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Educational Technologies: What Works, What Doesn’t Work, and Why

Introduction Educational technologies have been heralded as a mechanism for engaging greater numbers of students, whether traditional students, non-traditional, or working professionals. Educators have come to realize that far too often course content is presented in a manner that appeals to a limited group of learners. As a result, many students perform poorly and lose interest in the content areas. While trade publications and some professional journals glorify examples of successful use of technology, we are all aware of spectacular failures.

Through several grant programs extending over the past five years, the College of Engineering at the University of Cincinnati, has prepared, presented, and evaluated content using various educational technologies. The technologies include: streaming media, video conferencing, animations, interactive exercises, and other web-based applications. The College has collaborated with the College of Education and the College of Applied Science (engineering technology) to develop and evaluate content.

In working to provide courses and programs to working professionals, the College has developed and presented courses using a variety of distance learning technologies that enabled students to take these courses at their convenience. Technologies include interactive video, web pages, streaming media presentations, and blended courses.

Brief Description of Technologies While most are familiar with the educational / distance learning technologies described, it is useful to provide a brief discussion to facilitate a consistent understanding of the technology and pedagogy.

Two-Way Interactive Video A classroom equipped with video transmission/receive equipment is connected to one or more other remote classrooms similarly equipped. Typically, a presentation originates from one site and is transmitted to the other site(s). The students in remote classrooms can both see and hear the instructor real-time, and the instructor can see and hear students from the remote sites. Remote sites have the image of the instructor and presentation materials either on a television monitor or as a projected image. The instructor can lecture and present materials using the same media as in a traditional classroom (chalk, overheads, video tapes, computer generated images, demonstrations). To be effective, however, these presentation materials must be formatted in such a manner that they are appropriate for display by a television monitor. Attention must be given to layout, font size, colors, clarity of graphics, etc. Interaction between the instructor and the students at the remote sites must be planned for if it is to be effective.

Streaming Video Streaming is a technique whereby information is provided by a web server in a "just in time" format to a user requesting a large file. Rather than downloading an entire audio or video file then playing the file, streaming sends a portion of the file, begins playing the file, while

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Rutz, E. (2006, June), Educational Technologies: What Works, What Doesn’t Work, And Why Paper presented at 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition, Chicago, Illinois. 10.18260/1-2--478