Technology and education

7TECHNOLOGY

THEEDUCATIONAL PROCESS

Creating a common language in technology

Exploring and defining

the task 

involves the activities

students undertake to

identify and explore a

need or opportunity,

taking into consideration

the user, the client, the

available resources and

social, ethical and

environmental issues.

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Generating and developing ideas  involves students exploring options, considering existing solutions, generating alternatives, representing and refi ning those ideas and deciding upon options.

Students identify, explore and select resources such as techniques, materials and equipment that will best achieve the solution for their decisions and actions

Producing solutions 

involves students finalizing design decisions

completing final design representations such as production drawings or storyboards

sequencing the step-by-step actions for production

managing safety risks

practicing and refining techniques

and completing the production of the solution

Students reflect on the success of the solution, the process and the learning.

Planning, managing and evaluating

Ongoing evaluation, related to the criteria of success, informs the students’ decision making at each phase

the evaluation at the conclusion of the project involves reflection and learning about the process used and the success of the solution.

It is an essential

component of each

of the above

phases.

Management

decisions made by

students involve

planning and

reviewing

milestones and

implementing and

monitoring time,

actions and

financial plans.

The TPACK model

This model attempts

to capture some of

the essential

qualities of

knowledge required

by teachers for

technology

integration into their

teaching, whilst

addressing the

complex, multi-

faceted and situated

nature of teacher

knowledge.

Other elements related to different types of knowledge included in the TPACK model :

Content Knowledge

Pedagogical Knowledge

Technological Knowledge

Teaching with technology

An examination of each component raises a set of issues that we need to consider in order to make technology integration as successful as possible. The students

The instructor

Course content

Technology tools

We need to think carefully about our students, their exposure and access to technology as well as their preferred learning styles.

Finally, we can turn to the technology itself and analyze it according to its functions.

This approach to teaching and learning with technology assumes that the four component parts are integrated and that changes in one part will require adjustments to the other three in order to achieve the same goals.

Learning, Teaching, and Technology

Example 1 A four-year-old girl

sits at a computer with her mother, exploring Just Grandma and Me, an electronic storybook. When she clicks on a word, the computer says it aloud. The child repeats the word. After clicking through the text one word at a time, she says the whole sentence aloud, turns to her mother, and exclaims,

"I can read!"

Example 2 At the Harvard

Literacy Lab, students with reading and writing diffi culties willingly compose autobiographies, stories, and poems for personal home pages posted on the Lab's Web site. When e-mail responses to their writing arrive from other parts of the country and from as far away as Japan and Australia, they proudly mark the location of the sender on a map of the world.

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These two examples illustrate how computers are changing the way children are learning to read and write. They show the potential of new technology to revitalize reading instruction and to make reading more relevant to the lives of children growing up in the electronic age.

Technology is now being widely used in the

c lassroom to enhance and enrich teaching

and learning. The avai labi l i ty of new

information technology is contr ibuting to many

innovations in c lassroom act ivit ies.

Strategies and techniques

Strategies/techniques now used to support technology in teaching and learning enable teachers to work collaboratively with students while the students themselves become more immersed in their own learning.

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New information technologies are increasingly being adapted and integrated into the educational process. The growing use of these technologies in teaching and learning activities has given rise to numerous questions.

Are the new technologies changing the traditional approach to classroom activities?

How much are the technologies changing the strategies/techniques used in the delivery of instruction?

Are the technologies changing the quality of interpersonal relations in our classroom?

Technology of one kind or the other has always been used in the educationalenvironment.Devices utilized in the teaching and learning process :

The printed page

Chalk and chalkboard

Overhead projectors

Filmstrips

35mm films

The emergence of newer forms of technology

Computers,

Computer discs interactive (CD-i)

Videodiscs

DVD

Desktop videoconferencing,

Internet

These forms have created a renewed interest for their use in supporting teaching and learning activities.

These technologies are also capable of promoting educational activities (synchronous or asynchronous) which are not confined to specific time and/or place.

Education and training activit ies are increasingly employing the use of a variety of technologies to support pedagogy and learning.

Word-processors

Spreadsheets

Databases

Are being utilized as

tools in supporting

teaching and learning.

THE CHANGING CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT

Teachers respond to their use in the classroom setting in a number of ways.

1. There are those teachers who fear using any form of technology apart from those with which they are very comfortable. (e.g., chalk/chalkboard and printed page).

2. Others make use of some form of technology even if they do so infrequently (e.g., overhead projector and videotapes) during class presentations.

3. Some teachers maximize the use of diff erent technologies sometimes to the point of overuse during classroom activities.

The infusion and

integration of

technology in the

education process

have presented new

avenues by which

teachers can enrich

and enhance teaching

and learning

activities.

Strategies

The increasing application of technology to support teaching and learning provide a basis by which some teachers reconsider the strategies they use in instructional activities.

Different strategies are being employed in conjunctionwith the more familiar ones to accomplish the necessary learning objectives.

Students and their role

Many students are more familiar with some of the technologies employed in the educational environment.

They also show a high level of resourcefulness in determining different ways by which the technologies available might be used to support teaching and learning activities.

Working together in this new learning environment, teachers and students become teams of 'knowledge explorers' who translate textbook knowledge into new exciting presentations, using the different technologies

learning for many students become more exciting as they are actively involved in the process.

The infusion and integration of technology

D'Ignazio (1990a)

indicated, The infusion

and integration of

technology in classrooms

will increase the use of

strategies such as

thematic teaching, guided

inquiry apprenticeship,

group problem solving,

and critical thinking.

Lane (1994)

The use of electronically mediated instruction (EMI) to duplicate the traditional face-to-face classroom has resulted in a shift from teacher centered to learner-centered classes.

the responsibility for learning is shifted to the student and the teacher facilitates the learning by acting as a coach, resource guide, and companion in learning. Instructional technology does not only encourage teachers and students to work collaboratively but also results in more cooperative learning activities among the students.

The introduction of new information technology in teaching and learning hasimpacted the traditional classroom activities.

The various

technologies

generate a greater

level of interaction

between and

among teachers

and students.

Technology use in the classroom should only be considered appropriate if it is used for specifi c purposes in the teaching and learningprocess

Employing technology of any kind in the instructional process becomes valuable only when they are seen merely as elements in a well-constructed learning environment (D'Ignazio, 1989).

The use of technology, therefore, should be driven by specific objectives related to instruction and learning with direct linkages to the curriculum.

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