Assignment 11, Introduction

As advances in technology continue to be developed, the responsibility of people to keep pace with being proficient in these advances continues to increase. Not only is it important to learn these technologies for their employment in the workforce, but it can also serve as the conduit by which their learning needs can be fulfilled. The tools of learning and classroom settings are being quickly supplemented with videotaped lessons, which can be played on laptops, ipods and PCs’ while reclining in the barkalounger; face-to-face interaction – the bread-and-butter of formal education is being augmented and sometimes replaced by emails, skype and blogs; feedback on assignments received exclusively from the teacher can now be received (anonymously if appropriate) from classmates to deepen the learning experience. Such is the future of education in the 21st century.

With these numerous possibilities and potentials, consideration and research is necessary to determine the impact and effectiveness of new media on online learning – this is the focus of this study.

With the emergence of new technology, it is important to ascertain whether such new technology may better serve a learing goal better than technology currently being implemented in the online learning environment. As new technologies quickly emerge, some may make the erroneous assumption that a new technology will be the best one adapted for their online classroom. Only the completion of such research will allow the best possible instructional environment for people to effectively learn.

In spite of all the new technology, the crucial element that cannot be ignored is the human element. Specifically, the learning needs of adults (andragogy) are considered, and is a focal point of the questions for this study. Although the capacity of technology continues to change, the qualities by which adults better learn do not. In performing this study, we hope to better understand through the interaction of adult learners with new media in online learning, which qualities of these new media maximize humans’ learning potential.