DESIGN PRINCIPLE 5- THE MEANS PRINCIPLE

It was very helpful, once again, to do the hands-on activity of looking at two technologies, the Ozobot and Osmos, and completing an affordance analysis.  An Affordance Analysis is a systematic way of choosing a technology in relation to learning goals. The task paired with the technology allows students to gain certain skills or "affordances."  I learned that the affordance is the convergence of the attributes of technology and the activities of the learning goals.  I further learned that it’s all about the utility, NOT the usability.  It is not enough to use technology just because of how easy it is to use or how well it does something.  The first priority should be to ask yourself, “How can I use this technology? What are the possibilities of using it? What are the constraints against using it?”  Usability can often be answered for you based on what technology is available to you in your school.

Through discussing the homework assignment in class, I learned that sometimes one begins with the technology (tool) and moves towards identifying the educational goal.  I was not alone in having picked a technology tool to use and then working backwards to create a lesson around it. This often occurs with teachers.  They see or hear about this cool new app, gadget, website, etc. and want to use it.  Other times you begin with your educational goal and do your affordance analysis of the task and technology to choose the best tech tool to use.  After doing the partner activity of “Matching Learning Goals and Tool- Considering Affordance,” I now see how it makes more sense to first think, “What do I need to accomplish?” This means having the learning goal clarified. Then, considering, “What tool can help me accomplish these goals?”  This was my biggest take-away from last week. It all goes back to good lesson design- going through the SPDs, ABCS, and AeCTS to identify an authentic problem, activities, then figuring out what technology is best suited for the purpose of the task at hand. 

This leads us to the fifth design principle- The Means Principle which states, “Good learning design reflect technologies chosen after mindful consideration of the cognitive and societal consequences as well as a clear and appropriate connection with content and learning activities.”  This is one more layer to put into practice with lesson design. Being one of the media leaders in the building, I look forward to sharing this with the administration and staff as we work to continue to integrate new technologies into our teaching.  This principle is especially important when it comes to the purchase of new tools.  I feel a little sickened by the fact that I can think of at least five grade 3-5 teachers who are currently goo-goo, gaa-gaa about Ozobots.