The concept map below highlights the key affordances of educational technologies.

Here are a few positive developments of technology in the classroom.

• It helps to create an engaging learning environment for students, as technology can help present content in more interactive and creative ways.
• Technology is everywhere, and the use of computers and the internet will be an integral part of students’ future professional and personal lives. Hence, using technology when teaching will help students to become more familiar with common programs that they will use in their future careers.
• Technology helps teachers to connect with their students and use the internet to deliver curriculum.
• Technology can promote and facilitate discussion among students, leading to a more connected community.

Watch this video demonstration of what a technology-integrated classroom could look like. [Watchtime: 5.46 mins]

Technology and media are interwoven, and neither can be separated from contemporary society and communication in teaching and learning. Technology refers to tools and machines that can be utilised to solve real-world problems while media, referring to all print, digital, and electronic means of communication is defined as the medium that necessitates the active creation of content and/or communication, as well as someone who receives and comprehends the message and the technology that deliver it. Technology and media have evolved hand in hand, ranging from print newspaper to television, radio and films, to new media which includes social networking sites, blogs, podcasts, wikis, virtual worlds, and the list continues to grow. In the current educational settings, technology and media play a critical role in enhancing teaching and learning. The ability of ODFL to harness the latest technology and media to reach masses of learners has bridged the distance and made education more accessible.

View the video below, for further insight into traditional and new media. [Watchtime: 16.33 mins]

Social media, through “video calls, stories, feeds and game playing” can contribute positively to activities in and out of the classroom. Although, language learning through social media might raise questions about the potential awkwardness of communicating with teachers in an unprofessional atmosphere. Social media allows for the classroom to extend outside of the school and gives the students time to collaborate in a different medium.

Watch the video below to further comprehend the pedagogical foundations of social media in education. [Watchtime: 7.34 mins]

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Synchronous technologies require all those communicating to participate together, at the same time while asynchronous technologies allow participants to access information or communicate at different points of time. Other terms, such as scheduled or on-demand, transient or permanent, live or recorded, can be used to describe this dimension, which basically have the same features as synchronous or asynchronous.

Synchronous technologies

Video conferences, live television or cable broadcasts, radio programmes, live webcasts and live lectures are primarily synchronous technologies or media. The main advantages of synchronous technologies for education are immediacy and often increased emotional engagement. Another feature of live or synchronous events is the element of uncertainty (you don’t know what’s coming next and you can’t skim or fast-forward).

Asynchronous technologies

Books, emails, blogs, DVDs, YouTube videos, recorded lectures, Facebook, and online discussion forums are all asynchronous technologies. Learners can log on or access these technologies in their own time. The main benefit of asynchronous technologies is that it offers the learner more control and flexibility since they can access information and communicate at any time.

Synchronous technologies can be changed to asynchronous technologies in two ways that must be present together: recording; and archiving in an accessible way. (Thus, a recorded broadcast is still a synchronous technology at the time of broadcasting, unless the recording can also be accessed through for instance a website or Learning Management System (LMS) on an asynchronous basis.)

Technologies or tools that help members of a group work together are known as “Groupware”. Simply put, groupware refers to collaborative software.

Illustrated below are some examples of groupware displayed on a time/space matrix, where the time dimension is divided into synchronous and asynchronous communication and the space dimension is presented as co-located and remote communication.

Through current and emerging online collaborative spaces, as well as hands-on collaborative technology in the classroom, students have robust opportunities to experience meaningful collaborative learning in both physical and virtual settings that embody the tenets of sociocultural learning. Different technological and online tools can assist with greater communication strategies, more realistic simulations of real-world problem scenarios, and greater flexibility. Careful consideration of appropriate guidance within the use of technology-based collaborative learning can enable the thoughtful design of learning that maximises the benefits promised by sociocultural learning theories.

This video presents ways in which social pedagogy and collaborative learning, with the use of technology, can enhance student learning [Watchtime: 7.56 mins]

For most people, technology makes things easier. For people with Specific Learning Disabilities, technology makes things possible. Assistive technologies are designed to address specific barriers learners with disabilities face when they interact with their materials. Examples of assistive technology include text-to-speech, screen readers and speech recognition. Assistive Technology (AT) is a general term for the wide range of technologies/devices/systems that help people with disabilities. Adaptive technologies are a sub-category of assistive technologies that maintain the functional capabilities of students with disabilities. Assistive technologies are considered an important ingredient in the education of people with specific learning disabilities to negotiate and complete academic tasks with greater efficiency, confidence and increased levels of competence. The range of AT is diverse and caters to individuals who require intervention, support and tools to assist with writing, reading, research, planning, organisation, problem-solving, mathematical reasoning and calculations and time management.

Watch this video to further understand the role of assistive technologies in education. [Watchtime: 8.13 mins]

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Accessibility is a simple concept in theory, but it can be complicated in practice. For instance, what is accessible to someone with a visual disability is not necessarily accessible to someone with a learning disability.

• Accessible educational materials (AEM) are print- and technology-based educational materials, including printed and electronic textbooks and related core materials that are designed or enhanced in a way that makes them usable across the widest range of learner variability, regardless of format (e.g., print, digital, graphic, audio, video).
• Accessible formats provide the same information in another form to address the barriers text-based materials can present for some learners. Examples of accessible formats include audio, braille, large print, tactile graphics, and digital text conforming with accessibility standards.
• Accessible technologies are the hardware devices and software that provide learners with access to the content in accessible digital materials. These technologies are designed to be flexible and provide supports that benefit everyone – they are universally designed.
• Web Accessibility or eAccessibility, is an inclusive practice that allows everybody, especially those with disabilities, to perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the online environment. Examples include the possibility to read subtitles to a video when the environment is noisy or when you are unable to hear or listen to a text being read out loud when lighting conditions are not optimal or when you are unable to see.

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the main international standards organisation for the World Wide Web.

This video provides further guidance on the World-Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards and accessibility guidelines. [Watchtime: 2.30 mins]

In practice, the line between what is accessible and assistive technology can become blurred, especially as more assistive technology is included as built-in accessibility features on devices.

Watch this video for further clarity on assistive technologies and accessible technologies. [Watchtime: 5.50 mins]