Reasserting The Prominence Of Pedagogy In The Technology-Enhanced Learning Environment

Abstract

As universities transition from instructor-driven to student-centered learning environments, the institutional learning structure is being redesigned to emphasize active learning. Instructional technologies, employing active learning models, have been a critical component in the redesign. The active learning model suggests that the student engages in various activities, and uses various strategies, to gather information and achieve understanding. Technology-driven learning environments therefore often instill activities that direct the student's learning. Use of on-line technologies, such as the Internet, is one method for creating active learning activities that direct the student's learning. This experiment explores how active learning activities, specifically how a student engages in research by accessing on-line information, affects their understanding of the material. The experiment is a 2 (Task Complexity) x 2 (Data Resource) design testing a student's (N=194) ability to synthesize information as they traversed through a specified set of resources. The findings indicate that students who access topic-specific resources engage in more research activities than students who access broad-topic resources. Furthermore, the findings indicate that students who access topic-specific resources will synthesize the relevant material into a more clear and concise response than students who access broad-topic resources. Suggestions and further research are posited to further understand how instructors can engage use of on-line resources, specifically the Internet, and instructional technologies, such as Distance Learning, to facilitate student learning.