recession. He found a job in a rural area that required a number of

new skills, including knowledge of agriculture and statistics. He has

completed free online courses to fill these knowledge gaps, has earned

a dozen certificates, and now has a leadership role in his new field." This shows how technology such as online courses can help certain individuals in different contexts

the learner. For example, some serious games immerse learners

in virtual works through role-playing and interaction with a gaming

community. Reading a book, listening to an audiotape, and viewing

a film are not interactive technologies because these do not present

new information in response to the actions of the learner.

2. Adaptivity: The technology presents information that is contingent

on the behavior, knowledge, and characteristics of the learner. A

technology can be interactive but not adaptive, as in a game that of-

fers the users choices but does not alter the options in response to

the users’ choices or actions. Conversely, intelligent adaptive learning

programs are designed to be adaptive and interactive, so that when

learners use the software, it assesses and may respond selectively

to every task-related action on the part of the learner, including giving

right and wrong answers, length of time taken in making decisions,

and the learner’s individual decision-making strategies.

3. Feedback: The technology gives feedback to the learner on the

   quality of the learner’s performance, sometimes including how the

   quality could be improved. The feedback can range from a short mes-

   sage that a learner’s input or response was correct or incorrect to an

   explanation of why the input was correct or incorrect. Task-relevant

   feedback can range from responses to short-term events that last a

   few seconds to long-term performance extending over (for instance)

   a school semester.

4. Choice: The technology gives students options for what to learn and

   how to learn so they can regulate their own learning. For example,

   choice is low for an instruction-oriented technology that pushes an

   agenda with few options for learner exploration. Choice is high, for instance, when students explore the Internet to find answers to their

   personal questions.

5. Nonlinear access:The technology allows the learner to select or

   receive learning activities in an order that deviates from a set order.

   Many commercial learning technologies offer a linear presentation in

   which material and major concepts are experienced in the same order

   by all learners. However, other technologies provide nonlinear access

   to information: the order of presentation depends on the learners’

   choices or varies by virtue of intelligent adaptivity.

6. Linked representations: The technology provides quick connec-

   tions between representations for a topic that emphasize different

   conceptual viewpoints, pedagogical strategies, and media, such as

   between spoken messages, texts, diagrams, videos, and interactive

   simulations. Such connections support cognitive flexibility and encod-

   ing variability to support learning.

7. Open-ended learner input: The technology allows learners to express

   themselves through natural language, drawing pictures, and other

   forms of open-ended communication that encourage active learning.

8. Communication with other people: The learner communicates

   with one or more other “persons,” who may range from peers to

   subject-matter experts. The communication may include text-based

   computer-mediated communication (e-mail, chat, discussion rooms),

   multimedia computer-mediated communication, computer-supported

   collaborative learning, conversational agents, tutors on demand, and

   crowd sourcing.

puter-assisted instruction,” provides interactivity and feedback. For example,

there is a mature industry that provides computer-based vocabulary instruction

in which the computer displays a picture and two to four words. The learner

selects the word that names the picture and receives immediate feedback

(correct versus incorrect). The computer could present thousands of trials

with this simple procedure, following particular schedules of item presenta-

tion with interactivity and feedback. These training trials have been used in

classrooms and labs and to support homework outside of class. The training

can be accessible throughout the day if it is available on a mobile device.

Deeper learning with models: Deeper

learning involves understanding complex concepts and systems and is mani-

fested in, for example, the use and construction of models ,

the ability to integrate information from multiple documents and experiences, and the ability to explain correct versus incorrect sys-

tem behavior.

Collaborative and cooperative learning: Collaborative learning requires

interdependency, wherein group members work together to plan and organize

joint activities to complete a task or solve a problem. The action of each person

builds on the actions of others, and an action of one person may be taken up

or completed by others in the group. In contrast, cooperative learning involves

breaking a task into pieces: group members work separately, although they

may coordinate activities that proceed in parallel. The completed pieces are

assembled by the group

Technology supported self-regulation learning: Certain programs use conversational agents

to train students on 13 strategies, such as taking notes, drawing tables or dia-

grams, re-reading, and making inferences that theory suggests are important

for self-regulated learning. Initial studies have

shown some positive impacts but not for all learning strategies. One reason

may be that the instruction was delivered using a standard script; individual-

ized training adapted to learners may be more effective.

pictures, and sounds are excluded rather than included.

2. Signaling Principle. People learn better when cues that highlight the

organization of the essential material are added. This allows the learner

to focus on the critical material that is presented.

3. Spatial Contiguity Principle. People learn better when corresponding

words and pictures are presented near to, rather than far from, each

other on the page or screen.

4. Temporal Contiguity Principle. People learn better when corresponding

words and pictures are presented simultaneously rather than succes-

sively. This means that the graphic or image should be physically near

the text that describes the image.

5. Segmenting Principle. People learn better from a multimedia lesson

that is presented in user-paced segments rather than as a continuous

unit. A simple way to do this is to include a “continue” button allowing

the learner to progress through the material at her own pace.

6. Pretraining Principle. People learn better from a multimedia lesson

when they know the names and characteristics of the main concepts.

Pretraining may be most useful to novice learners because learning

some of the material before they are exposed to the main lesson

allows for improved and quicker learning of the main lesson.