Foundations of Educational Technology

Foundations of Educational Technology
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Topic 1
Describe a typical instructional flow for a small unit of instruction such as a single lesson
For teachers, bring a new concept to the students is always the norm. Teachers will always help the students to understand and relate to new content as they build on their knowledge. The first step of instructions to a small unit in the event of starting a lesson, is working from the known. Ideally, teachers have to involve the students from the things and concepts that they are familiar with to what they are not familiar with. As such that first step is to relate to what the students know. This way the students will be in a position to form a basis for the new information and concepts they are about to receive. The teachers will them the new concept with the related terminologies (Spector, 2013). The students learn how the various terms are described and how they relate to the new concepts. The students are then led to relate the new concepts and information to the old concepts that they already knew in an effort to create a connection in their memories. This will help them to remember much easily, as they memories are easily connected to concepts that they already know (Carswell, 2009). The last stage involves the ability for the students to monitor their own abilities relative to the new and old concepts. At this stage, the students will tell if they actually understand the new concepts and if they are able to connect them with the older information they have had.
Describe a flow for learning that might be associated with that instructional flow
When the teacher refers to information the students already know, they spark interest in the students and bring up memories, which can be used a basis for the new information. The introduction of the new concepts should also be related to new terms, their description and the relation that have to the new concepts. These are the words and phrases that form memory points in the new concepts. They are also the points of connection between the old memories and the new concepts. Relative to understanding the new concepts and their connection to the old ones, the students can then be in apposition to gauge how much of the new concepts or the old ones that they understand (Spector, 2013). At the point the leaners are able to apply their learned information and concept in other areas of their studies or n the general conversations and thinking.
Which of Gagne’s nine event of instruction might be associated with the scaffolding method in cognitive apprenticeship, and how so?
Arising in the 1980s the cognitive apprentice method, asserts that, as leaners become more knowledgeable, they are expected to become more self-reliant (Spector, 2013). As such they are supposed to manage their progress alongside the learning goals and objectives. Teachers and other instructors are required to embrace fading scaffolding, as the students become more self-reliant. One of Gagne’s events, which are related to the cognitive apprentice method, is the fifth event that relates to providing learning guidance (Spector, 2013). This means that teacher is offering the students cues on how to harness their leaning ability other than directly educating them. As such, the teacher uses an indirect approach to teach the students (Instructionaldesigncentral.com, 2015).
In the sixth event, the teachers elicit performance by indirectly causing the learners to relate to their memories and their basic understanding of the concepts through tests or comparison to other students or experts. This is also closely related to the eighth event, where the teachers assess performance of the students (Hew & Cheung, 2013). This is a method of helping the students understand their performance metrics relative to their ability to learn. As students are given feedback in the seventh event by Gagne’s, the teachers and the students have an idea about what they need to improve on (Spector, 2013). These events by Gagne’s indicate, the use of the scaffolding effect in the students learning, where the teachers observe and give feedback on the students’ abilities after they have been taken through the first stages in new concepts.
Topic 2
Those who are the least prepared to make effective use of a new technology are typically those who stand to benefit the most.
Where there is a new technology that is being introduced, there will always be a faction of people that are not ready to take up the changes or the skills required to adapt to the technology. This does not mean that educators should ignore them; it simply means that educators should work towards helping this group understands the benefits to accrue from the skills. In the recent past, there have been massive changes that have come with the adoption of technology in the various fields of the economy and even socially. Technology is slowly but steadily defining these fields to new standards that has been the tradition. Education is constantly taking the step towards technology; helping both the educators and the learners to come to a common ground other than the lecture halls (Spector, 2013). As such, people that do not change with the times are more likely to be left behind and their productivity levels are more likely to fall than improve. Adapting to the changes in the technological advances, not only makes the learner more attuned to new and different ways of leaning, but also makes learning an interesting aspect.
Other than the educational part of technology, people that take up the new skills set are more likely to survive the development in their respective industries. Socially, most of the aspects are taking a technological turn and more people are using the various platforms to communicate and interact within their social cycles. Companies are constantly taking up new technologies and applying them in their operations to make sure that the productivity of the staffs and the machines are tuned to highest possible settings. As such, considering that technology has taken up most of the elements of the human life in the twenty-first centu...