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Technology educational affordance: Bridging the gap between patterns of interaction and technology usage

I read and reviewed a very interesting research article about the higher education online learning environment. Technology educational affordance helps to bridge technology and instructional goals. The article addressed the interaction of technology and discussion as essential components. Technological environments (technology tools/participants and resources in education) help to form educators' discussions. The study found important interactions in different online learning activities and also the relationship to technology tools. As directly stated from the article, "The technological design influenced the differential appearance of educational uses of ICT and patterns of educational interaction in each of the three learning activities that were analyzed. The pedagogical design of each learning activity also influenced the appearance of diverse profiles of ICT use and patterns of educational interaction. We also showed that each learning activity possessed a group of very diverse learning actions which were characteristic of each learning activity." Higher ed. online learning activities will meet unique learning styles of all learners by differentiating instructional needs. Also, online learning activities and discussions from learners will help to narrow the gap, when meaningful online dialogue is the central point.

Badia, A. Barbera, E., Guasch, T., & Espasa, A., (2011). Technology educational affordance: Bridging the gap between patterns of interaction and technology usage. Digital Education Review, 19, 20-35.

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Permalink Reply by Dennis Warren on October 11, 2012 at 11:07am

Thanks very much for sharing this, I am looking forward to reading the article later today.

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Permalink Reply by David Petrick on October 16, 2012 at 7:56pm

Thanks, Dennis. I appreciate your interest in this particular article. I found it to be an interesting article to post.

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Permalink Reply by Sasha Reese on October 11, 2012 at 12:26pm

I agree with this article's findings. Interaction is a key component of successful online courses. However, interesting online activity and discussion features are often excluded for the sake of building a cheaper and more efficient course. It is important to find the proper balance of technologies that afford students the opportunity to interact even though they are not meeting face to face. Thanks for adding this article!

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Permalink Reply by David Petrick on October 16, 2012 at 8:05pm

Thanks, Sasha. I agree, the balance of technologies is important to help promote the discussion of online students. It is unfortunate when other online communication components are not included into the design of a program that fosters online dialogue.