How Technology Fosters Learning: Inspiration from the “Media Debate”

Kai-Ti Yang^1*, Tzu-Hua Wang², Mei-Hung Chiu³

¹Yu-Ying Junior High School, Taichung City.
²Department of Education and Learning Technology, National HsinChu University of Education.
³Graduate Institute of Science Education, National Taiwan Normal University.

DOI: 10.4236/ce.2014.512123                

Abstract

Early back in 1994, Ross (1994) pointed out the issue of debate on media effect was not trifling, but bore great significance for how researchers and practitioners ponder on the implementation of media. Despite technology has come of age, the debate has recurred on the role of technology in education. This article tries to revisit and analyze the media debate between Richard E. Clark and Robert B. Kozma, and through the development of technology, multimedia learning theories and current findings from empirical studies on technology-enhanced learning, propose our viewpoint of how technology fosters learning, a tripartite structure of effective technology-enhanced learning. This tripartite structure indicates that the design of technology-enhanced learning environment should concurrently consider learner characteristics, technology attributes and instructional methods. This facilitates learners in achieving upmost learning effectiveness.

Keywords

Media Debate, Technology-Enhanced Learning, Tripartite Structure of Effective Technology-Enhanced Learning

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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