MAE/5361 Learning Through Technology Essay

New Technologies

Kellie Sanchez

York University

MAE 5361 Learning Through Technology

Dr. Beth Riley

May 7, 2023 New Technologies

Introduction

Differentiated instruction is important in all areas. Learning technology allows for all styles of learning. Technology has the potential to engage students on their levels which might become difficult to do in a large class. Whether audio, visual, or kinesthetic, technology has the potential to engage all students if teachers aren’t afraid of trying varying techniques in the classroom.

Learning Styles and Technology Learning styles have been used to differentiate instruction in educational classrooms for several years now. There are proponents of learning-style assessments that would require

Kinesthetic and visual are this educator’s preference. Specifically, with learning technology, need hands-on experience is the best. It is beneficial for students to see instructors working with technology, even making mistakes, to model that it’s okay to make mistakes. Not every piece of technology is easy to navigate. Technology allows for all these learning styles and encourages them to overlap. Learning technology is engaging from the time a student begins the process. It allows for hands-on activities, videos/reading for visual learners, and audio for auditory learners. These are often intermingled which will help develop other skills that might be lacking. Students who are not good test takers are evaluated through other means to determine if skills have been learned (Iowa PBS, 2017).

A study was published in the International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education (2021) that researched and designed “an adaptive e-learning environment based on student's learning styles and study the impact of the adaptive e-learning environment on students’ engagement.” The results indicate that there is a possible connection between an adaptive e-learning environment that would be beneficial in helping students towards learning. This paper gives practical advice for designing and implementing an adaptive e-learning environment based on differentiated learning styles. It gives practical advice that will assist in encouraging student engagement in the learning