Affordance Analysis
The term “Affordance Analysis” appears like a formal
definition would follow when considering the term only for technology in
education from Bower’s article, Affordance analysis – matching learning
tasks with learning technologies, the base definition of affordances come
from Kirschner and are:
"Educational affordances: characteristics of an educational resource that indicate if and how a particular learning behavior could possibly be enacted within the context; Social affordances: aspects of the online learning environment that provide social- contextual facilitation relevant to the learner’s social interaction.”
As the term affordance becomes the new catch-all phrase and
will soon be followed by companies offering specific technologies being
marketed for their affordances; I believe we need to consider that this is an
opportunity to think “outside of the box” and be able to find the right tool,
technology or otherwise, that engages students in learning, enhances their
learning, and has the capability to extend the learning into their real world.
What I like about the affordance movement is the focus on
the learning outcome first and then the best tools to reach that goal. Time is
our most valuable commodity and teachers do not have the time to spend on every
new technology that is thrown their way along with requirements to incorporate any
technology into a lesson. When educators are using technology to simply quiz and
play games, they may have picked the easiest tool and not the best tool for engaging
their students in learning the actual subject content. Considering the affordances
of a tool may lead to better choices.
I had never heard or done an affordance analysis (at least not formally) before this class. It seems like an excellent tool . . .as long as we can find the time to use it!
ReplyDeleteI think the key is to continue putting the learning outcomes first then matching the technology with the goal. This is the part that to me is the most challenging. In the past, computer usage was based on "when" and "for how long" the computers were available for my class. With the 1:1 initiative, that has changed, so using an affordance analysis will be a must!
DeleteI think it's crazy how something that seems so simple has to be addressed because many of us (or at least me) have been using technological resources to supplement or enhance the learning experience purely for technology's sake, rather than using it to enhance the learning goal. I wish I would have learned about this earlier on--and I can't believe that wasn't my goal to begin with!
ReplyDelete