Impact of Technology Tools and Multimedia for Online Teaching

Arne Duncan, acting as U.S. Secretary of Education, once tweeted "It's not about the technology, it's about the learning." This resonated with me as though I am a technology enthusiast, I do not recommend that anyone focus on incorporating technology just to have the latest and greatest bell or whistle. Early adopters are often guilty of focusing on incorporating all the latest technologies at the expense of student learning. Digital tools change faster than the seasons and it would be impossible for any, even the most tech savvy instructor, to stay on top of everything and still adhere to good pedagogy unless that instructor consciously thinks about the student learning outcomes that will be enhanced with the one or two technology tools they want to incorporate within a semester.  Then refine, revise and tweak the ways it is used in the online course based on student feedback and student learning outcomes throughout the semester. New instructors should focus on using only the essential tools for teaching online at the institution where they work and then slowly incorporate more tools as they feel more comfortable. "If you focus on the essential tools and build your course around those tools, you can branch out later as you teach a course a second or third time and gain experience, confidence, and a sense of exploration (Boettcher & Conrad, 2010, p. 63)."

Essential Tools for Online Learning

Essential Tool	Possible Drawbacks	Used For
Communication Tools to support Social Presence 1.Discussion Boards/Forums 2.Social media like Twitter/Facebook 3. Wiki	May take time to arrive at decisions so students may need incentives (grades) to participate, this is also true for collaborative group work	used for asynchronous threaded conversations over time to discuss and share ideas anywhere/anytime Wiki is a useful tool for group collaboration.
Announcements	Messages should be short and timely.  If too long students may bypass as too time consuming and miss important information.	Instructor to learner interaction.  Best way to provide daily information and keep engagement and focus
Standardized Course Template Menu and Navigation	Courses built by instructors without a template for consistency run the risk of frustrating students who cannot easily find course elements.	Assist students by providing consistency across courses allowing students to know where to find common course elements.
Multimedia-audio and video tools	audio and videos are generally static and do not provide answers to questions or expand on ideas so need to be combined with reflection or discussion activities to extend and enrich learning	Audio and Video content linked or embedded in the LMS provides engaging  and enriching

One of the main tools used for online courses is the learning management system (LMS). There are many tools within many institutional's LMS, so it is best for both the student learners in the online course and the instructor for the course to only have a few essential tools. Boettcher and Conrad contend a good strategy is to pick the three or four essential tools that are best suited for your learning goals and discipline and use them well. Then with each succeeding term you can expand your use of tools.

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Online technology resources can be used in a variety of ways to support teaching and learning. Educational games, gamification, and the use of authoring tools are all what would be considered technology expansion tools. These are the technology tools which are most appealing to my creativity in online teaching as I move forward in my career in instructional design. While these tools can be good ways to keep the students engaged in their learning, the focus should always be on the learning outcomes and not the technology itself. There is often an upfront learning curve for authoring software and a steep creation time element for story-boarding the lesson and then the technological aspect of actually building the lesson which can cause non tech savvy instructors to become frustrated. Once built however, these lessons can provide just in time feedback with embedded questions and answers, branched learning scenarios, practice to mastery exercises and authentic assessments which can be personalized to each learner.

“Accessibility and usability have been fundamental concerns for instructional design in online education. With the prevalence of online learning and course management systems (CMS), the delivery of accessible and user-friendly course materials becomes crucial to successful online programs (Wu, 2015, p. 2)." Instructors building online course can take advantage of the fact that many of the technology tools have been designed to meet accessibility guidelines. Instructors should become familiar with the required accessibility compliance mandates and guidelines in order to meet the learning needs of all students before deciding on a technology tool.

There is a positive association between the increase in new technology tools being integrated into society and the development of new theories on how to use technology as a springboard for learning. eLearning environments can be designed with these principles in mind in order to promote more effective learning. It is easy to present large amounts of material in an online learning environment since so much knowledge is available in digital format and therefore easily uploaded to present to learners. However, learners can only process limited amounts of information and as a result e-learning instructors should limit the amount of information that a learner is asked to process. Multimedia can also become extremely complex and the information can get jumbled in a format that loses the focus of the related goal. Information needs to be simplified, focused and presented in a format that is easily understood and clearly delivered. (Meyer in Veronikas & Shaughnessey, 2005).

Boettcher, J. V., Conrad, & R.-M. (2010). The online teaching survival guide: Simple and practical pedagogical tips. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Veronikas, S., & Shaughnessy, M.F. (2005). An interview with Richard mayer. Educational Psychology Review, 17(2), 179-189.

Wu, S. (2015). Accessibility, Usability, and Universal Design in Online Engineering Education.2015 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition Proceedings, 1-18. doi:10.18260/p.23480