Professional development for effective technology use

Resnick thinks the “digital divide” will perform as a “fluency gap” rather than an “access gap” when the costs of computing decline. There is a real risk that only a small handful will be able to use the technology fluently (Resnick, 2001). As The CEO of Forum on Education and Technology says, the transformation of classroom technology from hardware, software, and connections into tools for teaching and learning depends on knowledgeable and enthusiastic teachers who are motivated and prepared to put technology to work on behalf of their students (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, 2000). It seems absurd that we require students use computers to make things from music video to scientific simulations to robotic creatures and yet expect the teacher may or may not be experienced in the components of these technologies. How can we image a teacher who can just look up information on the Web, use a word processor and send e-mail could find the best ways to transmit information to students?

To prepare teachers for effective technology use, the traditional forms of individual workshops or one-time training sessions are not enough; instead, it must be viewed as an ongoing and integral part of teachers' professional lives (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, 2000). McKenzie (2001) identifies two principles of adult learning: 1. the learner may make choices from a rich and varied menu of learning experiences and possibilities; 2. Learners must take responsibility for planning, acting and growing.

Both principles are supported by the belief that professional development is experienced as a personal journey of growth and discovery that engages the learner on a daily and perhaps hourly basis (McKenzie, 2001). Due to limited timing and vision, the principles mirror traditional teaching methods and are relatively easy to facilitate. Birman, Desimone, Porter and Garet (2000) build up a formal causal model including six features to identify effective characteristics of professional development:

1. Form: considering “reform” activities that differ from traditional approaches. Reform activities such as study groups and mentoring are thought to be more responsive to how teachers learn and have more influence on changing teaching practice.
2. Duration: If there is more time, it is possible to make teachers sharing their progress, difficulties, ideas, issues, and needs.
3. Collective participation: Offering teachers the opportunity to work with teachers from similar grade or subject areas is essential in building learning communities.
4. Content: It is effective to focus professional development on content knowledge directly related to curriculum which teachers’ need.
5. Active Learning: Learners, weather teachers or students, should have the opportunity to discuss, plan and practice.
6. Coherence: The coherence of professional development with policies and other professional experiences helps teachers understand how everything fits together.

[References]:

Birman, B. F., Desimone, L., Porter, A. C., & Garet, M. S.(2000). Designing professional development that works. Educational Leadership, 57(8), 28-33.

McKenzie, J.(2001). How teachers learn technology best. The Educational Technology Journal, 10(6): FNO Press. Available URL: http://www.fno.org/mar01/howlearn.html

North Central Regional Educational Laboratory(2000). Providing professional development for effective technology use Available URL:
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/technlgy/te1000.htm

Resnick, M.(2001). Revolutionizing learning in the digital age. Publications from the forum for the future of higher education. Boulder, CO: Educause.
Available URL http://www.educause.com/reources

Assessment through a constructivist view

Traditionally, teachers grade students after learning is accomplished. The purpose of the assessment is to collect information about how much knowledge and skill students have learned and to make judgments about the adequacy or acceptability of each student’s level of learning. The type of measurement the teacher chooses will depend on the objectives which can be classified in terms of two broad categories: knowing about something and knowing how to do something (Snowman & Biehler, 2006). From my teaching experience, I have found the multi-choice standardized testing is less than optimum, especially for assessment in computer based courses because students just respond to those test items, rather than show creative responses (Ediger, 2001). Based on what I have learned in this semester, I would like to incorporate constructivist principles into the assessment. I will consider the assessment of student accomplishments with portfolios or exhibitions compiled by the students.

Portfolios may be difficult to evaluate, but it will engage students in interactive collaborative processes and increase individual motivation for building up their knowledge or skills. In the constructivist view, it is essential that the teacher is seen as a guide rather than an instructor. Thus, the philosophy of constructivism stresses the importance of following every day classroom or laboratory experiences to become a part of the individual student’s portfolio (Ediger, 2001). The purpose of the portfolio assessment is to facilitate learning and is not to assign a grade. The portfolio assessment is usually called formative evaluation (Snowman & Biehler, 2006). In a student-oriented learning environment, the main things that teachers want to know are weather students develop the abilities to self-assess and how to provide constructive feedback to students. This is not only an assessment process but also a learning process (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, 1995).

Evaluation rubric may be developed to assess each assignment in the portfolio. Ediger (2001) suggests a few considerations in rating each portfolio:
1. The numerical rating given may be quite subjective due to a lack of agreement by teachers doing the rating.
2. Numerical ratings are not the major objective in portfolio assessment. The major objective is to view student processes or products. So, teachers can notice achievement of the every day progress of the student.
3. Parents or peers may observe what the student is achieving.
4. Portfolio development provides opportunities for the student to reflect or think about what has been learned or what is left to learn.
5. Ownership of the portfolio resides with the student. Internal personnel, not extent test designers, are involved in portfolio development. Assessment is ongoing and continuous.


[references]:

Ediger, M. (2001). Assessment: a teacher’s guide. Available URL:
http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/contendelivery/servlet/ERICSerrlet?accno=ED451217.

North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (1995). Rethinking assessment and its role in supporting educational reform. Available URL: www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/assessment/as700.htm

Snowman, J., & Beihler, R., (2006). Psychology applied to teaching (11th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Learning and teaching

Bloom's learning for mastery (1968) is based on the rule that students vary in many ways. As a result, the “individual differences” must be reflected in learning standards, achievement criteria and teaching policies or practices. A student's aptitude determines how much time they will need to master a subject, not the likelihood that they will never be able to master it. In addition, Bloom believes that the mastery learning theory has a positive impact on students' interest in a subject and, understandably, their self-confidence. At the same time, the article "Good-bye teacher" (1968), Keller also developed his thoughts according to mastery learning. Keller's personalized system of instruction includes small units of time, self-pacing and unit tests with fast feedback etc.

Two thousand years ago, Confucius, a superior Chinese man, held similar statements as Bloom and Keller. Confucius was a teacher and scholar; he taught disciples to study knowledge and seek wisdom. In his view, people are nearly alike by nature, and differences only come from different teachings. Confucius’s education philosophy is to teach different students using different methods. His teaching principles gained wide acceptance primarily because of their basis in common Chinese opinion (Wikipedia, 2006). Some of the practical tenants of the Confucius's teaching were: 1). Self-cultivation exists within the individual, 2). No physical punishment to students, and 3). Study the past as if you would define the Future (Wikipedia, 2006).

In the digital age, what is expected of the teacher when employing Bloom's mastery learning theory into the interactive multimedia learning environment? More people hold the view that the learning achievement through the use of multimedia programs is defined by the software itself. But, Herrington & Oliver (1996) think the benefits of teacher assistance are that teachers can provide hints, suggestions, critical questions, and the “scaffolding” to enable students to solve more complex problems. Even though the interactive multimedia program itself tries to fulfill the coaching role, how can the coach adjust to different students according to different knowledge frames and learning styles? Some multimedia designers take efforts to eliminate pedagogical roles for teachers, but the coaching role is still best performed by the teacher (Herrington & Oliver, 1996). Coaching needs are highly situation-specific and are related to problems that arise as students who attempt to integrate skills and knowledge. Herrington and Oliver (1996) analyzed three essentially different, but frequently observed roles in the use of interactive multimedia: the teacher as transmitter of knowledge, the teacher as coach, and the teacher as manager. They conclude that the teacher as coach is a fundamental and integral part of the process of using interactive multimedia effectively, and should not be overlooked.

[References]:

Bloom, B.S. (1968). Learning for mastery. Evaluation Comment,1(2). Center for the Study of Evaluation of Instructional Programs, UCLA,1968.

Herrington, J & Oliver, R. (1996). The effective use of interactive multimedia in education: design and implementation issues. Proceedings of the Third International Interactive Multimedia Symposium, 169-176. Available URL: http://www.aset.org.au/confs/iims/1996/ek/herrington.html

Keller, F. S. (1968). Good-bye teacher. Journal of Applied Behaviour Analysis, 1, 78-89.

Wikipedia:Confucius. Available URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius

Learning with computers

The term “mindtools” refers to computer application that supports a constructivist approach to learning and is often called learning with computers. Mindtools, as personal knowledge construction tools, allow learners to construct, share and revise knowledge in more open-ended environments rather than using computer programs just to present and represent information (Snowman & Biehler, 2006). Using computers as Mindtools will facilitate learning in the need to place learning and problem solving in real-life contexts where there are no exact answers. From the constructivist learning view, learners often select and pursue their own learning in a rich and complex information environment, and it will be more effective in preparing learners for life-long learning.

Constructivist learning is concerned with the process of learning, not with the value of what is being actually learned. How to evaluate the worthiness of learning in an on-going diagnostic process that lets the teacher to determine if the learner has gained understanding of concepts and knowledge? We can try to get some ideas from evaluation in experiential education. As an old approach learning, experiential educators promote learning through participation, reflection, and application to situations of consequence. They have developed methods to answer questions about how experiential education works (Hendricks, 1994). For example, Eisner (1993) thinks evaluation tasks should:

(1) reflect real world needs, by increasing students' problem-solving abilities and ability to construe meaning;
(2) reveal how students solve problems, not just the final answer, since reasoning determines students' ability to transfer learning;
(3) reflect values of the intellectual community from which the tasks are derived, thus providing a context for learning and enhancing retention, meaning, and aesthetic appreciation;
(4) not be limited to solo performances, since much of life requires an ability to work in cooperation with others;
(5) allow more than one way to do things or more than one answer to a question, since real-life situations rarely have only one correct alternative;
(6) promote transference by presenting tasks that require students to intelligently adapt modifiable learning tools;
(7) require students to display an understanding of the whole, not just the parts; and
(8) allow students to choose a form of response with which they are comfortable.

I believe that teachers should play a coaching role providing external sources in a constructivist learning environment. It is my feeling that a combination of teachers’ instruction on computer skills or summative decisions about learning contents and students self-reflection on learning processes will look promising as an approach of learning growth. Also, traditional evaluation methods such as the collection of items in a portfolio, or case study analysis could certainly prove useful as well.

[References]:

Eisner, E. W. (1993). Reshaping assessment in education: Some criteria in search of practice. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 25(3), 219-233.

Hendricks, B. (1994). Improving evaluation in experiential education. ERIC Digests (073), ED376998 1994-11-00. Available URL http://ericae.net/db/edo/ED376998.htm

Jonassen, D.H., Carr, C. & Yueh, H.P. (1998). Computers as mindtools for engaging learners in critical thinking. TechTrends, 43(2), 24-32.

Snowman, J., & Biehler, R., (2006). Psychology applied to teaching (11th ed. ). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Rethinking learning in the digital age

Seymour Papert develops his long and distinguished career in rethinking how schools should work based on Constructionist learning. Also, he focuses on the impact of new technologies on learning in schools. In his book, The Children's Machine, Dr. Papert explores the art of learning; a topic that has been widely ignored by educational researchers. He introduces the concept of 'mathetics,' which he defines as the art of learning, and discusses the "mathetics" in the school setting and in light of his own experiences. His story, how to deal with the etymology of flower name, emphasizes the need for connectedness, and for tying new learning to interests and knowledge structures that are already in place. Papert believes that a successful learner has a desire to making connections, both between different mathematical ideas and his/her current state of understanding.

Traditionally, educators emphasize conveying a lot of information and facts, and do not model the learning process. They try to delivery of answers far more than the learning of answers. Papert(1993) claims that “in school children are taught more about numbers and grammar than about thinking.” He expects children to become motivated learners and problem-solvers through providing the learners with the appropriate tool—computer-- to participate the learning process. From his constructivist view of learning, Papert (1988) established some important guidelines for the placement and use of computers in schools as follows:

1. Seek out open-ended projects that foster students' involvement with a variety of materials, treating computers as just one more material, alongside rulers, wire, paper, sand, and so forth.
2. Encourage activities in which students use computers to solve real problems.
3. Connect the work done on the computer with what goes on during the rest of the school day, and also with the students' interests outside of school.
4. Recognize the unique qualities of computers, taking advantage of their precision, adaptability, extensibility, and ability to mirror individual students' ideas and constructions of reality.
5. Take advantage of such new, low-cost technological advances as temperature and light sensors, which promote integration of the computer with aspects of the students' physical environment.

Currently, more constructivist learning practice is taking place in our education institutions due to the exploitation of the digital media. For instance, Stager (2005) at Pepperdine University has designed successful post-graduate courses by applying constructionist learning theory in an online community of practice. The courses produced enough stimuli, support and expectations of reflective practice to assist students to learn about learning while learning to do wondrous things (Stager, 2005).

[References]:

Papert, S. (1993). The Children's Machine: Rethinking School in the Age of the Computer, Basic Books: New York.

Papert, S. (1988). Computer as material: messing about with time. The Teachers College Record, 89(3). Available URL http://www.papert.org/articles/ComputerAsMaterial.html

Stager, G. (2005). Towards a pedagogy of online constructionist learning. 2005 World Conference on Computers in Education, Stellenbosch, South Africa. July 2005.

High-tech, a barrier to think deeply?

In Tarlow and Spangler’s article, they discuss issues that surround the question of whether or not the conveniences of technology have been beneficial in increasing our ability to reflect and think critically. They prefer conventional learning practices, e.g. reading, writing, drawing, singing, etc. Tarlow and Spangler (2001)state: "We must also redouble our efforts to be sure that the children still get the benefits of our oral and literate traditions through plenty of physical activity, singing, making things with the hands, listening to and reading literature, drawing pictures with crayons and paints,…".

I partly agree with Tarlow's assertion that people are much less likely to consider the possible choices and decisions made as they buzz through information quickly. How can you expect students playing with computers and watching television to think deeply about the complicated questions of post-modernity? Tarlow suggests a pedagogical consideration in the substitution of technology in which children learn to read and write after being immersed in written form—mostly by being read to and falling in love with children’s literature (Tarlow & Spangler, 2001). Some conventional practices, like note-taking, are still the most important skills students can use to improve their understanding and retention of material that they read and are taught in class. Yet, they might be the most erratic and unmonitored student activities that occur in the classroom (Teaching today, 2005).

The word “literacy” traditionally refers to one's ability to read and write print-based media sources such as books and newspapers. This new century demands that we expand our definition of literacy to include a wide variety of media, including computers, video games, television, and the Internet. All of us can practice "reading" messages and stories across multiple media platforms, as well as "writing" our own media in multiple forms. As a result, literacy is not disappearing or being replaced by technology usage and its surrounding cultural practices, but instead it is enhanced.

Some people may argue that one does not necessarily always think deeply when one has access to the rapid, easy information. But as educators in the field of instructional design, we all need to think deeply about what is an appropriate solution when incorporating technology. Truly, critical thinking does require time to develop awareness and process perspectives, consider effects, and build relationships (Gokhale, 1995). It means deep thought requires time to reach a level of ability for students to conceptualize abstract connections between experience and areas of unique interests, or new applications of connecting new and old knowledge bases. However, as we all know neither time nor presentation means ensured deep thought, comprehension, and critical thinking because individual differences in learning style or media preferences. So either the two-dimensional quality of linear thinking or the multi-dimensional approach can utilize technologies to facilitate learning and enable access to previously unreachable information.

[References]

Gokhale. A.A. (1995). Collaborative learning enhances critical thinking. Journal of Technology Education, 7(1), 22-30.

Tarlow. M., & Spangler, K. L. (2001). Now more than ever: will high-tech kids still think deeply? The Education Digest, 67(3), 23-27.

Teaching Today (2005), Note-taking: an essential skill to help students focus and think deeply. Available: URL http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/weeklytips.phtml/28

Cultural sensitivity in instructional design

Value absolutes in product evaluation include ethical, legal, and ecological standards (Reeves, 1997). Evaluators use these standards when evaluating the merit and value of programs and products. Reeves (1997) proposed cultural sensitivity as an addition to that essential list of value absolutes. He suggests that the ultimate goal of product and program design is not to design culturally neutral materials, but to create enriched learning environments. Also, he introduced a new concept the “emancipatory evaluation”, which requires the evaluator to determine all theoretical perspectives relevant, with special emphasis on traditional minorities.

Cultural sensitivity is a term used to describe the ability to view the world from the perspectives of members of other cultures (Snowman & Biehler, 2006). It is a mind-set that includes not only an awareness of the diversity of the learners, but an appreciation for the differences. Creating a culturally sensitive learning environment requires the instructional designer, as well as the educator, to evaluate his/her own culture, and his/her own feelings toward other cultures. The instructional designers and educators sensitivity to cultural differences may be a deciding factor in empowering or repressing the students world views because they constantly make decisions about what and how will be learned and many other factors that affect the learning environment.

In a culturally diverse learning environment, curriculum designers or teachers are expected to develop positive attitudes and behaviors toward the students, understand individual specific learning styles that students bring from their culturally different backgrounds, and select or use instructional materials which facilitate a positive learning environment (Snowman & Biehler, 2006). As a result, employing a set of culturally sensitive strategies could create an opportunity for many kinds of academic achievement in a culturally diverse classroom, and may improve learning outcome for all students. This method of catering to the learning characteristics creates a climate in which students will change their negative attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors about cultural diversity and then learn to celebrate their diversity.

How can cultural issues be considered so that an instructional design can be used in culturally sensitive, responsive and appropriate ways? Bentley, Tinney and Chia (2004) recommended six design guidelines that have good points for American instructional designers or educators. The six guidelines are as follows:
1. Explicitly describe the educational values embedded in the course.
2. Offer optional scaffolding elements to help learners.
3. Consider the knowledge and skill level of English required to use the course.
4. Avoid slang and locally used words and phrases.
5. Before any real-time activity, make topic information available ahead of time for students so that students have the extra time needed to review the topic.
6. Materials should place little emphasis on personal achievement, promote group work, be written in impersonal style and emphasize tradition and history. (Bentley, Tinney & Chia, 2004).

In conclusion, culture is a critical influence on the acceptance, use of and impact of learning resources (Collis, 1999). Sometimes it is loud and cannot be ignored, but at other times it is silent and implicit. Instructional designers must be flexible, know the learners, and constantly be alert to the issue of culture in designing materials.

[References]

Bentley, J.P.H., Tinney, M.V., & Chia, B.H., (2004). Intercultural internet-based learning: Know your audience and what they value. Association for Educational Communications and Technology. Chicago , IL. (ERIC #: ED485118).

Collis, B., (1999). Designing for differences: cultural issues in the design of WWW-based course-support sites. British Journal of Educational Technology, 30 (3), 201-215.

Reeves, T.C., (1997). An evaluator looks at cultural diversity. Educational Technology, 37(2), 27-31.

Snowman, J., & Beihler, R., (2006). Psychology applied to teaching (11th ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Learn from wiki task

I learned about two new things from the wiki task: wiki server program and Marshal Mcluhan’s insights.

I. wiki server program
A wiki allows a visitor to logon to the "wikified" website to edit the content of a site from their own computer. Visitors can also create new content and also change the organization of existing content. Basically, a wiki website operates on a principle of collaborative trust (Jennings, 2006). If someone doesn’t want his/her writing to be edited mercilessly and redistributed at will, they won't submit it on wiki. Instead people can turn to blogs for publishing their ideas and opinions on the Internet. As a collaborative online learning and communication platform, wiki empowers peers to monitor and review the progress and development of the task. Although some people are worrying about the absence of academic authority and the quality of writing produced by the visitor editing method, the group authoring process, in order to resolve controversies, can reduce individual bias to real factual resource. Nevertheless the group authoring process still will leave plenty of scope for personal commentary. Overall the wiki task will be a good tool for learning and thinking.

When our team worked on the wiki task, we worked on figuring out how to use the wiki service and how we should cooperate to complete the four McLuhan’s Tetrad questions. We cared more about what was written on our wiki but had too little time for communication. As a result, we didn’t have enough time to contribute something from each other’s field of specialty to extend the breadth and depth of the subjects on the wiki site.

II. Marshal Mcluhan’s insights
Some of McLuhan’s ideas provided with me an opportunity to understand the concepts about technology and education. The most famous of McLuhan's statements was “the medium is the message”. It is also one of his best-known and least-understood insights. It means that the mere use of a medium has a greater impact on society than does any particular way in which that medium is used (Levinson, 1999). Then, is the content unimportant? From McLuhan’s points, there is no medium without content. Could you imagine a television without programs? If it is without programs, then television loses its medium role already. McLuhan's "tetrad" -- or "four laws of media" -- might help give us a better view of the road we've traveled, and where we're going (Levinson, 1999). The four questions can help us measure any medium and its impact on education.

From the horizon report (2006), we got to know emerging technologies and what will likely have an impact on teaching or learning. The technologies which will be employed in future learning environments could eventually change teaching contents, methods and techniques within the learning process. For instance, context-aware technology will retrieve collaborative work among people in shared physical locations, and it will bring about the possibility of gathering children from different grades in one room directed by one teacher in one specific location (Adams, 2006). This technology will resolve the problems such as the high demand for more teachers and more schools.

[ Reference ]

Adams, C. (2006). Context-Aware Environments and Devices. Available: URL http://lstpresentation.jot.com/TetradQuestions

Jennings, E. (2006). Web Services Definitions – wiki. Available: URL
http://searchwebservices.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid26_gci943070,00.html

Levinson, P. (1999). Millennial McLuhan: Clues for Deciphering the Digital Age. The Chronicle Review. Available: URL http://chronicle.com/weekly/v46/i08/08b01001.htm

The Horizon Report (2006). The New Media Consortium & EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative.

Learning with Media

To understand the relationship between media and learning, it’s better to take a few steps backward, and arrive at a definition of them. From there we can ascertain where we are going in respect to media usage in learning and cognition. Media used in learning environments include books, television, computers, or multimedia settings. These media are distinguished by cognitively relevant characteristics of their technologies, symbol systems, and processing capabilities (Kozma, 1991). When learning, people use physical, mental, and social experiences to construct personal conceptions (schemes) of the world (Snowman & Biehler, 2006).

Does the incorporation of media have any effect on learning? Clark believes that the media should be separate from method because method is the “active ingredient” or active independent variable that may or may not be delivered by the medium to influence learning. However, Kozma thinks medium and method could have a more integral relationship. In good instructional designs, a medium’s capabilities enable methods, and the methods that are used take advantage of these capabilities (Kozma, 1994).

I would not agree with Clark that technology in instruction is simply and only a means of delivering instruction, and I believe separating media from method within the learning environment is a misleading argument at best. Medium is a technology comprised of matter, and ideas lie behind the matter. So how different media are employed, and what instructional method is applied will all influence the learning outcome. The two experiments Kozma analyzed in his article demonstrate how learning is supported by the methods employed within the specific media. Therefore, from Kozma’s point, research should be focused on ways we can use the capabilities of media to influence learning for particular students, tasks, and situations (Kozma, 1994).

Technology can have a positive effect on education. The instructional design task is to figure out what makes it useful in what situations in order to control their strengths and avoid their weaknesses.

[ Reference ]

Clark, R.E., (1994). Media will never influence learning. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(2), 21-29.

Kozma, R. B., (1991). Learning with media. Review of Educational Research, 61(2), 179-211.

Kozma, R.B., (1994). Will media influence learning? reframing the debate. Educational Technology Research and Development, 42(2), 7-19.

Snowman, J., & Biehler, R., (2006). Psychology applied to teaching (11th ed. ). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

History of Technology's Use in Education

Educational technology brings instructors more ways to share and communicate with learners. The motion picture projector, or instructional films, and the advent of media incorporating sound, helped strengthen the communication between learners and instructors. Since the computer and internet affect most educators’ lives, it is possible to increase interactive capabilities among learners, instructional contents and instructors (Reiser, 2001). Moreover, with the exploration of virtual reality as a learning medium, the learning process will be a combination of immersion, telepresence, immediate visual feedback, and interactivity (Roussos, Johnson, Moher, Leigh, Vasilakis, & Barnes, 1999).

Although technologies may have an impact on instructional practices in schools, people’s acceptance of these technologies is still the most critical element in learning environments. If technology cannot provide an ideal environment for learners and instructors, people will stay conservative and will not use the technology. As Reiser (2001) points out, if teachers resist using television in their classrooms, instructional television will have minimal impact on educational practices. Similarly, teachers reported that computers were being primarily used for drills and practice in public schools (Reiser, 2001); in most cases, the use of computers was far from innovative. In my point of view, there will be a lot of work in the instructional technology field, seeking new applicable technologies, or reorganizing the implementations already in this field.

[ Reference ]

Lewis, L., Snow, K., Farris, E., Levin, D., & Greene, B., (1999). Distance education at postsecondary institutions: 1997-98 (NCES 2000-013). Washington, DC: National Academy of Science – National Research Council.

Reiser, R.A. (2001). A history of instructional design and technology: Part 1: A history of instructional media. Educational technology research and development, 49(1), 53-65.

Roussos, M., Johnson, A., Moher, T., Leigh, J., Vasilakis, C., Barnes, C., (1999). Learning and building together in an Immersive Virtual World. Presence, 8(3), 247-263.

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