Book Review: Learning with Technology - A Constructivist Perspective

This book (ISBN: 0-13-271891-X) is authored by David H. Jonassen, Kyle L. Peck, and Brent G. Wilson. It is published by Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, United States. In Learning with Technology, David Jonassen and his colleagues present a constructivist perspective of learning, beginning with a highly understandable explanation of constructivism. Throughout the book, the question they set out to answer is “how technology can best enhance meaningful learning?” The authors then go into justification for the constructivist use of technology in classroom and learning environments. The main technologies discussed in this book include video, hypermedia, e-mail, chats, bulletin boards, and simulations. The book provides various examples including suggestions about plausible learning procedures, roles of students, teachers, and assessment. The book also includes an index. At the end of each chapter, the references and ideas are presented. These ideas are designed in the form of questions. In doing so, Jonassen and his associates in their constructivist approach, analyze and advocate a procedural account of learning that is different from the traditional styles of learning. Notwithstanding the focus of the book on technology, the authors also account for why the constructivist paradigm provides a more effective methodology for teaching students to think and learn all elements of education. We must highlight that though not new in the theory of knowledge, which is in epistemology, the constructivist paradigm is relatively new in the educational realm. Students of all educational backgrounds, academic worlds, and any classroom setting are the target audience of this book. Not only do the authors call for a revolution of the traditional dominant paradigm of education, but also they present ample evidence for the implementation of constructivism and technology in order to allow learners to construct knowledge, to think, and to learn. They argue that unlike what the traditional paradigm holds, technology does not teach thinking ability and knowledge. Rather, students only learn when they construct knowledge, think, and learn through meaningful experiences. For this reason, technology can be a means to support the process of meaning-making in an analytical way. Therefore, understanding does not come from technology but from the meaningful experiences of learners to which technology can only be a supportive tool. In the final analysis, the goal of the book is to call for an educational reform by employing aconstructivist paradigm of learning. Ultimately, the book aims to provide an impetus for a shift in the dominant paradigm of education.