Does technology assist or hinder educational objectives?
- Autores: Gerald Stanley Hirsch
- Localización: Tecnologías educativas y estrategias didácticas / coord. por Enrique Sánchez Rivas, Ernesto Colomo Magaña, Julio Ruiz Palmero, José Sánchez Rodríguez, 2020, ISBN 978-84-1335-063-9, págs. 1216-1226
- Idioma: inglés
- Enlaces
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Resumen
The context is the experience of the students of the English Language Department of a large university in Ecuador, in confronting the unexpected switch from face-to-face classes for learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) to online provision, in response to the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020. The specific focus was on their appreciation of the educational technology utilised and as to whether they considered it to be a help or a hindrance in the pursuit of their learning. An investigation of a qualitative character was arranged by the author, one of the English teachers there, involving a population of some 100 students who were asked to participate in online forums. The results were a rich mixture of comments and reactions, many favourable but also a good many expressing reservations, pointing to the diversity of learning expectations and preferences among the students, but also reflecting their varying home and employment circumstances. It was concluded that the technology in itself was capable of helping or hindering, dependent not only upon users’ requirements and the teaching strategies employed, but also upon economic circumstances, quality of equipment used and of the relevant public utilities.
