How do technologies help?

Examining how more familiar technologies are used for particular aspects of learning provides a point of reference in looking at the newer technologies. For example, one of the oldest educational technologies, print, is a very good medium for presenting information, because it is stable, rather than ephemeral, provides a structure that allows for reference and review, and allows users to process it at their own pace. Users can modify print materials and integrate new knowledge, by developing their own notes that relate the information they read to other information and/or their own experience.

Using these attributes of print as a benchmark, we can examine other learning technologies to see how they compare with print in terms of presenting information. Audio or videotape allow users to review segments, but not as readily as print does. The more ephemeral technologies, such as radio, video, audio conferencing and videoconferencing, do not allow for reference and review, or permit learners to process input at their own pace. Depending on the structure of an audio or videoconference, there may be opportunities for learners to participate and integrate new learning.

Computer conferencing allows users to capture and download information, print it out, and then consider it, and in many cases, users can develop and annotate their own responses to the material. Users can use this medium to share with others their written responses to the material, and thus contribute to the further development of information as active participants rather than passive recipients.

This capability of computer conferencing to allow for shared learner contributions is an advantage over print, especially in distance education situations: achieving the same goals through print would require developing and sharing print materials, which is easy enough to do in a classroom setting, but requires the use of mail or fax distribution systems to accomplish at a distance, and can lose the immediacy of response.

On the other hand, transmitting large quantities of information via computer mail requires learners to take considerable time to download and print it, and it would be much simpler to provide the material in print in the first place. In non formal learning, there are some interesting examples of women with common interests in different countries using computer mail and conferencing to support information gathering and communication. These examples are presented in the section on Opportunities for Learning.

Obtaining information from the World Wide Web may provide learners with an opportunity to explore a much broader range of information than would be possible to provide in printed textbooks, but on the other hand it may not necessarily provide the depth of information that can be presented in a large and coherent printed work. Unless they have developed a framework for selecting information and judging its relevance and accuracy, learners could feel bombarded with information when exploring the Web and be too distracted to focus on the important elements they want to know.