Promoting understanding in digital contexts: using the construction-integration model as a framework for educational technology design and assessment

Despite a great deal of interest in facilitating learning with educational technology, developers face daunting choices about when and how to use myriad available digital features to promote meaningful outcomes. As a general theory of comprehension, the construction-integration (CI) model provides a framework to predict when educational technologies should support in-depth learning. This approach focuses on the cognitive processes underlying comprehension rather than superficial features of instructional technology: technology-based features that support controlled (strategic) inferential processing can promote robust situation model development and consequently deep understanding. In contrast, features supporting propositional encoding should facilitate textbase recall. Using the CI model as a framework to design and evaluate technology-based learning environments demonstrates its continued power and impact in improving our understanding of comprehension in diverse educational contexts.