After reading Thomas C. Reeves and Lin Lin's article, The research we have is not the research we need, I felt inspired and illuminated by what I observed and experienced around me in the educational field, from early childhood education to adult education.
In the article, it mentioned that the focus of education should and is going to solve the problem instead of providing the technology of how to solve the problem. There is an increasing number of high-tech tools, software, and learning websites/platform that we can find easily. Tremendous of numbers methods and courses are telling people, includes children learning tools but not limited to, what you can learn and how to learn it well. That's kind of similar to what Dr. Reeves mentioned, "What else can be done to move from the research we have to the research we need"(Reeves, 2020). We have the great tools ever, but how to apply them to appropriate learners?
For example, I purchased a top rating Chinese learning APP for my son to enhance his Chinese ability, however, after a couple of weeks of interest playtime, he dropped it and didn't want to play it anymore. Even the updated APP looks better and the new learning games from that APP are more interesting. On the contrary, he feels love for the simple way of learning: write and read the paper-based document, and it is only printed in black and white! The only reason my husband and I can think of was he can discuss the problem and show his homework to us. That makes me think, what's more important? A better technology tool provides to the learner or a better interactive teaching/learning method would work better?
As for distance education learning, educational technology could play a more critical role nowadays. The numbers (Anderson, 2020) in Dr. Anderson's article show us a clear picture of how distance education increased compares to face to face education. Distance learning is approaching and critical, one thing we may like to consider maybe how to apply more research from how to teach online to how to solve the distance learning challenges for both educators and learners. The name of our learning field is changing, which also indicates that the research and the field are changing (Reiser, 2018). From the early definition of instructional technology that focuses on media to recognize it as a process, to design that embodies the technology and humanity together. The field is changing from the inside out, the students like us are also facing challenges and opportunities in the new technology era.
Reference:
Reeves, T. C., & Lin, L. (2020). The research we have is not what we need. Educational Technology Research and Development (ETR&D), 68(4), 1991-2001. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-020-09811-3
Anderson, T., & Rivera-Vargas, P. (2020, June). A critical look at educational technology from a distance education perspective. Digital Education Review, 37, 208-229. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1344/der.2020.37.208-229; Retrieve from https://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/der/article/view/30917
Reiser, R. A. (2018). What field did you say you were in? Defining and naming our field. In R. A. Reiser & J. V. Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and issues in instructional design and technology
(4th Ed.), (pp. 1-7). New York, NY: Pearson Education.
Hi Sungling,
I was so resonated with your story about your son's learning. Although I haven't a children, I deeply understand the controversy of controlling the integration of technology tools into education. From my previous teaching experiences, I also noticed that sometimes we paid much more attention to promoting some tools for children but neglected the initial learning goals and meanings. As a future instructional design practitioner, we individuals need to bear this potential trend in our mind to balance the teaching and technology integration. Using technology is not the ultimate goal, let the children learn real valuable knowledge is.
-Xiaoying
Hi Sungling, your reflection about "The research we have is not the research we need" is so vivid. Moreover, I almost have the same experience with you, that is, I also purchased a Chinese learning online courses for my son aimed to improve Chinese reading. Similarly, my son just was interesting in it after three weeks. Now he still like to read the printed book rather than e-book. We also think that he feel that the printed book is more convenient to communicate with us. So I usually reflect, what kind of interactive teaching can be added to online teaching to achieve the interactive effect of face-to-face teaching?