Supporting Learning Outcomes
Learning technology must support learning outcomes. These outcomes may align to formal learning goals including state standards and content-related course goals.
Learning technology also may be open-ended in design and allow students to develop transferable, 21st century skills (U.S. Department of Education, 2016). The U.S. Department of Education (2016) prioritizes students students' development of "core academic competencies" including critical thinking and problem solving and "non-cognitive competencies" such as "executive function" and cooperation (p. 8).
Selwyn (2011) presents a circumspect view of the alignment between learning theories and the actual uses of technology in education, noting "digital technologies are perhaps more commonly used as an 'information tool' than as a 'learning tool'" (p. 80). A number of researchers, however, find promise in learning technology in terms of facilitating learning as a social process (Halverson & Shapiro, 2012; Ito & Bittanit, 2009; Ito et al., 2013; Jenkins, Clinton, Purushotma, Robison, Weigel, 2006; Linn & Sawyer, 2006).