on the market today still utilizes this approach.

Discussion Three: Cognitive Constructivism (WebBoard responses due Wednesday, June 13)

CORE READING

E. Bednar, A. K., Cunningham, D., Duffy, T. M., and Perry, J. D. (1992). Theory into practice: How do we link? Chapter 2 in Constructivism and the technology of instruction: A conversation, ed. T. M. Duffy and D. H. Jonassen.

Library URL: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ereserves/item.asp?id=1866

CTER URLs:

PDF: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/bednar.pdf

HTML: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/bednar.htm

Text: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/bednar.txt

Bednar et al. argue for a clean break between ‘instructivist’ and ‘constructivist’ educational paradigms. A key segment: “From our perspective, it appears that the implications of constructivism for instructional design are revolutionary rather than evolutionary. Viewed from contrasting epistemologies, the findings of constructivism replace rather than add to our current understanding of learning” (p. 30).

RECOMMENDED READINGS

F. Papert, S. (1993). Computerists. Chapter 8 in The children’s machine: Rethinking school in the age of the computer. New York: Basic Books.

Library URL: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ereserves/item.asp?id=1867

CTER URLs:

PDF: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/papert.pdf

HTML: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/papert.htm

Text: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/papert.txt

Papert describes how he helped create the Logo programming language as a means for young students to learn principles of physics and mathematics, through the process of constructing computer programs. He contrasts the approach with the way in which traditional CAI “uses the computer to program the student.”

G. Spiro, R. J., Feltovich, P. J., Jacobson, M. J., and Coulson, R. L. (1992). Cognitive flexibility, constructivism, and hypertext: Random access instruction in advanced knowledge acquisition in ill-structured domains. Chapter 5 in Constructivism and the technology of instruction: A conversation, ed. T. M. Duffy and D. H. Jonassen.

Library URL: http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/ilt/papers/Spiro.html

CTER URLs:

PDF: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/spiro.pdf

HTML: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/spiro.htm

Text: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/spiro.txt

Spiro et al. argue that computer-delivered hypertext offers a means to promote individuals’ ‘cognitive flexibility’, a trait which learners need in order to apply knowledge to ‘ill-structured’ areas unlike the neatly demarcated domains of school subjects. They offer their ‘KANE’ software – a tool for exploring different themes in Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane – as an example of case-based software that promotes cognitive flexibility by offering both multiple paths through the movie and multiple experts’ interpretations.

Discussion Four: Digital Literacy (WebBoard responses due Sunday, June 17)

CORE READING

H. Brunner, C., and Tally, W. (1999). Technology for change: A new vision of teaching and learning. Chapter 2 in The new media literacy handbook: An educator’s guide to bringing new media into the classroom. New York: Anchor.

Library URL: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ereserves/item.asp?id=1869

CTER URLs:

PDF: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/brunner.pdf

HTML: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/brunner.htm

Text: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/brunner.txt

The authors argue that educational technologies are merely tools, not ends in themselves. They believe that by linking school reform, inquiry teaching, and new technologies, it is possible to create and sustain democratic, information-age schools.

RECOMMENDED READINGS

I. Tyner, K. (1998). Beyond access. Chapter 5 in Literacy in a digital world: Teaching and learning in the age of information.

URL: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ereserves/item.asp?id=1870

CTER URLs:

PDF: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/tyner.pdf

HTML: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/tyner.htm

Text: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/tyner.txt

According to Tyner, it is today’s schools which are out of step with the ways that children are learning through technologies in other areas of their lives. She argues we must look beyond giving learners ‘access to technology,’ and toward attention to the kinds of computer-related literacy we need to promote in the classroom. She writes: “Tool based literacies make it easier to access a range of information resources, but it is becoming increasingly apparent that the new tools are delivering the same old content. It is impossible to pretend that digital channels of communication are invisible conduits for information, free of the messy ideological questions about form and content that plague alphabetic literacy” (p. 90).

J. Cummins, J., and Sayers, D. (1995). Beyond functional literacy. Chapter 3 in Brave new schools: Challenging cultural illiteracy. London: Macmillan.

URL: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ereserves/item.asp?id=1871

CTER URLs:

PDF: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/cummins.pdf

HTML: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/cummins.htm

Text: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/cummins.txt

The authors see providing schools with free internet access as a necessary step toward building the kinds of democratic educational institutions where learners can authentically explore a broad range of social problems and participate in solving them. They argue against notions of “cultural literacy” espoused by E. D. Hirsch, and for leading students to “critical literacy” a la Paulo Freire.

K. Bruce, B. C. (1993). Innovation and social change. Chapter 1 in Network-based classrooms: Promises and realities, ed. B. C. Bruce, J. K. Peyton, and T. Batson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

URL: http://alexia.lis.uiuc.edu/~chip/pubs/nbc/innovation/

Although not explicitly related to literacies, Bruce’s discussion here echoes other writers in this section, in distinguishing between discourses that see change as “innovation focused” and as “system focused.” “Neither discourse alone accounts for important aspects of technological change; rather, an integrated model is needed” (p. 11). Discourse focused on innovation “assumes not only that change is possible and that it does occur, but that the goal of discussion is to articulate the path to that change. Thus its stance is essentially that of the engineer” (p. 12). “In contrast …, system-focused discourse tends in practice to be pessimistic; it typically finds little real improvement, and what change there is is incremental and slow. Rather than revolution, it finds reemergence or reinforcement of established patterns that are often negatively valued”(p. 13). Bruce holds that to understand how any technical innovation is adopted, we must strive to understand the “innovation-in-use” – that is, not just whether a given technology gets used, but how it accentuates, disturbs or transforms the social setting into which it is introduced, and how the innovation itself becomes changed through contact with the social setting. This leads him to suggest that “situated evaluations” be used to assess impacts of educational technology, paying heed to features such as institutional factors, teachers’ beliefs and practices, students’ characteristics, features of the technology, and availability of resources.

Discussion Five: Theoretical Underpinnings of CSCL (WebBoard responses due Thursday, June 21)

CORE READINGS

L. Wilson, B. G. (1996). Introduction: What is a constructivist learning environment? Chapter 1 in Constructivist learning environments: Case studies in instructional design, ed. B. G. Wilson. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Educational Technology Publications.

URL: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ereserves/item.asp?id=1872

CTER URLs:

PDF: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/wilson1.pdf

HTML: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/wilson1.htm

Text: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/wilson1.txt

M. Honebein, P. C. (1996). Seven goals for the design of constructivist learning environments. Chapter 2 in Constructivist learning environments: Case studies in instructional design, ed. B. G. Wilson. Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Educational Technology Publications.

URL: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ereserves/item.asp?id=1873

CTER URLs:

PDF: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/honebein.pdf

HTML: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/honebein.htm

Text: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/honebein.txt

Koschmann (1995) says the CSCL paradigm rests on three theory bases: social constructivism, Soviet sociocultural theories, and situated cognition . Wilson’s and Honebein’s book chapters veer toward the social edge of constructivism, as compared to the more cognitive leanings of writers like Bednar et al. (1992), Papert (1993) and Spiro et al. (1992). As you read these chapters, consider ways in which Wilson and Honebein see learning as a group process as well as an individual one. The tendency to postulate learning as occurring interpersonally, rather than in an isolated learner’s head, is one which is a hallmark of the CSCL paradigm.

RECOMMENDED READINGS

N. Bellamy, R. K. E. (1996). Designing educational technology: Computer-mediated change. Chapter 6 in Context and consciousness: Activity Theory and Human-Computer Interaction, ed. B. A. Nardi. Boston: MIT Press.

URL: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ereserves/item.asp?id=1874

CTER URLs:

PDF: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/bellamy.pdf

HTML: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/bellamy.htm

Text: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/bellamy .txt

Bellamy describes how Activity Theory, derived from the work of Lev Vygotsky in Russia in the 1930s, can shed light on uses of technology for educational change. Activity Theory holds that mediating tools, no less than social rules, community membership and practices regarding division of labor, play a mediating role between individual subjects and the outcomes of their efforts. Bellamy writes, “Mediation can provide an explanation of why the introduction of new technology into education has the potential to reform the educational system. The introduction of new artifacts into an activity affects, from the perspective of the activity, the kinds of processes, social and individual, that develop. Similarly, the existing social processes of the community in which the activity takes place, and the mental processes of the individuals performing the activity, will affect how a new artifact will be used” (p. 125).

O. Brown, J. S., Collins, A., and Duguid, P. (1989). Situated cognition and the culture of learning. Educational Researcher, 1 (18), 32-42.

URL: http://www.ilt.columbia.edu/Publications/papers/JohnBrown.html

Too many discussions of learning de-contextualize it from its social settings, according to the authors. They write, “In this paper, we try to explain a deliberately speculative way, why activity and situations are integral to cognition and learning, and how different ideas of what is appropriate learning activity produce very different results. We suggest that, by ignoring the situated nature of cognition, education defeats its own goal of providing useable, robust knowledge” (p. 32). They hold that learning at advanced levels involves “cognitive apprenticeship,” in which the learner, for instance a graduate student, becomes acculturated into a professional culture; “In essence, cognitive apprenticeship attempts to promote learning within the nexus of activity, tool, and culture …” (p. 40).

P. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning as a social system. [Published in the “Systems Thinker,” June 1998

URL: http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/knowledge-garden/cop/lss.shtml

Wenger’s “Communities of practice” model is closely tied to theories of situated cognition and cognitive apprenticeship. This article is a condensed version of a theory Wenger lays out in his 1998 book, Communities of practice: Learning, meaning and identity – a work cited in much recent research into educational technologies. Wenger writes, “Communities of practice are not a new kind of organizational unit; rather, they are a different ‘cut’ on the organization’s structure – one that emphasizes the learning that people have done together rather than the unit they report to, the project they are working on, or the people they know. Communities of practice differ from other kinds of groups found in organizations in the way they define their enterprise, exist over time, and set their boundaries.”

Discussion Six: Interfaces and Design Metaphors (WebBoard responses due Sunday, June 24)

CORE READINGS

Q. Levin, J. A., Stuve, M. J., and Jacobson, M. J. Teachers conceptions of the internet and the world wide web: A representational toolkit as a model of expertise.

URL: http://www.ed.uiuc.edu/tta/papers/AERA96-mental-models.html

R. Hackbarth, S. (1997). Integrating web-based learning activities into school curriculums. Educational Technology, May-Jun 1997, 59-71.

Library URL: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ereserves/item.asp?id=1876

CTER URLs:

PDF: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/hackbarth.pdf

HTML: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/hackbarth.htm

Text: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/hackbarth.txt

RECOMMENDED READINGS

S. Wilson, B. G. (1995). Metaphors for instruction: Why we talk about learning environments. Educational Technology, Sep-Oct 1995, 25-30.

URL: http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~bwilson/metaphor.html

T. Norman, D. (1990). User-centered design. Chapter 7 in The design of everyday things. New York: Currency/Doubleday.

URL: http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ereserves/item.asp?id=1875

CTER URLs:

PDF: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/norman.pdf

HTML: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/norman.htm

Text: http://cter.ed.uiuc.edu/courses/edpsy490i/su01/readings/norman.txt

U. Dede, C. (1995). Evolution of constructivist learning environments: Immersion in distributed, virtual worlds. Educational Technology, Sep-Oct 1995, 46-52.

URL: http://www.ed.gov/Technology/Futures/dede.html

Discussion Seven: Wrapping Up (WebBoard responses due Thursday, June 28)

CORE READINGS

V. Computer Support for Collaborative Learning. Designing new media for a new millennium: Collaborative technology for learning, education, and training. (1999). Proceedings of the CSCL ’99 international conference, Dec. 12-15, 1999, Palo Alto.

URL: http://sll.stanford.edu/CSCL99/paperindex.html

Nearly one hundred papers from the conference are available from this link. Of course it would be impossible for us to read all of them, or even a large subset of them, during this class. You’re invited to spend a little time looking over four or five papers that strike your interest based on their titles, authors, etc., and then posting your comments about the papers you’ve looked at. This discussion will also include some global questions to let you wrap up your thoughts about the readings we have done in this class.