Educational Technology

Educational Technology

Educational technology refers to the use of technology in educational settings. These can be primary and secondary schools, colleges and universities. This practice of use of technology was started way back in 1968 by the efforts of Atkinson and Suppes (Saettler, 2004).  The use of computer technology in classes have therefore had many changes since that time up to date. The presence of technology in schools have a significant boost to the student’s learning and their achievement. The technology also has excellent potential for the student’s and teacher’s achievements if it is appropriately used. Technologies do not assure one of the proper learning; however, inappropriate use of it will lead to ineffective learning. This article ill discuss the use of technology in a classroom and how it is integrated into the curriculum.

Colleges and Universities have rapidly adopted the use of high technology in classrooms and is now widely being used for several learning and school activities. The advancement of the technology in classrooms in campuses have been continuing each year since 1994 (Bauer, 2005). This has undoubtedly transformed learning in higher education since each year; there is an increased use of technology in classrooms. The use of technology in the classrooms is aided by high technological literacy among the students and the teachers. This has, therefore contributed to the reshaping of higher education. This is because some of these technologies have become a permanent part of learning in class. This is made possible because they offer a better way of giving instructions to the students by the teachers.

The high level of technological literacy has enabled the use of top technological resources in class to aid in learning. The use of resources such as the internet, email, course web pages and computer simulation has simplified learning activities. These sources are also relevant because they eliminate the barriers to education. This is because, in a class, the technology of advanced boards will ensure that all the students are comfortable with the visibility of the boards since it is more diverse. The learning also utilizes the use of personal computers which is essential since the students and teachers can keep their data safe. The high level of technology in classrooms also enables the use of more sophisticated technologies to replace the outdated movie projects that were initially used in class for learning and projects. These high level of technologies are of considerable significance to the learning, and its success in classrooms are contributed by the high literacy of the students and teachers.

The technology of electronic whiteboard can be integrated into the curriculum since it is used in a classroom to replace the other boards used for teaching. Electronic Whiteboard is a hardware device that is used in schools and can also be used in business (Beeland, 2002). It transmits any information that is in one or several computers at a time. This technology is instrumental in learning in classrooms and even in group instructions. This is because the electronic whiteboards are used for group presentations which is an essential aspect since it enhances the learning of the students. The technology is also helpful to teachers since they use it to teach all the subjects. It is fascinating for students due to its interactive features. This feature also enables teachers to project diagrams onto the board, and hence the students can learn quickly. This technology therefore is of great importance because of its features that simplify learning in a classroom, and it gets into the classroom setting through replacing the old boards.

Flipped learning is one of the current technology that is incorporated into learning in a classroom. It is a method of teaching which inverts learning because the students are introduced to the learning materials before the lesson. The classroom time will then pick up from where they have learnt on their own through flipped learning. This technology requires a high level of technological literacy because students need to use their personal computers and other portable devices to carry out this learning activity. This technology is incorporated into the curriculum through the devices required to enhance learning among the students. It also has an impact on the pedagogy because the students get introduced to the subject of learning on their own through the content they access through their laptops and the other handheld devices. The students have to expound on that idea through group discussions with other students and even with their teachers. This is a change to the standard pedagogy since the students should have instead been introduced to the topic by their teachers in class. This technology also affects the student and teacher’s physical interaction since most interaction might be done through the devices used for learning.

The use of desktops and laptops in class has also incorporated in the learning of students. This is because the use of teaching applications and classroom software has become more rampant in schools (Wurst, 2008). This makes it necessary for schools to get more sophisticated computers with strong processors to be able to run the teaching applications. This technology is essential and is incorporated into the curriculum. This is necessary to get rid of the bulky encyclopedias and dictionaries.  Through the internet, the information is retrieved, which would have been extracted from the encyclopedias. Through computer technology also it is possible to check the performance of the students by using the monitoring software. This is important since the teachers would have otherwise done the monitoring. It therefore makes the exercise of monitoring a simple task produce accurate results about the level of understanding of the students.

The technology of projectors is also incorporated in the classroom during learning. This is because, in a classroom where there are many students, some of them might not be able to see the teaching on a laptop screen. In such a case, a projector comes in since it is necessary to enlarge the content to make it visible to the students who sit at the back. A project connects to a laptop and projects the content to a bigger whiteboard in front of a classroom. This allows all the students even those at the back of the classroom to see the of the laptop screen. This system boosts the understanding of the students since it allows interaction between the teacher and the students. It is also attractive to the students since it provides a more entertaining way to teach and at the same time, achieve the lesson objectives.

The technology has a lot of effects, both adverse, positive effects on the instructional pedagogy. First, technology improves student engagement. This is because educational technology makes learning more interactive and collaborative (Young, 2003). This is because it makes the students interact better with the course material. This makes them learn by actions by participating in it rather than memorizing. This is done through the taking part in participating in technologically based interactions, participating in experiments and even taking part in virtual field trips. As for the teachers, they participate in giving instructions to the students by simulation tools rather than the usual way of teaching in a class by using aboard. This enables the teachers to track their students and give them feedback on how they can improve their skills. This is one of the changes that is brought by technology because learning would have otherwise be done in a physical classroom. This would have been a set back because it deprives students of learning materials and the chances to participate actively in learning. This therefore makes the teachers change how they give the students the instructions.

The technology also changes the instructional pedagogy because it expands the classroom boundaries. Through educational technology, the classroom nowadays has neither walls nor boundaries. This type of class utilizes the use of course web pages, email and the internet in learning and submitting their tasks. This makes it necessary to change how the class is given instructions. This is because students can be in the same class and learning the same subject but in different places and learning online. This therefore means that the teachers track them by use of simulation tools. They also give the students the instructions by the use of simulation tools and even the feedback. This changes the usual ways of learning where the learner was required to be present physically to learn. This is because the teachers give the students instructions and teachings through videoconference. The students can also share among themselves what they learn through the videoconference.

Educational technology affects instructional pedagogy as it promotes innovative teaching techniques (Angeli, 2005). This is because technology changes how we access the information. With an internet connection, students can have access to vast information online. This means that they get the research resources academic applications that support collaborative education. They may, however, need guidance on how they can go about their research and other learning activities. This is where the teachers come. They only have to guide the students on how to go about their research. They also have the responsibility to assess the student’s understanding of the course material. This shows how learning has changed as the teachers only have to guide and evaluate the students.  This is different as they would have otherwise taught the students on the processes of research rather than just guide them through.

The use of educational technology has a positive effect on student gains. This is because technology changes the student’s role in learning (Means, 2010). This makes the students have an active role in learning rather than the passive role. They therefore are involved actively in their decisions on generation, manipulation and display of information. Their active role in the study improves the rate at which the students understand the course materials; therefore, they gain more than being taught by a teacher. The technology also enables the students to have access and use of a lot of outside resources. This is because, by the use of technology, the students can get access to several online academic materials of their choice. This will enable them to have updated online information about a specific topic. Reading these materials will allow them to expound on what the teachers have taught them. This, therefore, will make them gain a lot of knowledge.

Use of educational technology captures the attention of the audience, which makes it have a positive effect on the student’s gains. Through technology, multimedia products can be produced. These multimedia products are designed collaboratively considering the student’s needs and perspective. This makes them pay full attention to teachings where these technologies are being used. This will make the students understand better and achieve more in such lessons as they get rid of their distractions. This, therefore, shows that the use of technology has a positive impact on the student’s understanding

The use of educational technology in school has made staff training and development so wide (Watson, 2006). This is because digital literate teachers are required to teach the students by use of that technology. This is because significant influence about learning by use of technology does not come from the technology but what offered with it. This necessitated the incorporation of technology in teacher training since they have to know how to use it. This was to enable them to be digital literate and therefore, able to use the various technological resources available. Teacher’s training is done by the use of technology resources. This means that they receive instructions by the use of their laptops and handheld devices. This makes every aspect of their learning to use technology which makes them comfortable with the use of technology in various ways. This will, therefore deliver very well when teaching and even giving instructions to students by using these technological resources.

The use of technology also has brought changes in training in workplaces. This is because of the technological evolution of the education system. Some staff may have been employed way before technological advancement, and they lack skills of using the most recent technology. This makes it necessary for them to develop the skills to teach the students by using technological resources comfortably.  This makes the human resource department to offer them training while in their workplaces about how to use various technological resources. This can also be done by improving employee engagement because it will ensure that they are emotionally invested in the purpose of training. This will make them gain more knowledge on the skills of using the new technology, and they will therefore be productive in their various jobs.

Technology plays a significant role in the general administration of the university campuses. This is because the administration needs the computers to keep the records of all the activities that take place in school (Krishnaveni, 2010). The exams are done and the results, the time schedules of all the departments, teacher and parents meetings, meeting minutes and all other tasks that are in schools have their data recorded in a computer. This therefore makes the administration of a school to be updated on the instructional programs and the curriculum activities taking place in school. This information is vital for them as it simplifies the decision making because they can easily compare the statistics and reports of the data. This also saves time for the administration as they get timely information, analyze and make decisions on time and also have the fastest way of giving the instructions to their subjects.

Technology is also crucial for the accounting department. Accounting department in a school is a busy department. This is because they have a lot of work to handle the financial records of a school. This ranges from the payrolls of the teachers, fee payment of the students, the budget of the different school activities and resources and also the allocation of funds to various development projects in school. This work is time-consuming and too tedious for the accounting department staff. The computer technology helps the people in this department a great deal. This is because the computers give accurate information which will the decision making of how to deal with all the school expenses (Ahadiat, 2010). The computers also provide the best way to save data of various financial records. They are also able to handle the different financial files by use of various accounting software programs.

The computer technology is used in the storage of personnel and student data. Schools have personal information, class timetables and the extra-curricular activities and also the specialization. This makes it easy for the administrators to know every activity that the teachers and the other staff members have a particular time. The personnel data also helps the administrators to understand different things about their employees like their jobs history, qualification, their medical conditions, disciplinary measures and the training programs. This would be important to them during the decision making on their efforts to promote specialization. The computers are also used to store the student’s information, and it is only available to the school administration and the parents. This is important in keeping track of students both in their academic and discipline aspects. This helps the parents to access the information about their children online. They, therefore, will get to know how their children perform and also know their behaviours in schools. This also provides the school administration with the chance to give the parents notices and communicate with them if necessary. This eases the work of the administration by offering the best way of storing and retrieving information about the staff and students.

Generally, the use of technology in schools is of great importance both on the academic and discipline of the students. This has led to the massive evolvement of the education sector. Most schools have adopted the use of technology in almost all aspects of their educational activities. The improvement in technological literacy has championed these significant changes in the level of technologies. The various technological resources that have been incorporated in classrooms have improved the efficiency of the teachings in classrooms. This is because they have boosted the clarity of teachers when they are teaching. For instance, the whiteboard used is capable of making the students seated at the back of the class have a clear view of what is being taught. The use of the internet also has made the students have access to several online materials that are up to date. The way of teaching has been affected by technology, therefore changing the teacher and students role in learning. These measures and changes have led to better improvement of the student’s academic achievements. It has also eased the administrators of the schools of their tedious roles as technology makes their work much more manageable.

References

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