Meaningful learning is not
memorizing and regurgitating information.
It is being able to take information and use it to problem solve and
think innovatively. Engaging learners to facilitate understanding and
real-life application is important because many students are great at
memorizing a lot of small facts for a test, but they may not actually
understand what they are memorizing. Many people can simply
regurgitate words and definitions without really understanding what
they are saying. This kind of learning is not meaningful or helpful
when in a real-world situation. Students need to have experience
applying what they learn to real-life scenarios. That being said, technology
can be helpful to facilitate this kind of meaningful learning. Like
the reading says, technology can be used to "actively engage" the
learner and create authentic tasks. When the technology is allowing
the student to use what they have learned and apply it to real-life
situations, they are more inclined to remember what they have learned
long-term and actually understand it conceptually and not just through
rote memorization of facts. This is an important part of the learning
process. Learning is not meaningful until applied to an authentic task.
