Perspectives on the Role of Educational Technologies

Abstract

Educational technologies and software hold tremendous potential for improving the process of teaching and learning through, for example, delivering information, facilitating communication, and promoting certain aspects of cognition. While this paper discusses these, its overall aim is to view the larger picture of what educational technologies can and cannot do. It begins by noting the overall aims of higher education and posing the question: What part can educational technologies play in achieving these goals? The paper summarizes Perkins' five facets of any learning environment in order to provide a framework for evaluating educational technologies and to reveal that most technologies provide only part of the total learning environment. Specifically, the `task manager' facet plays the most important role in achieving the aims of education, but it is difficult to create software with meaningful task management capability.

Department(s)

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

Computer aided instruction; Information technology; Teaching; Education technologies; Perkin's facets of learning; Engineering education

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

1069-4730

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 1997 American Society for Engineering Education(ASEE), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jul 1997

Link to Full Text

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