2. How important is technology in
education?
•The role of technology in the field of education is four-fold: it is included as
a part of the curriculum, as an instructional delivery system, as a means of
aiding instructions and also as a tool to enhance the entire learning
process. Thanks to technology; education has gone from passive and
reactive to interactive and aggressive.
•Education is essential in corporate and academic settings. In the former,
education or training is used to help workers do things differently than they
did before. In the latter; education is geared towards creating curiosity in
the minds of students. In either case, the use of technology can help
students understand and retain concepts better.
http://importanceofmoderntechnology.com/how-
important-is-technology-in-education-today/
3. Ways in which technology improves
education
• Teachers can collaborate to share their ideas and resources online: They
can communicate with others across the world in an instant, meet the
shortcomings of their work, refine it and provide their students with the
best. This approach definitely enhances the practice of teaching.
• Students can develop valuable research skills at a young age: Technology
gives students immediate access to an abundance of quality information
which leads to learning at much quicker rates than before.
• Students and teachers have access to an expanse of material: There are
plenty of resourceful, credible websites available on the Internet that both
teachers and students can utilize. The Internet also provides a variety of
knowledge and doesn’t limit students to one person’s opinion.
• Online learning is now an equally credible option: Face-to-face
interaction is huge, especially in the younger years, but some students
work better when they can go at their own pace. Online education is now
accredited and has changed the way we view education.
http://edtechreview.in/news/681-technology-in-
education
4. Benefits of Educational Technology
There are a number of benefits of introducing technology in the field of
education. There has been a positive impact of technology on education.
Virtual classrooms have made learning easier for the student community.
With the potential use of technology, the learning speed and style have
undergone a sea change and communication has become easier.
•One of the benefits of educational technology for students is that it helps
them improve their learning capabilities. Since it is one field which is constantly
changing, new updates can be easily introduced to the students and class plans
can be prepared with the help of the software.
•In the earlier days, education was considered to be mostly for the elite class
and people under other strata were quite ignorant of it. With the
introduction of educational technology, there is no discrimination and
everyone is equally accessible to get educated.
5. •The information can be portrayed in various ways with the help of study
materials. Knowledge has become easily accessible to students in every part
of the world with the implementation of technology in the field of education.
Online classrooms help students to interact with other students belonging to
the same stream, but located somewhere else in the world.
•Since the Internet is the main medium and other things like handheld tablet
PCs and smart boards have entered the arena, students do not have to carry
heavy backpacks loaded with books. They can walk in comfortably to the
classroom where these equipment are already placed.
•With the birth of virtual classrooms, the instructor from any part of the
world can teach the learner (or learners) who may be living at the other end.
The reach of this technology is quite far and students living in the remote
parts can also avail it with ease.
•In special education, the educational technology has brought about a sea
change where the needs of students are catered to in a different manner.
With the introduction of the software which teaches students with special
needs, the appropriate study materials are designed so that learning is
comfortable.
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/benefits-of-educational-technology.html
6. 5 Common Uses Of
Technology In The
Classroom & How We
Screw Them Up
7. 1. Websites and social media allow students to research and teachers to share–
not only lessons plans, but digital resources, assessment data, and even whole-
group, away-from-school communication (see The Flipped Classroom). Podcasts,
multimedia such as music and YouTube videos, and other digital tools can be
accessed here as well.
The Wasteful Bit: The internet holds within it the biggest bulk of facts, data, and
information a student needs to consistently access. While this isn’t knowledge
or wisdom, it’s a start. The problem is access is so often tethered by district
filters or well-intentioned restrictive planning by the teachers that a set of
encyclopedias might’ve functioned just as well.
2. Reading levels (e.g., Lexile) are monitored via computer-based reading
programs.
The Wasteful Bit: Readers, especially struggling readers, can often make
significant gains in reading level throughout a year. The bad news is that many
of these gains come not from wholesale improvements in literacy, but becoming
better at the reading test itself, or more concerted effort to “score higher.”
8. 3. Computer-based standardized tests from third-party vendors help are
given during the year to predict performance on the end-of-the-year state
test.
The Wasteful Bit: While offering piles of data and a rough picture of a
student’s academic deficiencies, standardized tests carry huge clout in
most public school districts, and success (and failure) here can mean
everything. But if the data that is produced is overwhelming to skillfully
analyze and revise planned learning as a result, what’s the point?
4. In the classroom, teachers are using smartboards and clickers to not
simply engage students, but to offer more diverse platforms for students
to work with new ideas and demonstrate understanding. Many of these
tools also allow the teacher to garner data in real-time, which not only
saves time (less grading), but more critically offers the student immediate
feedback that is often easier for them to interpret than nebulous teacher
feedback.
The Wasteful Bit: They’re smartboards and clickers. We can do better,
can’t we?
9. 5. iPads and laptops have the potential to make information and resources
immediately accessible to learners, and while that was always the case with
textbooks, technology makes this information more easily searchable, richer
with multimedia, and potentially social beyond the classroom.
The Wasteful Bit: Teachers often lack the time or the resources to fully
integrate iPads and laptops meaningfully, with one doing the work of the
other, and little gains made over what was possible with desktops ten years
ago. It is this approach that arms the naysayers in your department with
justified criticism of the expense and complexity of proper technology
integration.
http://www.teachthought.com/technology/five-common-
applications-of-technology-in-the-k12classroom/
11. Educational technology research always had an ambitious agenda.
Sometimes it only aims at increased efficiency or effectiveness of current
practise, but frequently it aims at pedagogical change. While it can be
considered as a design science it also addresses fundamental issues of
learning, teaching and social organization and therefore makes use of the
full range of modern social science and life sciences methodology.
"Technology provides us with powerful tools to try out different designs,
so that instead of theories of education, we may begin to develop a
science of education. But it cannot be an analytic science like physics or
psychology; rather it must be a design science more like aeronautics or
artificial intelligence. For example, in aeronautics the goal is to elucidate
how different designs contribute to lift, drag maneuverability, etc.
Similarly, a design science of education must determine how different
designs of learning environments contribute to learning, cooperation,
motivation, etc." (Collins, 1992:24).
12. Technology is therefore both a tool and a catalyzer and it can become a
medium through which change can happen.
“Educational technologists would not therefore consider the computer
as just another piece of equipment. If educational technology is
concerned with thinking carefully about teaching and learning, then a
computer has a contribution to make irrespective of its use as a means
of implementation, for the design of computer-based learning
environments gives us a new perspective on the nature of teaching and
learning and indeed on general educational objectives.” (O'Shea and
Self: 1983: 59).
http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Educational_technology#Goals_of_Educational_Technology
