Technology in Education

“There can be infinite uses of the computer and of new age technology, but if teachers themselves are not able to bring it into the classroom and make it work, then it fails.” I found this quote by Nancy Kassebaum, an American politician who represented the State of Kansas in the United States Senate, in Aditi Rao’s (2012) post on Teachbytes to be relevant to the topic of technology and education. Technology has come a long way since it was first introduced and it has made its way into the educational system, greatly impacting the classrooms making work easier for teachers and students. However, if technological strategies or lesson plans are carried out poorly, then it serves no purpose. As Keri Facer (2010) mentioned in her article, education is a future-facing activity. (74). Education plays a vital role in shaping tomorrow’s leaders as the popular saying goes. As a future teacher, I want nothing more than to see my student succeed. With the development of technology over the years, it has only proven to be beneficial as it serves as a great resource for quick research and easy communication, especially in the classrooms, if presented effectively.

 In the past, lessons were taught by teachers giving lectures for an estimate of 1 hour each per class period. With lectures lacking the excitement factor or sparking interest, teachers are quick to lose the attention of their students or students fail to stay consistently focus throughout the whole lesson. I admit, lectures are tiresome and dull to pay attention to, even I find it strenuous to listen to for a long period of time. However as Vivian Wright and Elizabeth Wilson (2011) stated in their article, “Technology integration is generally promoted as a method to enhance teaching and learning” (48). As technology became involved in education, classroom lectures have evolved into something much more appealing to students. Students have become more active in learning.  Because of students willingness to work with technology as opposed to a normal classroom setting, technology  has motivated students to learn. Students want to learn.

Furthermore, technological strategies and tools teachers could utilize in their classrooms are educational websites, like the ones my class and I utilized to do our presentations on an educational game. The assignment for this presentation was to create a rubric grading an educational game and to create a lesson plan explaining the game to the class. After spending time, looking through several educational websites, I stumbled upon the website www.abcya.com, which was one of the most popular and leading educational website. As I searched through these websites, my main priority was the safety levels of the page. I wanted to make sure the website was a safe tool for minors to use anytime they would like and user friendly. ABCYa has been featured in New York Times, Apple, Scholastic, Fox News to name a few. The feedback on the website was great! ABCYa has 5 categories to choose from Alphabets, Numbers, Holiday, Strategy, and Skills with grade levels ranging from Kindergarten to 5th grade. In addition, my group and I decided to use the website and chose to further observe a 4th grade level game called Alarmy 3, which was listed under the strategy section. The whole Alarmy series is a fun physics based puzzle game. The objective of the game is to help Alarmy, the alarm clock, wake up his fuzzy friend as he makes his way through the challenging levels.

Ultimately, Almary 3 does not only serve as a fun game for students to play, but it is also a great learning opportunity for them. I have played the game and I could see that even as an adult, the game is challenging. The game stimulates the brain and requires critical thinking and strategizing. However, the game is appropriate for 4th grade levels. The game offers real-life applications as it teaches the students to think ahead of time, plan, predict outcomes and practice their time management skills. It also allows for users to think of the best and efficient ways to do something or perform tasks.

Overall, technology has profoundly impacted education. Technology has expanded education like never before. The teacher is no longer the center of attention as they begin to play the role of a facilitator or "guide of information." Teachers are no longer the main information source. Incorporating technology in the classroom allows the students to be more active with the opportunity of the communication of information, whether it be with another student or through independent learning. By being active, the students are then more likely to generate their own choices on how to obtain, manipulate, or display information. This gives students a higher confidence level. Technology offers a wide variety of endless possibilities. It is a powerful tool that can support and transform education in many ways, from making it easier for teachers to create instructional materials to enabling new ways for people to learn and work together. With the worldwide reach of the Internet and the ubiquity of smart devices that can connect to it, a new age of anytime anywhere education is appearing. It will be up to instructional designers and educational technologies to make the most of the opportunities provided by technology to change education so that effective and efficient education is available to everyone everywhere.

References:

Facer, K., & Sandford, R. (2010). The next 25 years?: Future scenarios and future directions

for education and technology. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 26(1), 74-93.

Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2729.2009.00337.x/full

Rao, A. (2012). 10 educational technology quotes. Teachbytes. Retrieved from

https://teachbytes.com/2012/03/01/10-educational-technology-quotes/

Wright, V., & Wilson, E. (2011). Teachers’ use of technology: Lessons learned from the 

teacher education program to the classroom. SRATE Journal, 20(2), 48-60. Retrieved from

http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ959529.pdf