The use of technology to improve learning

Using Technology as a Learning Tool, Not Just the Cool New Thing Ben McNeely North Carolina State University © Ben McNeely I fully realized the digital age when I first spoke to my grandparents over the "talk" feature on AOL Instant Messenger. How cool is it, I thought, to have grandparents that not only have a computer, but know how to use it? What was more striking was that my grandfather, a man who never had much formal technical education, built not one, but two, computers from parts—motherboard, disk drives, hard drives, and so forth—with the help of my cousin. He has high-speed Internet access, sends and receives e-mail, burns CDs, and chats online using IM. He even built a computer for my grandmother, who uses it to check the obituaries daily on the  Winston-Salem Journal  Web site and does online jigsaw puzzles. She can no longer do real ones, as the pieces are too small for her to see and grasp. Growing Up with Technology In kindergarten, I was introd

Games and learning  is a field of education research that studies what is learned by playing  video games , and how the design principles, data and communities of video  game play  can be used to develop new  learning environments . Video games create new social and cultural worlds – worlds that help people learn by integrating thinking,  social interaction , and technology, all in service of doing things they care about. [1]  Computers and other technologies have already changed the way students learn. Integrating games into education has the potential to create new and more powerful ways to learn in schools, communities and workplaces. [1]  Games and learning researchers study how the social and collaborative aspects of video game play can create new kinds of learning communities. Researchers also study how the data generated by game play can be used to design the next generation of  learning assessments . The games and learning research world studies how new   digital media   tools