Technology in Education: A Brief Overview
What is the role of technology in education?
Technology is everywhere in a classroom. Simply put, one way to define technology is items manufactured by humans (1). Think of any tool or instrument used in the classroom to accomplish something or make life easier. This includes everything from the new iPads and SmartBoards of "modern" technology to the pencil, paper and chalkboard of "yesterday," and the desk that students still sit at. Technology can also include systems or ways of doing things. This means that written language itself is a technology (1), one that was even famously argued by Plato as a technology that will hurt the relationship between students and teachers (2). In fact, new technologies have a long history of being viewed as "dangerous" to human intellect (3). Regardless of these fears, humans use technologies to extend their capabilities (1), and the classroom is no exception. Whether your classroom has brand new iPads or nothing fancier than paper and pencils, you use technologies in your classroom to improve your pedagogy and the learning of your students.
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A book, a writing instrument, a desk, a chair, the written languages...a lot of educational technologies in this 17th century painting!
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Challenges and potentials of computer-based technologies
But these new technologies, the "computer-based technologies," can seem more of a plague than an improvement. Constant distractions. Nonstop frustrations. Students off task. Are these machines supposed to help us teach? Because they sure seem to cause more problems than good! In schools across the nation, more and more computer-based technologies are being added to classrooms, but rarely do these technologies bring about the changes that were promised, and often they simply sit unused in the classroom (4). Doesn't it seem easier to just keep these technologies out of the classroom?
Yet computer-based technologies are worth the trouble it takes to learn how to use them successfully in a classroom. The potentials that the Internet, Web 2.0, computers, tablets and even Smartphones bring to transforming your classroom are substantial. Computer-based technologies bring the potential for collaboration, genuine research, creativity, publishing, programming, personal expression through writing and a connection to more information than a person could go through in a lifetime (5).
These technologies have a way, for better or for worse, of engaging students. So how do we get the "for better" part of these new, engaging technologies? These web-based modules are designed to help you understand that with good planning and careful mediation, computer-based technologies can improve the pedagogy of teaching and the learning of students, just like any other technology in the classroom. But with much greater rewards.
Yet computer-based technologies are worth the trouble it takes to learn how to use them successfully in a classroom. The potentials that the Internet, Web 2.0, computers, tablets and even Smartphones bring to transforming your classroom are substantial. Computer-based technologies bring the potential for collaboration, genuine research, creativity, publishing, programming, personal expression through writing and a connection to more information than a person could go through in a lifetime (5).
These technologies have a way, for better or for worse, of engaging students. So how do we get the "for better" part of these new, engaging technologies? These web-based modules are designed to help you understand that with good planning and careful mediation, computer-based technologies can improve the pedagogy of teaching and the learning of students, just like any other technology in the classroom. But with much greater rewards.
Sources
1. Kline, S. (1985). What is technology?. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 5(3), 215-218.
2. Feenberg, A. (2001). Whither educational technology. International Journal of Technology and
Design Education, (11), 83-91.
3. Stephens, M. (1998). The rise of the image, the fall of the word [Kindle Edition].
4.Cuban, L. (2001). Oversold and underused: Computers in the classroom [Kindle Edition].
5. Bonk, C. (2009). The world is open: How web technology is revolutionizing education [Kindle
Edition].
Alt Text: 17th century painting of a bored student sitting at a desk with book and writing instrument.
2. Feenberg, A. (2001). Whither educational technology. International Journal of Technology and
Design Education, (11), 83-91.
3. Stephens, M. (1998). The rise of the image, the fall of the word [Kindle Edition].
4.Cuban, L. (2001). Oversold and underused: Computers in the classroom [Kindle Edition].
5. Bonk, C. (2009). The world is open: How web technology is revolutionizing education [Kindle
Edition].
Alt Text: 17th century painting of a bored student sitting at a desk with book and writing instrument.
Last Update April 6, 2014