Technology Revolution in Teaching Methods and Learning Practices - Term Paper Example

EDUCATION TRENDS: TECHNOLOGY REVOLUTION IN TEACHING METHODS AND LEARNING PRACTICES Communication skills III E-learning and Emerging Technology Table of content Synopsis 2 2 1.0 Introduction 3 2.0   Objectives 4 2.1 General Objective 4 3.0 Outcomes of technology 4 3.1 Impact on the access (internet) 4 3.2 Text Books to e-books 5 3.3 Academic computer packages 6 3.4 Technology in Research 7 3.5 Education online and online interaction of students and lecturers 7 3.6 Off shoring and online Tuitions 8 3.7 Evaluation and Online examination 8 4.0 Conclusion 9 Synopsis In recent years, owing to technological advances in every sphere of life, technologies have become powerful tools in the field of training and learning. Therefore, though there have been limiting factors that stand in the way of successful application of technology in education, major steps have been made and many students have been touched by influence of technology in education in one way or another. However, applying certain technology or ICT skills in the education fields sometime may seem a doubting activity but if the process is successful, it results in the rejuvenation of learners and in turn equips the learners with the skills they highly need for efficiency. However, quite a number of student graduates without having gone through proper training by use of the appropriate technology. 1.0 Introduction In recent years, education and primarily higher education has adopted teaching procedures that appreciate technology in the teaching practices. This fact has been appreciated by both teachers and student and the two parties are striving hard to combine the small development steps to come up with a complete whole (Januszewski 2001). Governments, stake holders and practitioners who have been charged with the responsibility of making technology usage in schools a reality are also in the front line implementing these policies. The use of technology by students particularly computers is no longer a new concept in the field of learning (Krendl 1991). Technology has become an everyday tool towards the schooling of students. There is no satisfactory research that has been done on the opinion of the students on the use of technology in their education or even on their satisfaction. However Ahearn (1997) in his study; Real restructuring through education argues that the use of technology on the education of students has a positive impact on their attitude towards schooling. He views that technology gives the student capacity to work at their own pace without waiting for others or even rushing to catch up with others. 1.1 ICT usage at school Fig 1: Average ICT usage among the schooling young people The graph above shows the average number of youth schooling students that participate in the ICT usage in a particular region clustered on various activities done by the students. Some of these activities are like internet usage, using computers for reading and writing and are discussed as below. 2.0   Objectives 2.1 General Objective To investigate technology integration in education systems and schooling 2.2 Specific objectives To identify the way technology has been used in learning To investigate how well technology has improved the learning processes To identify the leading method of technology usage in the learning fields 3.0 Outcomes of technology 3.1 Impact on the access (internet) Technology has increased the sharing of information between the teachers and the students and between the students themselves. This has led to abundant benefits in the education systems (Zhao 2001). Besides, the emergence of the Internet has intensified global competition, making education environments constantly vary from one institution to another and between countries. In order to maintain education competitiveness, enterprises around the world are striving to make efforts and create human-based, knowledge-centered, and continuously innovative ideas structure. This has highly affected the teaching and learning pedagogy of education systems in the world. Through the use of technology, teachers and students have been found to be equally resourceful. These interactions of student through highly sophisticated education systems have made teachers grow technologically parallel to the students. The much they continue learning, they enter into the system (cycle) of information sharing through the relevant systems like the internet and social programs (Kritt &Winegar 2010). Eventually although teachers do teach appropriately, most students rely majorly on other students for their academic assistance. 3.2 Text Books to e-books In recent years facilities used for learning have been constantly changing. Students have engaged in the use of e-books in place of text books and the teachers have shifted from using chalkboards to projectors and other technology facilitated procedures. Similarly, the storage of information and exchange of text either assignments to the students and submission has gone online for checking and storage. Compact disks (CDs), pen drives among other storage facilities has completely revolutionized method of storage and retrieval of data and information. They have completely reduced the space required for storage of information and increased the portability of information. The trainers and tutors have also been saved a great deal from dealing with papers which are bulky and likely to misplace though physical work presentation is paramount (Smith 1982). Researchers who have been interested in the satisfaction of students in the use of technology have raised observation that student have had high satisfaction on technology application in education. They say that computers are not like human beings since they are patient and tolerant, they never gets tired and so the student can use them to his satisfaction, they never get frustrated or angry so they do not affect them emotionally, they never forget and they always give accurate results and they allow individual learning without interruption by other individuals (Lawton and Gerschner 1982). Smith (1982) argued that use of computers may reduce many negative impacts found in learning environment such as student boredom, and intimidation of asking questions all which are brought about by systems of learning. 3.3 Academic computer packages Quite a number of computer applications have been released into the market since computers were developed. Presence of these applications started as early as eighties and early nineties with programs like FORTRAN, Lotus 123 et al which had locked the market. These early programs were replaced by Microsoft Applications in the nineties which were more user friendly than the previous ones. Since then, educational applications for almost everything that is done in academic fields have been designed and have increased efficiency, accessibility and accuracy and have granted all the other advantages of computers to the education field (Tettegah 2006). Programs like SPSS for statistics, MS office for data manipulation, Artcad for Architectural design, programming languages like C++ to help in design of new computer applications, Picasa for photo editing among other countless applications have been designed. This has made education concepts easier to apply in the real world and even has enhanced the understanding of the students (Prabhakar 2008). 3.4 Technology in Research Computer technology has helped researchers to participate easily in research work. Learners and researcher researching on a particular project have the opportunity to interact and share ideas with other researchers in the same field but in different locations. The use of computers has therefore turned the world into a global village. One can even research by involving people from all over the world. Questionnaires can be sent online and filled online reducing time and cost of data collection commendably (Prabhakar 2008). In addition, computers provide packages to assist in data analysis hence increasing the accuracy of results and easy to understand beautiful presentations. The students achieve this by just a crick of the mouse an activity that could have taken months or even years in order to produce actual results (Tondeur 2007). 3.5 Education online and online interaction of students and lecturers Due to customary way of learning becoming unsatisfying to the students, students have resulted to looking for interactive social websites from the internet to back up what they learn in the class context (Yilmaz 1996). There are numerous downloadable documents pasted on the websites which assist the students to back up their study. These programs have offered simpler explanations of otherwise complex issues with enough examples and diagrams and activities with detailed explanations. 3.6 Off shoring and online Tuitions On discovering that the students are not satisfied in what they learn in class context, professionals cross all spheres of education has come up with students support programs online (Muffoletto 2001). The students are required to register with some fee charged in order to receive the service. These services are not limited to boundaries and this is one merit of these programs. The programs have been highly in practice in United Kingdom, United States of America and China among other countries. There are some programs that are used to facilitate these activities which include Web 2.0 tools for teaching and learning, new and emerging technologies, technology applications that facilitate communication and collaboration, instructional models for collaboration in virtual worlds, computer application in education has inculcated mobile learning (Ahearn 1997). 3.7 Evaluation and Online examination It is also through computer applications that distance learning through the internet have been made possible. Student can attend lectures online and even do examination online. This has reduced the cost of education, increased the chances for many students to learn and has reduced interference that is experienced by direct class attendance and interaction with other students in the learning environment. Krendl & Broihier (1991) observed that students are more satisfied when they are using computers for learning than during normal class environment and admits that using computer applications makes one understand easily the concepts being learnt.The introduction of these classes online has made distance learning a reality and has also made the education process to be more reliable. 4.0 Conclusion Computers and their associated technology has become the leading field that is being highly researched. Computer systems have become important supportive power behind every scope of live ranging from technology to mathematics and health as well as education systems. This study has observed various ways that technology has been used to improve the learning environment of students. From this research, it has been deduced that students and teachers together with all practitioners in the field of education have positive attitude towards technology in education. We can also conclude that, technology in education has helped to shape the morale and attitude of students towards learning and activities surrounding it and shall be changing the future of education. 5.0 References Ahearn, P1997, Collected books: The guide to values, G.P. Putnam's Sons, NY. edition, London, Libraries Unlimited. Januszewski, A 2001, Educational technology: The development of a concept, 2nd Krendl, KA& Broihier, M 1991, Student responses to computers, a longitudinal study, Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Communication Association, Chicago, IL,Viewed on May ,30th,2011, < http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED332250.pdf>. Kritt, D &Winegar, LT2010, Education and Technology: Critical Perspectives, Possible Futures, Kentucky, Lexington Books. Lawton, J & Gerschner, V T, 1982, ‘A review of the literature on attitudes towards computers and computerized instruction’, Journal of Research and Development in Education. Muffoletto, R2001, Education and technology: critical and reflective practices, the University of Michigan, Hampton Press. Prabhakar, R2008, The assets agenda: principles and policy, Palgrave Macmillan, the University of Michigan. Smith, SL1982, Electronics in education, impact of technology on curriculum, teaching, and learning, Speech presented to the Canadian Education Association, Toronto, Canada. Tettegah, SY 2006, Technology and education: issues in administration, policy, and applications in K12 schools, London, Emerald Group Publishing. Tondeur, J, Van Braak, J & Valcke, M 2007, ‘Towards a typology of computer use in primary education’, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, Vol.33, pp. 23, 206. Yilmaz, H1996, The international context of regime change, Columbia University, NY. Zhao, Y& Cziko, GA 2001, ‘Teacher adoption of technology: A perceptual control theory perspective’, Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, Volume9, no1. Read More