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Purpose: To analyse the potential impact of the adoption of technology as a tool for automating & reinforcing routines; supporting transformative and manipulative actions; and/or making tools and procedures visible and comprehensible.
References: 4, 60, 79
- Object-Oriented Tools
The move to object-oriented tools enabled designers to re-conceptualise learning tasks in terms of integrated tasks with displays and associated links to resources, examples, and realistic representations.
Media Fusion allows students to construct digital video (or text) messages that can contain embedded pointers to a data analysis application. Apple’s QuickTime technology provides designers with the option of realistic time dependent displays; also photographic and digital video representations. (Bellamy, 1996)
Videopaper integrates and synchronizes different forms of representation, such as text, video and images, in one cohesive document. They combine traditional text synchronised with video footage, and slides, including Java applets; the text includes possible hyperlinks to other pages in the videopaper or to external sources. (Olivero et al. 2004)
- How does the ability to link raw data and video with text analysis and observations enable the learner to interact with the content in a way that is very different from reading a traditional linear text?
- Does the learner/reader become a participant who can control what and how the text is read? (Can s/he select the pages to view, watch and analyse pieces of video data, pause and expand time as s/he goes along, experiment with other interactive content, conduct further research following the hyperlinks, etc.?)
- Is it possible for different readers to potentially draw multiple interpretations from the video footage or other data display?
- Learning Objects: W hat type of learning objects are utilised:
- Instructional objects: standard explanatory texts, covering a specific topic, with little student interaction beyond some reflection; these could be in the form of text, animation or a webcast?
- Individual activities: structured around some introductory text, suggested readings, an activity and some reflection questions?
- Companion activities: activities linked to a database or spreadsheet, for example?
- Collaborative activities: requiring learners to engage with fellow learners in a joint task, either synchronously or asynchronously?
- Technical activities: requiring students to explore appropriate technologies, e.g., mathematical or communication tools, individually or collaboratively?
- Narrative objects: providing an integrative framework; present at the start of each module and each unit?
- Assignments: at the end of each block and the overall end of the course?
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