How to Use Technology in Educational Innovation

Abstract

The Internet and new computer technologies have dramatically changed the teaching methodology for faculty today. Presentation software such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote, and Prezi provide greater visual stimulation during educational sessions with multimedia video, animations, and graphs to capture or focus the attention of the audience. Today, faculty with their increasing time demands for research, clinical care, and administration need to find innovative ways to impart their knowledge and incorporate their teaching skills. Educators need to expand their repertoire with new teaching technologies or risk being perceived as limited and ineffective Luddites. Traditional educators are saddened with the decreased emphasis on direct teaching methods, and may even doubt the effectiveness of Web-based educational materials. Maloney et al. compared Web-based versus face-to-face fall prevention short courses for health professionals in a randomized controlled trial [ 1 ]. They determined that face-to-face and Web-based delivery modalities produced comparable outcomes for participation, satisfaction, knowledge acquisition, and change in practice. In addition, their study demonstrated more cost-effectiveness in the break-even analysis for Web-based education. The barriers to learning how to create these Web-based materials have all but dissipated, as software tools have become easier to learn and educators have become much more comfortable with technology. In this chapter, we review examples of Web-based educational methods and provide cases of their use. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)