RAT Framework and How to Identify the Use of Technologies in the Classroom

The RAT framework is a theoretical framework that evaluates the use of technologies in education based on whether they Replace, Amplify, or Transform the learning environment. My class in Expository Writing that I took a few semesters ago has many examples for each of these.

In Replacement, for example, the teacher would sometimes use a PowerPoint for a lecture when it was not needed. Usually it was unnecessary because the lecture was short or because there were no illustrations involved. In this case, the teacher used technology to have a different means to the same end. This would be an inefficient use of technology.

Fortunately, the teacher mostly used Amplification instead. One example is when he would require all students to type out their essays using word processors. While a given in most colleges, this technology-based assignment is still an amplification of what came before it - type writers and handwritten papers. Word processors increase the efficiency of reading papers because the typography and format is standardized and easy-to-follow, and it increases the efficiency of writing papers because it provides the ability for easy revision or viewing changes between drafts.

My favorite part of my teacher's instruction, however, was when he would use Transformative technologies. An example of this transformation is when he had portions of writing from his grad students on a projected screen connected to his computer. The assignment tasked to us was to revise and change sentence structure, words, phrases, and connections in real-time by asking the teacher. The purpose of this assignment was to help us learn how to consolidate information and create flowing sentence structure that was logical and coherent. Through the task, our cognitive processes on how to revise work were changed, and the method by which we enacted these cognitive processes also changed because we were editing other people's work collaboratively and in real-time as opposed to independently and asynchronously.

Each of these examples - PowerPoint, word processing, and real-time group editing - show a different aspect of the RAT framework. The former were less effective than the latter at improving education based on how the teacher used the technology. By evaluating examples, we are better able to understand why the RAT framework is important and how we can distinguish Replacement technologies that are inefficient with Amplification technologies that are efficient; and, if we so dare, we can also identify Transformation technologies that we can use in our classrooms that will not only increase efficiency but also increase learning.