=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2470/p26
|storemode=property
|title=Towards adoption of technology-enhanced learning: understanding its benefits and limitations
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2470/p26.pdf
|volume=Vol-2470
|authors=Vilma Sukackė
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/ivus/Sukacke19
}}
==Towards adoption of technology-enhanced learning: understanding its benefits and limitations==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2470/p26.pdf
Towards adoption of technology-enhanced
learning: understanding its benefits and
limitations
Vilma Sukackė
Kaunas University of Technology
Kaunas, Lithuania
vilma.sukacke@ktu.lt
Although it is not clearly defined in the scientific literature, it
Abstract—Technology is embedded in all walks of people’s could be explained as a form of learning adapted to (1) be
lives, including the diverse forms and types of contemporary accessed in a number of ways by using technology, (2)
education. With technology becoming increasingly popular in a organizing teaching/learning processes, (3) communicating,
variety of contexts, scholars have developed models that allow (4) collaborating, (5) making the learning process more
to explore how technology-enhanced learning (TEL) is adopted. effective, and (6) performing other type of learning-related
One of the key prerequisites for TEL adoption is its acceptance
by the involved users. TEL acceptance can be hindered if
tasks [5].
technology is implemented without properly exploring its When criticizing the components of the term
benefits and limitations. They should be also well understood by "technology-enhanced learning" and the lack of their clear
policy makers who offer top-down guidelines to employ TEL as operationalization in scientific literature, Bayne [4]
a means of modernizing educational systems across the globe. emphasizes that the English version of the term does not
Therefore, the present paper highlights the most prominent reflect the word "teach" because technology is primarily used
topics of the debates on implementing TEL when it comes to the for teaching, not learning. As the author of the present paper
two opposite ends of the spectrum, namely technology supports the latter observation, after providing a brief
supporters on the one end and critics on the other. overview of TEL adoption models, the paper further explores
Keywords—Technology-enhanced learning, TEL, technology
the negative and positive aspects of technology-enhanced
adoption teaching /learning by focusing on both, the educators and the
learners.
I. INTRODUCTION
II. ADOPTION OF TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS
Contemporary teaching and learning, regardless of its IN EDUCATION
different forms (i.e. formal, informal, informal), can no
longer be imagined without any use of technology.
Technology, especially if it has been developed for As was previously indicated, with the hope to modernize
educational purposes, is often seen as a means to promote and education and increase students’ learning outcomes,
enable the modernization of educational systems. Both public instructors across the globe implement technology. In many
and scientific discourse have a lot of different opinions about cases, when implementing technology for educational
technological interventions in education. Those individuals purposes, they engage in educational borrowing, which can
who oppose using technology for educational purposes and be explained as a deliberate adoption of various learning
their opponents, individuals who are in favor of technology, objects (e.g. multimodal instructional content, curriculum,
are often sarcastically labelled as "technophobes" [1] on the teaching/learning methods, Information and Communication
one end of the spectrum and "technoromantics" [2] or Technology, etc.) from one context to [6]. Adoption of novel
"technology enthusiasts" [1] on the other. The representatives technology (or innovation) is a complex process that takes a
of the two stances try to empirically ground their stance, long time. As can be seen in Fig. 1, there are different stages
which is achieved by conducting research in the area that is involved in the adoption process, and some innovations do
referred to as technology-enhanced learning (TEL). Over the not become mainstream. To study the process of innovation
past 50 years, research in the field has been increasingly adoption, Rogers [7] also proposed a Diffusion of Innovation
conducted by representatives of educational sciences, Model (see Fig. 2), which is still widely applied across
informatics, and psychology. different disciplines. It can be suggested that the initial stages
There are many different terms in scientific literature for of implementation are essential to the successful adoption of,
defining TEL, which at a first glance seem to be synonymous. in this case, digital learning objects.
However, there is a considerable discrepancy between their It can be suggested that the key component that might lead
operationalization and realization. In scientific discourse, to adoption of the aforementioned innovations is technology
terms such as e-learning, m-learning, technology-based acceptance. One of the most commonly used models for
learning, computer-based learning, game-based learning, etc. measuring it is the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM),
are still popular and visible [3-5]. Nevertheless, there is a which was presented by Davis in the 1980s [8]. Research
growing number of sources claiming that this area is best shows that, despite the widespread use of technology, even
reflected by the term "technology-enhanced learning". younger educators are reluctant to adopt and deploy
technology, they often feel anxiety, and are skeptical about
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86
the educational potential of technology. TAM research points of criticism when it comes to technology used in
reveals similar trends in the adoption of learner technologies. education by employing a metaphor of "the caravan effect".
Other additional factors, such as culture and foreign language They suggest that the travelers (i.e. technology enthusiasts)
[9-10] also make the adoption and implementation of stop for a short while (i.e., new technology), but travel
technology particularly difficult, thus their lifecycle becomes quickly to find a new source. Other authors suggest that
brief and their true educational potential remains undisclosed. scholars might be trying to solve problems by using
In order to solve the aforementioned issues and to encourage technology when technology itself is the root cause of the
more adoption of TEL, it is vital to better understand its problems in the first place [13]. There is a lot of criticism for
benefits and limitations. The remaining of the paper the past debates and studies on technology-enhanced
discusses the main tendencies that emerge in scholarly teaching/learning because of their previous focus on
debate over the former or the latter. technology over the student and his/her learning outcomes. It
is more and more emphasized that technology should be a
means to achieve the goal, not the goal itself [13]. Other
Fig.1. Gartner’s Hype Cycle of Technology in Education [11] authors note that the breakthrough of technology
development is controlled by computer scientists and
business needs. Therefore, introducing such technologies into
the learning process, especially if they are unexplored by
educational scientists, should be more carefully assessed
[14].
New technologies that appear in educational contexts are
often called disruptive [15]. This is primarily because they
Fig. 2. Roger’s Diffusion of Innovations Model [7] become innovations that present challenges for all those who
are involved in the teaching/learning process. Despite their
innovativeness, disruptive technologies often need to be
III. LIMITATIONS OF TEL AS DISCUSSED adapted to specific contexts and needs [6, 16] . Such changes,
IN SCIENTIFIC DISCOURSE respectively, require changes from the educators, learners or
educational institutions as well.
Although technology-enhanced teaching/learning in its Many a time, the decision to introduce new technologies
definition suggests a number of benefits, in scientific in the teaching/learning process is brought top-down, for
discourse, there is considerable criticism towards it. Kohn example, through educational policy decisions or guidelines.
and Hoeffsteder [12] illustrate one of the most common In practice, however, such pressure often does not produce
any results [17]. Developing and introducing new
© 2019 for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative
technologies to educational settings is often costly [17],
Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) requires a lot of time and other resources from the individuals
88
who implement them [18]. paradigms, namely, teaching (also, instruction), interaction,
There is a global trend that the generation of educators, and learning [23]. In the first paradigm, all decisions related
especially university teachers, is aging [19]. It can be to learning content, methods, and other processes are decided
assumed that many of them belong to the generation X, upon by the educator. In the second paradigm, there is a
which, unlike the generation Y and Z (for the alternative closer link between the educator and the learner, and the latter
names of the generations, see Fig. 3 below), does not have is given more freedom to choose how to learn. The third
such good digital literacy skills. It can be argued that such paradigm gives the learner the most flexibility as s/he has the
educators also lack the ability to design contemporary most freedom, can choose both the learning content and the
courses that include technological interventions, as research methods; the role of the educator changes completely, s/he
overviews suggest that technology is very often used as a becomes the facilitator, mentor, and consultant of the learning
new medium to convey the same content [20]. For these process. Scholarly output of educational sciences emphasizes
reasons, educators without appropriate training have to the need to move to the learning paradigm. This can be
obtain new qualifications and training, which is highly achieved with the help of technology.
undesired because it also wastes a lot of time and financial Despite the criticism and skepticism surrounding the
technology-enhanced learning potential, many scholars or
education policy makers support such interventions in
educational settings. Scientific literature, based on both
empirical research and theoretical discussion, identifies a
number of technological advantages for both educators and
learners. For example, the introduction of new technologies
is beneficial to educators' performance. Laurillard et al. [17]
observes that new technologies extend the practice of
educators and make them more professional.
Technology-enhanced teaching/learning can use a
variety of teaching/learning methods and strategies, access
multimodal content, or deliver content in an attractive,
convenient, easy, and free-of-charge manner. There is a lot of
research that reveals the benefits of blended or distance
Fig. 3. Different titles of generations (Rosenberg, 2018) learning [24]. Universities and businesses are also developing
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) that are attractive
resources. Learners are also reluctant to take on additional because they are usually free, flexible in terms of time and
independent work. Technology can be implemented to space, inclusive, as well as suitable for both traditional and
successfully work under the learning paradigm and to direct non-traditional students. It should be noted that even the most
the whole process at the learner, give him/her a lot of popular MOOCs (e.g. Fig. 4) suffer from high student
autonomy in deciding what, when, and how to learn. dropout rates, but MOOC enthusiasts (especially researchers
However, previous research reveals that learners are not yet in open universities) continue to conduct research, improve
fully prepared for self-directed learning through the use of the design of MOOCs to address this challenge. It can be
technology [21]. anticipated that the advances in research will improve the
Other challenges related to technology-enhanced performance and importance of MOOCs in life-long learning
teaching/learning can be observed as well. Due to the practices.
complexity of the field of technology-enhanced
teaching/learning research, a large number of studies are
fragmented, explore only certain aspects from the
perspective of educational sciences, informatics or
psychology. Another shortcoming is that these studies are
often carried out in a very specific cultural context with a
small, unrepresentative sample, and therefore the reported
statistically significantresults should be interpreted with
caution [11]. It is also worth noting that there is a lack of
longitudinal research that reveals the true potential of
technology-enhanced learning, maintaining knowledge and Fig. 4. Some of the most popular MOOCs [25]
skills compared to the traditional learning methods.
Interdisciplinary research that acknowledges and It is also important to mention that TEL allows a learner
overcomes the aforementioned limitations could lead to to study in relatively authentic conditions, making learning
more accurate results and deeper understanding of the more meaningful. For example, one of the most important
phenomenon. aspects of learning a foreign language successfully is
authenticity. Learners do not always have the opportunity to
IV. BENEFITS OF TEL AS DISCUSSED IN SCIENTIFIC travel to the country where the language has the status of a
DISCOURSE state language, but with the help of technology, virtual
simulations, tandems, access to corpora, etc. achieving
Educational sciences distinguish between three authenticity is possible. TEL is well-suited to STEAM
subjects and various fields of medicine, in which learners,
© 2019 for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative
through various simulations or virtual experiments, are
Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) enabled to understand and see intricate processes and to also
89
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