Using Technology Wisely

Instructional technology, by itself, neither helps or hinders how well students learn. Technology is just a tool, and, as with any tool, how it is used determines its value. How can we best use technology to enhance learning? We need to stop and ask...

By Devorah A. Lieberman, Portland State University

There is an assumption these days that teaching is somehow more effective when an instructor uses presentation software to support a lecture. Or posts the syllabus and course notes on the course homepage. Or requires students to use the Internet as a resource and learning tool.

Colleagues, students, administrators, and the public at large all now routinely expect us to integrate technology into our classroom instruction. But technology and learning are not necessarily synonymous. Our goal must always be to help students learn, not to incorporate technology, for its own sake, into the education process.

As educators, we need to answer two questions when we ponder the use of technology to enhance student learning. The first: How can technology help to achieve the student learning outcomes deemed germane to a particular course of instruction? The second: What student learning outcomes cannot be achieved without the integration of technology into the course?

The pages that follow aim to offer readers a clearer understanding of how to integrate technology as a teaching strategy into course design. Also inside: specific "Techno-CATs." These are innovative classroom assessment techniques you can use both to obtain feedback from students on their own learning and serve as learning tools in themselves.

Devorah Lieberman is Professor of Speech Communication and director of Teaching & Learning in the Center for Academic Excellence at Portland State University. Her duties include providing support for faculty in all areas of teaching and learning, and delivering training and support for classroom innovations that include: presentation technologies, classroom management technologies, internet---based technologies, and Techno-CATs.