Using Tools (Chapter 3)

In chapter 3, Wiburg talks about what kinds of tools educators can choose to enhance the design of opportunities for students to learn. With highly-developed technology, there are a variety of choices for teachers to present the same information. In recent years, in most educational settings, a myth has formed that students can learn better and faster through the use of technology. For example, in Taiwan, computer assisted language learning (CALL) has become popular for many years. Many educators, parents, and students think CALL not only helps students acquire new information efficiently but also makes courses more interesting. In order to meet the expectations, teachers apply as much technology as they can to the designed courses. For example, instead of books and blackboard, they make graphics, use power point, play videos, set up websites, or employ bulletin boards.

However, the learning result does not always improve and sometimes becomes worse because teachers do not really think about which tool works best for specified course, topic, context, and students. For instance, based on my teaching experiences, to teach English grammar, teachers can choose to explain with chalks on the blackboard or make power point with animation. Although using power point seems creative and stimulating for students, in fact there are some disadvantages teachers have to take into consideration. On the one hand, when power point is played and the light is turned off, it is hard for students to stay focus on the screen. Due to the darkness, students usually do something else instead of keeping paying attention to students. On the other hand, the fancy animation used to mark the change of sentence patterns might distract students’ attention. After the slideshow, learners may remember only what kind of animation is demonstrated instead of which sentence pattern is taught. In this case, the use of technology does not work at all. Therefore, in spite of many strong points of technology in educational settings, teachers cannot blindly employ different tools without considering their true effect.