Tech N Teaching

Hollands, F., & Escueta, M. How research informs EdTech decision-making in higher education: the role of external research vs. internal research. How do we assess how effective an EDTech tool can be? Well there are a few different ways to do so, in my opinion. We can assess with data, we can ask our students, or we can research before we pick our EDTech tools. The third of which is what is talked about in the article I recently read. The article talks about the success of different educational tools that use tech, and their use in higher learning. The article mentions that research is a key factor for choosing and implementing EDTech in the classroom. However, it also mentions that quite often the people in charge of making the decision to select (and pay) for the tools would go for a cheaper option, shocker I know. When qualified researchers are used there are better results, but they so often are not involved in the decision-making process, and for a few reasons. 1....

Scanlon, E., McAndrew, P., & O'Shea, T. (2015). Designing for Educational Technology to Enhance the Experience of Learners in Distance Education: How Open Educational Resources, Learning Design and MOOCs Are Influencing Learning. Journal Of Interactive Media In Education, 2015(1), Summary:    The main points of this article talk mostly about how technology can be used to make learners experience better. This article is sure to tell you that technology by itself is not a good enough tool, it can enhance learning, but once again it is pedagogy (how something is taught) in conjunction with technology, that will have the biggest impact. The article also talks about how more learners felt motivated when they are made to feel like they are in control of their own learning. The article mentions how open educational resources, the learning design, and the learning analytics factor into a positive learning environment for these students. These are all talked ab...