How to analyze the affordances of an ICT tool for teaching and learning? Look at the following definition of 'usefulness' given by Kirschner, Strijbos, Kreijns, and Beers (2004):
The usefulness of any ICT tool such as a mobile phone can be analyzed from two main perspectives: utility and usability. Utility refers to the functions of the tool, and usability refers to its ease of use. In education, the utility can further refer to its educational functionality and social functionality.
Similarly, the affordances of an ICT tool for teaching and learning can be analyzed from the following three perspectives:
Pedagogial affordances
Pedagogical affordances refer to the possibility that the ICT tool can help to achieve the predetermined learning objectives. More specifically, pedagogical affordances include pedagogical approaches and learning activities that the tool can support. Examples of pedagogical approaches include:
If the ICT tool can help to accomplish any of the above approaches, components or events, it has pedagogical affordances.
More specifically, we may consider the following questions when investigating the peagogical affordances of an ICT tool:
Social Affordances
Social affordances refer to the properties of an ICT tool that act as social-contextual facilitators relevant to the learner's social interaction. The social affordances of ICT tool determine if it can provide a safe, comfortable, and convenient environment.
Technical Affordances
Technical affordances mainly refer to the capacity and usability of the ICT tool. Some ICT tools provide different versions (such as a free version, an educational version, or a full version) with different capacities (e.g. number of users supported, various band width, and different storage sizes).
Usability mainly refers to the interface design, including ease of use, ease of learning, error free, attractiveness, customization, and technical support. Relationship among the P.S.T affordances
Effective design of pedagogy or social interaction very much depends on the availability of technological support. Without sufficient support of technology, undoubtedly many pedagogical and social design activities such as 3D simulations or asynchronous online discussions will be hard to implement. However, the primary factor that influences the effectiveness of learning is not the availability of technology, but the pedagogical design and social design (Mandell, Sorge & Russell, 2002).
Technical affordance is a necessary condition for an ICT tool to be useful for teaching and learning. However, it is not a sufficient condition. Pedagogical affordance and social affordance are key components to consider. Pedagogical and social affordances may overlap in certain situations. Their relationship can be illustrated in the following figures:
Study one of the following examples, identify the P.S.T affordances of the ICT tool/platform based on the template given in the appendix at the end of this page or download the DOC version from the link located below.
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