19 May 99
Michael Hannafin

There are good tools/resources and there are not so good tools/resources. As a matter of degree, a typical web's search engine is a tool, but its practical utility for locating/selecting resources that are likely to be of specific value to a given learner is limited (or highly dependent on the skill and persistence of the user in its use). So, it is a tool--one with a very broad purpose but somewhat problematic when seeking relevant resources (e.g., listing the first of 10,000 "hits" according to relevance factors defined very simplistically isn't likely to simplify or clarify the task for an individual with limited background). Searching tools that are more sensitive to domain (searching preselected databases such as NASA for resources), type (types of resource such as graphics, JPEG files, etc.), or use (e.g., high school space science unit on Appollo missions) seem more likely to yield a productive search and useful resources.

Then there are other tools--few generic web tools support manipulation of the concepts themselves, but that's a big part of what someone wanting to understand something provided on the Web would presumably want to do. Simply displaying may be sufficient in some cases, but if part of the context of the lesson was to develop and understanding of, say, gravity. A learner may read that the moon's gravity is 1/6th that of the earth, or view movie clips showing astronauts bounding in seeming slow motion, but how does one deepen understanding of the concept of gravity? A spreadsheet tool that allowed a learner to do something as simple as examine his/her own body weight on planets of varying size, mass, and density would extend the concept substantially and go beyond what either the resources or basic web tool might offer.

All resources contain information, but not all resources contain relevant information: "A resource's utility is determined by its relevance to the enabling context and the degree to which it is accessible to the learner: the more relevant a resource is to an individual's learning goals, and the more accessible it is, the greater its utility." How are resources located, and relevance determined?" Assuming all "relevant" resources were located in single locations, there would be no real need to search. Any given web site designer can explicitly direct, guide, or leave the learner largely to his/her own devices. In many cases, this is precisely what instructors do--they post all of what they deem to be relevant resources to be viewed/used for a given course on a specific website (or include pointers to those sites they want/require students to use). But when not consolidated into a single site or referent, how does the individual locate candidate resources, evaluate their relevance, adapt them for their own purposes, and continue to evolve both their understanding and their subsequent activities accordingly? These are distinctions that separate web information and tools from their counterparts in OLEs...they support an individual's efforts to learn, understand, or do something for their own purposes through the use of those resources and tools.

The real differentiation, of course, is the link among enabling context, resources, tools, and scaffolds. Simply having stuff available on the Web does not by itself constitute a learning environment--a database perhaps. Not many would mistake the aggregation of temperature, rainfall amounts, ozone levels, and barometric pressure readings in the National Weather Service's databases as a learning environment, but these can certainly be transformed for learning purposes. Given an individual's need to do vacation planning (context), for example, those same data can be transformed. When in the rainy season in south Florida? What time of year is the average high and low temperature conducive to sunbathing with the least risk of damaging ultraviolet rays? The data derive meaning in contexts that individuals accept or establish.