Technology in Education

Technology has long played a role in education. However, contrary to expectations, the adoption of technology in almost all areas of education has been surprisingly slow. Moreover, there is clear anecdotal evidence that technology can be counter-productive in education. Our belief at CITS is that learning is a creative process, and while much is known about various teaching methods, we do not clearly understand the most effective use of technology in very many educational environments.

The Technology in Education (TIE) Initiative, and the projects within it, have grown out of a need to better understand the effectiveness of existing technology while also providing guidance for the development of new technologies. The genesis of this Initiative was the result of a project whose goal was to "deploy as much technology into an experimental classroom as possible." The objective was one-dimensional and sought to determine if there existed any real technical limitations. While there certainly existed some technical roadblocks, the most significant barriers were non-technical.

The TIE Initiative now exists as a broad interdisciplinary effort, combining technologists, sociologists, psychologists, and humanists in an effort to understand technology and education and to affect the development of new technology for education.

Publications

e-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning

In e-Learning and the Science of Instruction, authors Ruth Colvin Clark and Richard E. Mayer— internationally recognized experts in the field of e-learning— offer essential information and guidelines for selecting, designing, and developing e-learning courses that build knowledge and skills for workers learning in corporate, government, and academic settings.

Mananging Complexity in a Networked Learning Enviornment

As more universities and research institutions develop digital classrooms, a common theme is arising: the need to manage complexity. As more technology is added to a classroom in order to facilitate the presentation, transmission and recording of digital media, the complexity of the environment increases dramatically.

Using Computer Networking to Facilitate the Acquisition of Interactive Competence

The main thesis of this paper is that conducting class discussions on a computer network is an effective method for increasing the interactive competence of first-year foreign language learners because it provides students with the opportunity to generate and initiate different kinds of discourse. In addition, computer-assisted class discussion (CACD) allows students to play a greater role in managing the discourse, e.g. they feel freer to suggest a new topic, follow up on someone else’s idea, or request more information.

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