From the Guest Editors: Fostering intentional learning with technologies

Abstract

The researchers of the seven papers in this special issue of the Australian Journal of Education take different approaches and use various theoretical foundations to frame their arguments. Although diverse in nature, similar themes emerge which provide insights to enhance our understanding of intentional learning, and inform our practices in the use of technologies to foster intentional learning. Our aim in this special issue is to make a concerted effort to bring together discussions on the role of technologies in intentional learning. Bereiter and Scardamalia (1989) suggested that learners are not only active in their construction of meaning but can also be intentional, which means that they are cognitively engaged in the learning process, monitoring, and regulating their learning (Sinatra & Pintrich, 2003). Taasoobshirazi and Sinatra (2011), drawing from Bereiter and Scardamalia (1989), suggest that an intentional learner is someone who uses ‘‘knowledge and beliefs to engage in internally-initiated, goal-directed action, in the service of knowledge or skill acquisition’’ (p. 210). Schnotz and Kurschner (2007) defined two different types of explicit learning. Incidental learning is learning without the intention to learn, while still being aware of what is being learned. On the other hand, when learning is intentional, the learner not only has the intention to learn but also possesses an awareness of what has been learned. Intentional learning is explicit when the learner acquires a specific set of target knowledge and when he or she is aware of and able to articulate what has been learned (Frensch, 1998; Kirkhart, 2001). Bereiter and Scardamalia (1989) used the term intentional learning to refer to cognitive processes that have learning as a goal rather than as an incidental outcome. It is an ‘‘achievement, not an automatic consequence of human intelligence’’ (p. 366). As put forth by Scardamalia and Bereiter (2006), intentional cognition is more than self-regulated learning; it is the ‘‘active pursuit of a mental life’’ (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 2002, p. 246), whereas self-regulated learning is usually a set of study skills and learning-to-learn strategies.