Educational psychology and technology: A matter of reciprocal relations

Technology and instruction have recently entered an alliance of reciprocal influences. Technology serves instruction and at the same time opens up nov el opportunities. Concerning the former, a major justification for the empl oyment of computers is the acceptance of constructivist conceptions and a g rowing understanding of learning as a social process. Technology thus comes to facilitate the realization of the learning environments that emanate fr om constructivist conceptions. Concerning technology's influence on educati on, ever-newer technological affordances pull instruction in new and promis ing directions. However, many of these lack purpose or rationale. Why, for example, should students design their own wWeb sites? New questions arise t hat need to be answered, such as whether hypermedia programs offer frail an d casual webs of information that lead to the cultivation of similarly flim sy mental networks (the "Butterfly Defect"), or whether computer-mediated c ommunication (CMC) might create virtual, faceless learning environments. It also becomes evident that the new learning environments rely more heavily than their predecessors on students' proclivity for self-regulated and mind ful learning. Can technology facilitate the cultivation of these? Education al psychology and technology are now engaged in an intensive duet that, if seriously studied, explored, and evaluated may offer novel and improved ins truction.