Technology as a Catalyst for Educational Change

Submitted by admin on Sat, 04/02/2011 - 03:05

QUESTION:
 “Technology is not a panacea for educational reform, but it can be a significant catalyst for change. To those looking for a powerful tool to support collaborative learning environments, technology holds tremendous potential.” In what ways can technology help teachers to promote more active, student-centered instruction? Or a collaborative learning environment?
 
AS THEY ALLOW STUDENTS to learn through written text, sound, graphics, animation, video, and other means, technological innovations have indeed contributed a lot in the improvement of the methods and effectiveness of teaching. The revolution in computer and communications technology, which brought about wonderful applications and progenies (e.g. internet, blogs, wikis, social networks, teaching machines, programmed instruction, filmstrips, motion pictures, television, transparencies, audiotapes, records, optical videodiscs, compact disks [CD-ROM and CD-I], etc.), have undeniably produced great effects on educational practice.
          Through the employment of technological tools, teachers can make the teaching and learning environment more active, student-centered, and collaborative. In fact, the utilization of technological tools in teaching, which is basically ‘audiovisual education,’ is in itself student-centered. As experiences and studies show, better learning occurs when information is received simultaneously in two modalities (e.g. vision and hearing) rather than in a single one. Through the use of technology, students are induced to focus on the most important features of the lessons, teaching can be carefully organized, and students are allowed to use more than one modality, thereby making the learning process interesting and active.
         
THE FOLLOWING are 10 specific ways by which a teacher, through the use of technology, can make the learning environment active, student-centered, and collaborative:
 
1) By using video presentations via DVD technology, projector, etc., students could find learning entertaining.  Moreover, studying could be active and fun through technologies such as Interactive Whiteboards, Proximas, PowerPoint games, interactive DVDs, Ventrilo, Myspace, ‘Blackboard’ software, and the like.
 
2) Putting lectures on academic blogsites (e.g. www.OurHappySchool.com) enables students to learn anytime and anywhere and allows learners to receive instruction despite geographic and time disparities. It therefore gives ease to students who become sick or with physical disabilities, have jobs during normal school hours, and those who lived in remote regions far from the school.
 
3) Using educational video-entries in You-tube and the like provides the chance to pause and rewind and the advantage of studying at the students’ own pace. If they need to listen to a lecture a second time, or think about a question for awhile, they may do so without fearing that they will hold back the rest of the class. It allows students to enjoy private learning environment and increases their independence and personal responsibility for education.
 
4) Through technologies such as cellphone, internet chatting, e-mails, and social network sites, interactions between teacher and students, and among classmates, could not be limited inside the classroom, and could be done almost anytime and anywhere. Lectures and announcements could be sent to students and their reactions or answers to exams could also be submitted to teachers through these.
 
5) The “Discussion Board” of Facebook page is a good medium for interactive discussions. Fitting here are controversial questions (e.g. Is morality objective or relative?) and problems which require solutions (e.g. What should one do to easily move on after a break up?). As this feature allows many students to answer a question, offer solution to a problem, and comment on the answers of others, teachers can use this to promote corroborative and social learning.
 
6) By encouraging the students to use the internet in or outside the classroom, they will connect with more information and more people from whom they could also learn. Through this means, learning could become collaborative.
 
7) By using computer programs like Computer-Aided Instruction (CAI), students’ access to information is increased. Some CAI applications are guided drill and practice exercises, computer visualization of complex objects, and computer-facilitated communication between students and teachers. Student-centered as it is, CAI can adapt to the abilities, preferences, and pacing of the individual student and increase the amount of personalized instruction he receives.
 
8) By requiring the students to visit interactive delivery stations (with computers and CD-ROM, CD-I, or videodiscs), they could scan electronic encyclopedias and view films on a particular topic or look at related topics at the touch of a button. These learning stations combine the advantages of reference materials, still pictures, motion pictures, television, and computer-aided instruction.
 
9) Advocating research through internet sites like Wikipedia, Microsoft Encarta on-line, and various academic blog sites (e.g. www.OurHappySchool.com) would expose students to huge stores of information and enhance their research capabilities.
 
10) Using simulation programs, ‘virtual tour’ and the like can expose students to experiences beyond the classroom andlower the amount of time required to understand or know certain things.

 
How to cite this article:
Jensen DG. Mañebog. “EDD: Technology as a Catalyst for Educational Change”@www.OurHappySchool.com

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