Vygotsky in the Future:

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Vygotsky in the Future

• Technology as a Mediation Tool for Literacy
  Instruction
• By Joe M. Peters

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Early Computers

• Behaviorists used Teaching Machines in the 1950s
  to provide individualized instruction where a
  student could not progress without correct
  answers
• Used primarily as a reinforcement tool

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The Cognitive Science Paradigm Shift

• The focus of learning theory shifted from
  observing behavior based on the environment and
  exclusive of the mind, society or thought process
  (behaviorism)
• Cognitive scientists now viewed the individual as
  a complex organism
• Neuroscience, anthropology, psychology,
  philosophy, linguistics and artificial
  intelligence now a part of learning theory

• The development of the microcomputer in the 1970s
  brought the development of software
• Word and number recognition games
• Drill and practice routines
• Tutorial activities
• Games
• Word identification
• Computerized simulations

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Multimedia

• The combination of text, clip art, freehand
  graphics, animation, movie clips, sounds and
  control buttons.
• Multimedia, also known as Hypermedia, is
  interactive and allows the student to choose
  his/her own nonlinear path matching her learning
  experience to her own prior knowledge, interests
  and capabilities

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Multimedia and Programming

• Cognitive scientists believe that the more ways
  in which information enters the brain the higher
  the chance that learning will be internalized
  into long-term memory.
• Kinetic (actively doing)
• visual and audio reinforcement
• Learning takes on a recognizable personal
  purpose. Students are internalizing rather than
  memorizing through drills.
• Students learn the language and symbol system
• Learning is truly individualized and coherent to
  the student

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Interactive Compact Disk

• Brings the world into the classroom
• Interactive Encyclopedias
• Interactive dictionaries
• walk around nature reserves
• tour a museum

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Desktop Publishing

• Allows the collaboration of multiple authors
• Writing is more memorable because students are
  creating a published work
• Students are more motivated to learn the
  mechanics of writing when they know that others
  will be reading it

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Internet

• An ever-expanding web of databases that
  enables access to text, pictures, video and audio
  clips, software, and online discussions.
• If the information is out of a students range
  of independent ability, students can search for
  other related information to mediate
  understanding.

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Tools of the Internet

• E-mail (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, SMTP)
• provides real-world application for student
  writing
• File Sharing (File Transfer Protocol, FTP)
• Access to public information on remote computers
  (iTunes)
• Listserv
• Facilitates mail exchange between large groups
  with similar interests
• Usenet
• Message boards
• Gopher/Mosaic
• Gopher has become obsolete (requires the user to
  have software)
• Mosaic is what Netscape and subsequent search
  engines are based on

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Presentation Software

• Programs like Power Point can become
  critical scaffolding tools.
• More efficient than writing notes on the board or
  providing handouts
• Incorporate sound and images to reinforce points
• Helps the teacher to organize a lesson and model
  how to organize information
• Can also be used by students

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Technology in the Classroom

• Teacher vs. Student-centered learning
• teacher becomes guide/facilitator rather than the
  one in charge.
• Students are empowered to take responsibility for
  their own learning
• Technology is often viewed as a remediation tool,
  a gifted extra, or a babysitter for students
  who finish earlier or teachers who do not want to
  teach.
• Until this mentality changes, taxpayers, parents,
  administrators and politicians will not justify
  the allocation of funds for up to date and
  functioning technology.
• The current classroom, without technology, is an
  artificial and inefficient learning environment
  that is out of synch with the rest of society.
  If we are going to fix the crisis of education,
  we must start with technology.

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Discussion Questions

• Do you agree that technology is the best way to
  fix the problem of student achievement in
  education today?
• What could be some possible drawbacks to
  technology in the classroom?
• What are some ways that we could change the bias
  against technology in our schools?