Internet and Technology

Today’s classroom has evolved. Teachers now put modern techniques while teaching and that has improved student performance. However, even today, the role of technology in the classroom is minimal. Teachers use a blackboard or a whiteboard to explain concepts to students. Students use notebooks and pens or pencils to jot down notes. Students use textbooks as references. In the classroom, there is very little role of technology. There is no use of any electronics or any other technological teaching aids.

Bringing technology into the classroom has multiple advantages. There should be laptops for each child and each teacher, complete with a dedicated educational network.

By doing so, the students achieve computer literacy at an early age. Computer skills are necessary in today’s world. The child will learn to use tools like Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint etc. With practical knowledge of computers, there won’t be a need to attend separate computer classes for the same. Also, if a student is interested, he/she can pursue more computer skills like programming, software, networking etc.

The student will be able to grasp better when using the technology. The concepts can be explained more clearly when technology is used. This way, the student and teacher is both benefitted.

Technology can save time and paper. There will be minimal need for paper and time can be saved. It will be much easier for students to take down and store notes and references.

Another great advantage is that the student can refer to sources that are outside the text book or curriculum easily. With extra reading, the student is able to grasp concepts much more easily and is more proficient is his/her subjects.

Students also have access to audio and visual teaching aids and that can help the student understand concepts much better.

Technology can aid in the teaching of different subjects. Technology can prove beneficial for students and teachers alike. Therefore, technology has to be carefully put into the classroom so that the full potential of the students can be realized.

The value of technology in the classroom

Many people warn of the possible harmful effects of using technology in the classroom. Will children lose their ability to relate to other human beings? Will they become dependent on technology to learn? Will they find inappropriate materials? The same was probably said with the invention of the printing press, radio, and television. All of these can be used inappropriately, but all of them have given humanity unbounded access to information which can be turned into knowledge. Appropriately used– interactively and with guidance– they have become tools for the development of higher order thinking skills.

Inappropriately used in the classroom, technology can be used to perpetuate old models of teaching and learning. Students can be “plugged into computers” to do drill and practice that is not so different from workbooks. Teachers can use multimedia technology to give more colorful, stimulating lectures. Both of these have their place, but such use does not begin to tap the power of these new tools.

In this area, you will find descriptions of how computers can be used to stimulate and develop writing skills, collaborate with peers in foreign countries, do authentic kinds of research that is valuable to the adult world, and do complex kinds of problem solving that would otherwise be impossible.

The old school style of education is now totally out of date. Today with the technology explosion that’s presently taking place everywhere around the world, schoolroom instruction has also come a long way and many schools, colleges, and universities are progressively incorporating more technology into common classrooms to facilitate the teaching process.

After all in this 21st century, in this age of podcasts, ipods, blogs and internet sites and blackberries, the education strategy

also has a lot of catching up to do via visuals and wires to appeal to school students. When bringing technology into the classroom or your lesson plans, your purpose is to enhance your lessons to make them as fascinating to students as possible while finding them thought provoking and challenging.

Using Computer

Present some kind of computer based teaching into your class, and research pronounces that your students will learn more. They are able to advance through lessons faster and have a higher rate of retention. Allowing your students to conduct their own research online using the internet can be very beneficial. Most students are on the internet every day browsing websites and searching for things that interest them. As long as you show your students the correct way to search and verify references, the internet can be a great classroom resource that will allow students to discover information and answers on their own.

Use Multimedia

Presentation computer programs such as power point gives instructors the ability to make lesson plans that blend both the visual and auditory styles of learning. Almost all computers have some kind of multimedia platform installed. You can allow students to take advantage of these programs to create projects and demonstrations that contain both visual aids and text.
Integrating multimedia also produces a change of pace of the old chalk board and overhead projector, which ordinarily goes over very well with the students. It can bring about increased student interaction and interest in the content and lesson being taught.

Interactive Multimedia EBooks

EBooks are electronic copies of books that be downloaded to your computer and read online.

E books are far more visually attractive than their printed boring old counterparts as e books are created combining videos, images, audio and texts. For example, suppose you are a biology educator and want your students to complete a project. Students love to use technology to create things. You can have them create their own ebooks. Have them research a topic online, download a few ebooks for example and reference, then create their own using images, video, audio, and text if possible.

Videos

Making use of videos cameras can also be a great way to integrate technology in your classroom. Many students have video capability in their phones already and love making videos. Have them create short movies or presentations on topics for the class. They’ll have fun and it will be a great learning experience.

Other ideas include student podcasts, classroom blogs, or interactive classroom forums or websites.

We should always be looking at ways to update and change the way we teach as the ways students learn changes over time. My making use of various forms of technology, you can do everything you can to make sure every student has an equal chance to learn and retain knowledge.

Everyone wants their best for their son or daughter at school but there is unlikely to be agreement over the best ways to provide them with an education.  People who have a very traditional belief in schooling will insist that the tried and tested methods are the best ways to help pupils develop and to instil the correct values into them.

Other people will disagree with this and believe that the ways and products of the modern world should be utilised to ensure that children are fully equipped to find work and progress in current society.  Both of these viewpoints are entirely valid and many people will think that a mixture of both methods would be the best way to help their children develop at the correct rate.  This means that there is definitely space for educational technology to play a role in the development of school pupils.

When considering educational technology, a lot will depend on the amount of budget that a school has.  It can be extremely difficult for a school to justify spending a lot of money on educational technology, particularly if they are struggling to find money to pay for essential items.  However, there is always a need to consider the needs of the pupils and what will help them to achieve the best results.

There are many educational technology products that do not cost the earth and utilising these in the classroom may help to boost the quality of the lesson delivered to the pupil.  Any new product which can make the learning process more valuable to pupils has to be evaluated by the relevant board members of staff and governors.

The current economic crisis means that every purchasing decision has to be properly evaluated but if there is good value for money to be attained, any new product or technological aid should be considered.

One of the stumbling blocks of educational technology may be the teacher themselves, especially if they are not entirely confident with technological products.  There is no real shame in this and no one is expecting teachers to become technology wizards overnight.  However, there is definitely a need for teachers to be confident enough to show these products to pupils and to indicate how they should be used.  This is the first step in introducing educational technology into the classroom and one of the most important hurdles to overcome.

Many classroom technology products have helped in teaching as well as assessment of students of all ages, it is well worthwhile considering these education technology items in all schools so check out the full range of beneficial products by going online.

The concept of introducing technology into the classroom is very promising and very unique. We all can imagine the benefits of bringing technology into the classroom. There would be increased student performance, there would be increased computer literacy, there would be more access to reference material and the list can go on and on.

However, there are serious bottlenecks of introducing technology into the classroom and it may take some time for all the problems to be rectified. Without rectifying these problems, it is not possible for technology to fully exploit the potential of students.

First of all, introducing technology into the classroom is an expensive affair. Technology does cost a lot of money and this can be a big problem especially for the educational infrastructure in the developing and third world countries. Even providing enough electricity to power these technologies is a tough problem which these countries have to deal with.

Overuse of laptops by students will make them slowly forget how to write by their hands, which is very dangerous. Children are not supposed to forget to write as writing is one of the earliest skills in education. And forgetting how to write can be a really bad thing.

Another problem of bringing technology into the classroom is the misuse of technology. Technology can be misused easily for destructive purposes. Children may be able to access pornographic material and use it for needs which are other than education.

Further, there is a problem of developing an operating system which can block all the problems and effectively aid the students in their education. Making such an operating system would cost more time, more expertise and more money.

Top results cannot be guaranteed just by providing students and teachers with technology. The use of technology depends on the user and only then are the results determined.

Further, training students and teachers on how to use the technology can also be an issue. Training students and teachers to use and fix the technology also will take time and resources.

From this, we see that there are problems in using technology in the classroom. We must rectify all the problems and bottlenecks before we induct any technology into the classroom.

Educational learning with technology is for any individual who would like to learn in a different, less traditional manner. Technology in the classroom has become more predominant recently with the creation of computers in the classroom. Anyone that is trying to appeal to all learning styles and levels, then using technology in the classroom can be helpful to both the student and teacher.

It’s also for individuals who prefer a different learning approach to ensure burnout or stagnancy is not formed. It is also for individuals who may have a more challenging time grasping a concept or idea in an abstract way. Therefore viewing a multimedia visual might help the mind to understand some things a bit easier.

The use of educational technology is becoming widely used in classrooms as well as within companies all over the country. It can also be referred to as e-learning, or instructional technology.

The fundamental premise of this type of technology is to help to make learning simpler. It is also beneficial in the classroom when teaching various subjects or topics.

This type of understanding can be designed for just about any lesson, and it can also be customized to fit the learning styles of different students or teachers. Technology is better developed with more than one individual engaged. It’s a great item to have in the classes, but to get the greatest impact; it should be combined with other learning methods.

One should use educational technology for a lot of reasons. It simply depends upon the purpose one is after. It can be used to keep records of various things, as well as teaching. In different settings it can also be found in research. The benefits of using technology far outweigh any cons.

One should consider utilising this kind of technology to initiate communication and collaboration amongst people. It should also be used to make presentations much easier to understand and to express ideas in a clearer manner. It may also foster more participation from all those involved.

Educational technology may be easily incorporated in many elements of the business world. It is used more excessively in classrooms from grade school to post graduation. E-learning can be coupled with lectures in the classroom or with video chat. The more the listener or observer can participate and become engaged in the learning process, the better the outcome will be.

With simulations along with other techniques to blend the training concepts, having technology in the classroom is functional. It can also be incorporated wrongly, as in not fostering growth or engaging the learners. Technology alone can’t do as much as using a human to also collaborate thoughts and ideas with other people. It is also contained in the learning by way of having participants provide anonymous feedback to the presenter.

Many have the ability to add or incorporate a website for continued learning. This form of communicating can be summed up as learning online. The days are gone where all that’s required are books pens, and paper to learn. With technology as advanced as it is now, important information can stay in our brains longer.

There has been a lot of talk about embedding technology in the classroom. One can just imagine the benefits of having technology in the classroom. Students can maximize their output in class and yield much better results and can guarantee that students will pursue their subjects with more interest and learn their subjects better.

But introducing technology into the classroom has also come under heavy criticism. Critics have a lot of points against induction of technology into the classroom. Their concerns do address a lot of issues and problems.

First of all, the role of technology is to enhance the experience of education. Technology should be used to aid education and introduce interest. Technology here is not the focus, but the catalyst. Even the aim of inducting technology into the classroom is not to bring in computer literacy, but to improve the classroom attendance, especially in countries with poor educational facilities.

So focus should be such that technology is engineered to fit the role of a catalyst than being a focus. Technology should supplement education, not surpass it.

First of all, the operating system of laptops used should be engineered to be as student-friendly as possible. Students should be able to use them easily. The Operating System needs to be engineered in such a way that there is effective control. Access to the internet should be properly controlled and monitored. In fact, if it were possible, a separate network should be made where students and teachers all over the world can submit informative content. That way the network can be monitored, pornographic and useless content may be kept off this network and students and teachers would have access to a lot of information and reference material.

These would address the problems of misuse and help the training of students and teachers in using the technology.

Improvements must be made in the design so that minimum power is used and it can be produced cheaply. The technology should be made as green as possible and should be recycled and refurbished and reused after a student is done with his/her studies. There should be an annual or bi-annual upgrade of systems so that the capability is enhanced and the student can learn more.

Even though most learning should take place with technology. Examinations as far as possible must be conducted by hand. We cannot let students lose track of their writing skills.

There are far more problems which are to be identified and dealt with before we can successfully induct technology into the classroom. Only after we solve all issues can we introduce technology and enhance student performance.

To start the most significant fact that should be stated is that the computer is a tool, and as with any educational tool, from books to crayons, it can be used to enhance the curriculum and promote learning, but it can also be misused and abused. In this essay, I will discuss the disadvantages of having computers in the classrooms due to the misuse and the abuse of this tool.

I found it hard to find research that had been done on this topic because not only is the research on the effectiveness of computers in the classroom scarce but the research that is there is often done by software companies and therefore may be biased. (Emmans 2001). Even though there is no clear-cut answer to the question of a computer being a friend or foe in the classroom, having an unsolvable question of good or bad brings many issues to light. For example, the fact that much of the software designed for children is appealing to them. If nothing else, it at least holds the children’s attention. Though this may seem like a positive characteristic, consider this, just because a television show holds your attention, does it necessarily educate you? The answer to this is simple, maybe some do, but certainly not all do, mostly they are just simply entertaining. This causes me to raise an eyebrow at some, not all, software. As a teacher, one must not use time-fillers, cause a child can watch television or play on a computer at home, but as a teacher, we must educate, and if there is no educational value in the software, what good is it for a teacher? On the defense for teachers, another reason for computers being a shortcoming is that sometimes the software is not obvious that it is non-educational. This can be a common mistake of any educator, being fooled that a product could be educational when it is merely entertainment software dressed up in an educational costume aimed at these gullible teachers.

According to Cindy C. Emmans (2001), a professor of Educational Technology at Central Washington University, on software in the classroom…

” Often feedback is the key to learning, and computers are appealing because this feedback can be immediate, which is of course a very effective learning tool. Unfortunately, this feedback is not often as effective as it might be, perhaps because it is not easy to return to the original question to try again, or the student must begin at the beginning to review the original content rather then backing up a step or two. In some cases, the feedback for the wrong answers is more appealing than that for the right answer, causing students to try and get the wrong answer simply for the entertainment value”.

Gerald W. Bracey sums it up adequately in a journal article called Principal by basically saying that the bells and whistles are all there, but the education is not, because it was not produced by someone who understands how children learn. (1996, p.6).

More arguments in the research area continued in September of 2000, the Alliance for Childhood published a statement against the use of computers in schools. More than 85 experts in various fields including psychiatry, education, and philosophy signed the statement in which calls for a suspension on the promoting introduction of computers into the nation’s elementary schools until there is a more careful assessment of their effect (Hafner, 2000). Another influence in opposition to computers in classrooms is that of Jane Healy, an educational psychologist and the author of “Failure to Connect,” a book criticizing educational applications of computers. Thomas Crampton interviewed Mrs. Healy and she declared that computers “can hurt children’s personal skills, work habits concentration, motivation, (and) the development of social skills” (IHT, October 2000, p. 19).

Another reason that computers in the classroom would prove to be a disadvantage is the availability of computers in the classroom to each individual student. It is rare to find a school that, in each classroom, has a computer supplied for each student. This then brings up the problem of scheduling and rotating the students to the computers available. (Tiene 2001) This begins a whole new ball game in which you are now consuming a lot of time in which could be used for more productive measures rather then scheduling computer time for each student. If this is the case, and only a specific amount of students can be on the computer at one time, then you are dividing your classroom, and not integrating it, as it should be. This causes many difficulties in teaching a whole group instruction, which leads to problems in skill development, since the attention of some students is lacking. (Tiene 2001).
On the Colorado state education web site (2003), I was able to find questions that were asked to teachers regarding computers in their classrooms. The teachers were asked, “What do you find unattractive about teaching in a computer based classroom?” The one teacher commented that, ” Students have a tendency to come in a print out their papers at the beginning of class instead of coming into class with a hard copy…” Another teacher said, ” Technological difficulty, your whole lesson could be shot for the day if the computer would go down”. When the teachers were asked about the difficulties they faced themselves and with the students due to computers in the classroom, they answered, ” It is hard to get the students attention when they are on the computers.” Another teacher commented, ” There are times that I send them to work and instead they are interacting with each other.” Another teacher stated her fear of the computer classroom by saying that, ” Students are at their own screens, they’re in their own little world, and they are not talking to their classmates, sometimes I think that they don’t even know half the names of all the people in their class.” (Barnes 2003) I feel that these teachers comments are very important when looking at the issue of computers in the classrooms, because these are the people that actually interact with the children in the classroom, they are not just some random research study by a software company, these people are the real thing, and they see how computers are effecting their classrooms.

Another issue of computers in the classrooms regards the child’s health. If a child were to be functioning on a computer for a long interlude of time or with incorrect positioning they will inadvertently obstruct their own health, some problems caused from this include muscular-skeletal injuries and vision problems. (MacArthur & Shneiderman, 1986).

Another issue concerning computer use in classrooms is that a lot of teachers have not been trained to use a computer, and many do not know how. An enormous amount of time would have to be consumed for the teachers to learn both the hardware and the software of the computer. They also would need time to collaborate with other teachers. Time is something that many teachers spend planning lessons and the weekly events of their classroom. The other problem that was just mentioned was the training of the teachers. Some educators do not have local training options available to them. Some do not have the time or money to spend on it. Another issue is that even if a teacher does go through training, there are always unsuspected things that can go wrong with a computer. If a teacher were to base their whole lesson on a computer, and it were to crash, and the teacher just being minimally skilled in using computers, would not be able to fix the system so that they could continue their lesson. (Tiene 2001).Therefore an on-site technology expert would be needed on site at all times in case any of these incidences would happen, and quite frankly I do not think that there are too many school districts looking for another expense.
Another reason for computers being a disadvantage in the classroom is that if the computer is Internet accessible, if this is the case, then the children can be exposed to Internet content that is not appropriate for their age level. They can also be exposed to child predators, which is a huge concern in today’s world.
Though this may seem far-fetched it truly is not in an article published on the gurdian angel websitein 2000 states,
“The facts are plain. Children are being targeted, solicited, and made victims by pedophiles. What do the ratios or statistics matter? Isn’t even one too many? These predators range from the simple minded closet pedophile who has surfaced because they believe they are safely anonymous behind their account alias, to the highly organized and skilled child pornography rings that operate predominantly off of US soil, behind quick discard web sites, and anonymous re-mailers, pushing their hideous wares for big profits. Have you ever heard of a child being molested or kidnapped in your hometown? Don’t you teach your kids to watch for certain things and, not to talk to, or go anywhere with, strangers for just that reason? This is our point. Just as there are real world lessons that you teach your children, there is a necessity to teach them cyber-world lessons. ” (Hook, 2000).
To put this quite simply, are you sure that your child is being watched very closely when accessing the Internet at school? It sure would be hard for one teacher to keep a close eye on each individual student in the classroom when they are all accessing the Internet at the same time. Therefore are you, as a parent or a teacher, really quite sure that a computer is necessary to learn in school? I mean, didn’t you, the parent or teacher, learn in school without the computer? I agree that learning the latest technology is a necessity, but I do not agree with using computers for classes like mathematics or reading.
To sum it all up, Computers in the classroom lacks research of it being an advantage in the classroom. Computers in the classroom may not provide the students with the proper education that they need if the software being used is not adequate. Computers may not be, depending on the school, made available to each student. The attention of the students is harder to get when they are on the computer. An inexperienced teacher in the technology area may cause many problems in the classroom, and consume valuable time that could be used to educate. Most schools do not provide an on site technician in case a difficulty may arise. The children’s health may be affected by long-term use of the computers, and probably the most frightening one is that these children can be exposed to child predators and unfiltered inappropriate content through the web while they are in school and in their classrooms presumed to be receiving their education.