Potential+misconceptions+about+learning+and+technology

Some potential misconceptions about learning and technologies: (see the [|detools zotero group] for citations) >>> Practical Method of Dissection
 * Students do worse in online courses than face to face. (online is inferior to face to face)
 * False: See these recent meta-analyses:
 * [|http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf]
 * summary of above: []
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 * Alternate explanations: forces instructors to prepare more
 * Students are more likely to drift off-topic in online discussions than in class
 * False: > 90% content-focused.
 * See this article on [|Asynchronous and Synchronous E-Learning].
 * Students writing is worse today with all these new technologies
 * False: [] study is showing that students' writing is improving over the years, and other studies show blogs and wikis and the like have a positive impact on student writing skills.
 * Before students do an activity, they need a lecture explaining the concepts/principles involved
 * False, Of course students need to know what they are doing and why they are doing it, but it's better to lecture about the concepts //after// an activity such as an exploration, simulation, lab, etc. It's okay if the complexity of the situation causes a bit of stumbling or confusion. They will be more ready to understand the lecture afterward, instead of just tuning it out if given beforehand.
 * Some refs:
 * Brant, G., Hooper, E., & Sugrue, B. (1991). Which comes first: The simulation or the lecture? Journal of Educational Computing Research, 7(4), 469-481.
 * Which Comes First: Computer Simulation of Dissection or a Traditional Laboratory
 * Multimedia: Video and animations are better than static diagrams
 * False - on average actually, diagrams hold a slight advantage over animations. Animations & videos might go too fast for a student, or too slow (boring). A diagram you can take your time to study it and move back and forth between the steps or components.
 * Tversky et al. (2002). Animation: can it facilitate? International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 57(4). []
 * But actually this is a trick question. There is another alternative that is better than either animations/video or diagrams: user-controllable diagrams (or simulations). If you let students control and interact with an animation or animated simulation, the learning gains are even greater. See Richard Lowe's work:
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 * Today's students are 'wired' differently than older generations. They are digital natives, and we old fogies are digital immigrants.
 * False - There isn't really research or evidence for this. Actually there are greater differences //within// generations than between them (such as the digital divide, etc.)
 * See []
 * More rewards lead to better learning
 * False – Dan Pink has written and spoken about this recently. See this video: []
 * The more you learn the more confident you are:
 * False - Actually it's the reverse. See this info on the Dunning-Kruger effect
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 * Various misconceptions I've heard about Constructivism:
 * Constructivism works better the less guidance you provide (hands-off, no lecture at all, etc.)
 * There are appropriate and needed times and situations to provide structure and also to lecture. See the 'time for telling' article above, for example, and work by Ton de Jong and many others.
 * Constructivism & problem-based learning, etc. is a failure
 * Constructivism is only appropriate for older students
 * Constructivism is only appropriate for younger students (yes, I've heard both)
 * The more software costs, the better the quality
 * False - You can't really judge the quality of software or technology by the cost alone, there are so many factors involved.
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 * Programming, authoring educational websites, software, videos, etc. is hard or expensive
 * False - there are tools that make it easy enough for even young children to create interactive animations, games, etc.
 * Scratch
 * Alice
 * ToonTalk
 * Netlogo
 * Processing
 * Twitter, facebook, blogs, youtube, etc. are frivolous with no use in the classroom
 * False - we'll discuss this more later - see the social networking tools page
 * It doesn't matter what technologies you use or don't use, as long as the content is the same
 * False - we'll discuss the 'media debate' later on
 * And, it's a false constraint/limitation that the content has to be the same
 * But see for example: [|Potholes in the Road to Proving Technology] by Bob Tinker
 * The more redundancy you use in presenting information, the better it will be learned
 * False - we'll discuss more about research on multimedia learning later, such as the modality effect, etc.
 * You will learn more from 15 class sessions, one per day, than 15 class sessions, one per week
 * False, this is known as the spaced practice effect. It's better to take a break between study sessions, like a week.
 * Overly positive/romantic misconceptions about technology:
 * Sometimes there is a romantic 'democratic' notion of participating online, but it's not always the case.
 * One person can dominate or bully a network/forum, for example
 * Wikipedia behind the scenes is not so pretty
 * You have to worry about cyber-bullying, etc. online with younger kids
 * Buying technology improves teaching/learning - IWBs (interactive whiteboards), e-books, computers, laptops, etc.
 * You need to provide training and so forth, and support teachers and students, otherwise technology might have a negative effect or only a short-term 'wow' effect until the newness wears off.

Some other miscellaneous related items:
 * Logical fallacies in psychology [] which have applications to education and educational technology as well: []
 * Other people's related lists of misconceptions:
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