scholarly journals Re-examining cognitive tools: New developments, new perspectives, and new opportunities for educational technology research

Author(s):  
Christopher Drew

The concept of educational technologies as cognitive tools or mindtools emphasises the importance of learning with not from technology. When cognitive tools are designed with student-led learning in mind, they ideally help to extend and scaffold learners’ higher-order cognition both when the technology is in use and long after the cognitive partnership has ended. With new wearable, immersive and increasingly personalised educational technologies emerging, this collection of papers reflects upon the value and applicability of the cognitive tools concept in 2019. It works to progress unsettled debates on the definition, design and use of the cognitive tools in light of technological change and highlights the continued relevance of the concept moving forward.

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 1019-1034 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Beardsley ◽  
Patricia Santos ◽  
Davinia Hernández‐Leo ◽  
Konstantinos Michos

Author(s):  
Justin Marquis

There is an ever-widening gap between the social classes in American society reflected in wages, living conditions, health care and access to technology. This chapter argues that a hidden agenda underlies much current educational technology research which, intentionally or unintentionally, reinforces the societal power structures which support this inequitable access. In order to demonstrate this subtle discrimination some of the work of well-known educational technology researcher Larry Cuban is examined in order to highlight the ways in which his choices of research sites and methodology help to perpetuate the digital divide through generalization and a failure to acknowledge the existence of persons who lack technology access in their homes. After the critique a methodology for conducting “socially responsible” educational technology research that employs a postmodern critical perspective to mitigate the discriminatory factors present in much contemporary research will be proposed.


Author(s):  
Abdelghani Babori ◽  
Abdelkarim Zaid ◽  
Hicham Fihri Fassi

Over the last decade, several studies have focused on massive open online courses (MOOCs). The synthesis presented here concentrates on these studies and aims to examine the place held by content in these studies, especially those produced between 2012 and 2018: sixty-five peer reviewed papers are identified through five major educational technology research journals. The analysis revealed that these research articles covered a wide diversity of content. Content was mainly defined in terms of objectives of MOOCs, prerequisites required for participation in the MOOC, types of learning scenarios, and, though rarely, through the strategies used to convey content. In addition, empirical studies adopted a variety of conceptual frameworks which focused mainly on learning strategies without relating to the content in question. Finally, content was seldom considered as a research object. These results can provide MOOC researchers and instructors with insights for the study and design of MOOCs by taking into account the specificity of their content.  


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