Abstract
When tablets are used in schools for internet research and in passive reception processes only, a huge potential of digital media remains unexploited. By referring to an interactionist-constructivist model of learning, requirements for sustainable and motivating learning can be identified, which take into account the findings of psychology of learning and educational theory. In an exemplary analysis of two media for instruction, the exercise book and tablet, these criteria are assessed from a communication studies perspective: by comparing these both media, two conceptual potentials of using digital media in schools can be exemplarily detected.
Highlights
This article concludes that the logic of linear and inscribed media continues to predominate in schools, despite the advances in the use of digital technology as a pedagogic tool
Digital media carry potential benefits which can support teaching and foster learning. This potential remains unexploited if digital technology is used in the same way as non-digital media, for example if it only serves to replace a book, still the key medium of choice in schools and higher education even today
In order to examine the conceptual potential of digital technology for teaching and learning in schools, it is helpful to take a brief look at the fundamental principles of educational theory and educational psychology
Summary
Equipping schools with digital media does not automatically improve teaching and learning. One of the radical constructivist thinkers, Ernst von Glasersfeld (1997), noted that learners construct their own reality from their own subjective experiences, and according to their own interests and personal criteria of usefulness and validity. This provoked some criticism from scholars, including educational theorists. Constructivist thinkers give scant consideration to learners’ interaction with others as an explanation for learning (or, as they would put it: for the construction of experiences) This gap is filled by interactionism, which explains how individuals might be encouraged to learn by using language competence and social integration to stimulate interactions between individuals. One could say: they serve as the basis for sustainably constructing experiences (in detail Knaus, 2013; 2015)
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