Internet Learning Volume 5, Number 1, Fall 2016/Winter 2017 | Page 45

problems regarding technology in human
communication and organizations
to better understand their perspective
on how technology can be used to enhance
social processes.
In determining technologies to
explore, there are several considerations.
I identify what technologies are on the
fringe and what it is about those technologies,
the media characteristics, etc.
that can help facilitate instructional and
learning effectiveness. Usually, the technology
tools enhance the social process
through increasing student connectedness,
engagement, social presence,
and/or community. There is an array
of things I consider such as use, accessibility,
cost, and more before I decide
to pilot them in my course or amongst
several courses with my colleagues. Importantly,
I develop a pedagogical model
or how these technologies will be
used in my instruction to best influence
student learning. We all know that the
technology in of itself cannot influence
student outcomes necessarily, but how
we incorporate the technology into our
course design and situate the technology
within the student learning experience
[is important]. It is very critical to
develop a model of how it will be most
effectively used.
With that, I could identify two
areas of interest. First, I believe the use
of Open Educational Resources (OER)
is extremely important, especially in the
move to make undergraduate education
more affordable. I do not encourage the
use of e-Texts, per se, but what I do encourage
is OER that is interactive. One
of the areas through the years where we
Internet Learning
44
have lacked is increasing student interactivity
with content. Instructors can
increase this interactivity by annotating
the text that they share with their students
and allowing students through
the use of certain tools to collaboratively
annotate text. Students believe it
better unpacks the instructor’s expectations
in comprehending the content
and can lead to deeper thought and critical
thinking about the reading. Also, I
believe there are a significant amount
of course materials available through
online encyclopedias, image and video
sharing sites, blogs and microblogs, and
more that can provide students rich and
current content in a digital form that
they are used to viewing. For instance,
videos of actual subjects or scholars
bring more authenticity to the material
than reading about it. Sometimes there
can even be an affective component to
the stories. These digital archives, such
as microblogs, can also provide multiple
and global perspectives on a phenomenon
that would be difficult to capture at
any one time. Furthermore, instructors
can start putting learning in the hands
of the students by encouraging and
guiding their aggregation of OER materials
from digital spaces increasing their
digital and information literacies.
And, this ties into my second
area. I like using social tools, such as
Facebook, Twitter, and Google Hangouts
in my class. My courses are usually
completely online and need to use
tools to allow students to communicate
amongst each other, with myself, and
with the outside world. These are great
tools that allow individuals to develop
networks, learn in informal spaces,