Integrating Knowledge
A significant part of learning involves integration: the development of judgment, social and relational skills, and application of new learning to one's life and work.

Learners integrate new knowledge with what they already know, whether they are mastering a new concept in mathematics or analyzing political theory. For many people, discussion and interaction is an important element in the integration of learning. One educator, Sally Haag, has described this as "How do I know what I'm thinking until I hear what it is I have to say?" Another educator commented, "Sometimes we don't know we know as much as we do. Sometimes we don't think that what we know is valuable. When you put it down on paper, and share it, it becomes valuable. It's a form of legitimization. ... Knowledge can be legitimized by sharing it with someone else."

From the field of open and distance education, where learning technologies have been used for several decades, there is significant evidence that women in particular value the interactive, social aspects of learning. This research is relevant in considering the newer learning technologies whether they are used for on site learning or for situations in which learners and instructors are in different locations.

The independent and combined research efforts of von Prummer and Kirkup in two distance education institutions in Germany and Britain demonstrated the extent to which women learners value social learning and connectedness. Even in an educational context geared more towards individual, self-paced learning with occasional group study sessions (Fërrnuniversität and the UK Open University) women learners made more use of study centers than men did even though they had to deal with more obstacles, such as child care and transportation arrangements.⁴ Women were more likely than men to involve family and friends in their learning, and the researchers also found that, although equal proportions of women and men felt isolated, far more women than men were bothered by this isolation (40% compared to 24%).⁵

In other research, it has been found that interaction that is mediated by various technologies is valued by women if it provides a safe and non-threatening environment for discussion and reflection.⁶ But interaction does not require new learning technologies. More than a decade ago, a creative distance educator set up arrangements for participants in a women's studies course to communicate by phone and mail. Her extra efforts, more than any particular technology, provided support and encouragement for learners to interact.

Computer mail and computer conferencing are media that can provide for interaction leading to integration of knowledge and the bridging of theory and practice. To work successfully, conferencing requires an instructor or facilitator to provide a discussion framework and to be involved in and comment on the discussion threads as they emerge.⁷

There are examples in which reflective interaction and discussion may be hampered by technology. In one case, a women's studies course offered by videoconferencing raised questions about how to establish a trusting environment that allowed learners to integrate the personal and the political. The challenge was not just that one group of learners were at a distance, but that observers who were not part of the group could "drop in" unnoticed at the other site, perhaps just to observe how the technology was working. There were also concerns about how well the context could be shared among the sites, and that comments could be misinterpreted without a clearer sense of the context in which they were spoken. These concerns about safety, trust, and confidentiality also arise in computer conferences and are particularly pertinent to subject areas in which women tend to be the majority of learners, including counseling, education and health care, where both learner trust and client confidentiality are important issues.

It can be argued that these concerns are not necessarily an intrinsic feature of the technologies and could be addressed by a concerted effort to develop and follow protocols, possibly using some human or technical "gatekeepers." Another issue is that some technologies seem to create contexts in which people suspend inhibitions; this could be an advantage for someone reluctant to speak in a group, but a definite disadvantage when it leads to harassment and stalkers on the Internet.

Skill Development
One of the areas in which technologies were first used for learning was skills development, whether to reinforce reading skills through specially designed print programs or to learn CPR on a Resusci-Annie. One commentator pointed out the extent to which learning technologies have been used to train people to use other technologies, and remarked that there was a fairly natural continuity in this approach, providing the system was well designed and complemented by a lot of other opportunities for practice and for mentoring.

It has been suggested that women's use of technologies tends to be very practical, and this is perhaps most true in skills development. But while there are many situations in which technologies help to "teach" skills (for example, a video that demonstrates a technique, a computer program that corrects spelling), it is the exceptional learner who learns wholly from technology. One observer suggested that technologies that provide for practice and feedback can be very useful for building learners' confidence and skills. Learners can then go on to apply these skills in a new context, supported by mentoring and interaction with peers and/or an instructor.