Using interactive television to enhance authenticity in K-12 REALs: two case studies

Abstract

In this study, we examined two distributed learning environments that used interactive technology to enhance authenticity in Rich Environments for Active Learning (REALs). One case study used interactive television to connect a rural, an urban, and suburban classes together with community resources in a design education setting. In the second, interactive television was used to support a problem based unit that connected students with internationally recognised experts in engineering. Specific findings from each study are reported, with recommendations for improving each educational model. The authors synthesise the findings from these two studies, finding that interactive television was a useful tool for breaking traditional classroom barriers. Interactive television allowed the instructors to connect students to authentic communities of practice. Implications for how others might use experts in the classroom, and for how we ought to conceptualise technology are explored.