Those teachers here in Malaysia and elsewhere around the world who have successfully incorporated computer and related technologies into the teaching and learning process seemed to consider that technologies do add significant value to their teaching and their students' learning "when it is integrated thoughtfully, with strong commitment and support from school administrators at all levels". Without this "thoughtful integration and strong commitment and support from administration at all levels", it is unlikely that computers to support teaching and learning can achieve the full potential to improve either of the tasks.

You may be one of those teachers who have been successful and if so this lesson should reinforce your experience, and if you have not been as successful, I hope, this lesson will identify what ought to be revised in your practice to make your attempts successful.

The lesson is about how the application of computers in education has its foundations solidly based upon applying of learning theories and an understanding of cognition. We will progress through the lesson by first refreshing our knowledge of cognition; second we will consider the theories that have been developed in situating ‘learning' within that understanding and third we shall look at the way instructional methods and technologies have evolved over the years and finally we shall consider how the arrival of the computing technologies has helped educators and learners alike to benefit from these technologies.

The lesson will look at five aspects, how and where computing technologies impact on learning, its design and delivery. We have taken this particular approach based on Chapter 13 of the book 'Education for an Information Age' by Poole et al, which reflects on these issues in four discrete sections. These are listed in the table below. We have added a fifth section using a Malaysian case study.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this section, you should be able to:

1. Describe how the application of computer technologies is based on our understanding of learning theories.
2. Describe the three major learning theories and the way in which they are influencing our teaching practices.