How Technology Changed Education Essays

Introduction. New technologies in the classroom are a cutting-edge field of study in contemporary history. Education is now going digital. With the creation of online software for students, the lessons learned in the classroom have shown more efficiency and has made a big contribution to higher literacy rates for students. Not so many years ago, the internet was limited both in what it could do and in who used it. Today, most teachers have not only been exposed to the internet but also have access at home and at school. As we become increasingly more reliant and absorbed in technology, it is no surprise that today’s children have become avid users as well. Laptops are being developed for children as young as five. Smart phones are now in the hands of children as young as ten. In fact, a large number of schools are being retrofitted to place the internet in every classroom. Technology has become an integral part of the majority of Americans’ daily lives. We get our news through various websites and digital newspapers, pay bills, manage our love lives, send and receive mail, and find information all on the Internet. More than 500 million people communicate and keep in touch with friends through social networking. Our new technologically driven lives are thanks to the constantly developing and affordable technology available in the United States. I will discuss how new kinds of technology, active and passive learning roles, the sphere of Autism learning, learning styles and

“By 2009, 97% of classrooms had one or more computers, and 93% of classroom computers had Internet access. For every 5 students, there was one computer. Instructors stated that 40% of students used computers, often in their educational methods, in addition to interactive whiteboards and digital cameras”(Educational technology). The country is on the threshold of the most radical change in American education in over a century. It is clear that technology is increasing and is now woven through education as well.

Within my time in school, the multimedia resources available to the education community has multiplied greatly. When I first arrived at my current school in middle school, most of the teachers did not even have a television in their classroom. Now, the majority of the classrooms are outfitted with projectors and interactive SMART Boards. It is amazing to see how much this has influenced the way teachers teach and the assignments they hand out.

Also for instance, let’s say a teacher, constantly is evolving their lesson plan for their class as a whole, but every year the teacher always has couple of students who were behind because they weren’t taught in a way that pertains to their individual strengths. With an electronic lesson plan teachers would be able easily make the changes to their individual needs. With constantly evolving lesson plans teachers as a whole would evolve as well because they would be able to track more data, which would make analyzing their students far easier than it is today. Having the ability to be able to learn a student in the matter of a couple of minutes rather than a couple of weeks would improve growth and development immensely. It would also eliminate any untold tendencies of a particular student. For example, say that “Sally” is just starting first grade. Her teacher “John” reads her student file, and sees that it’s noted by her previous teacher, that she acts out when she is called on but doesn’t know the answer. This habit could be eliminated at its early stage by her new teacher and or a counselor, because it was recorded on her “student file”. All of these examples would greatly improve a child’s student life, which would entail, more opportunities to learn more, than that of a traditional classrooms. Which could mean an improvement of everyone’s standard of life because the future is in the hands of the

Progression, the ever enduring race of humankind- to becoming better and more advanced beings, has become interwoven with technology, as nearly all aspects of one’s life, whether it being at home, for leisure, at work, or in the educational sector- is entwined with elements of digitality. This notion leads one to see that the participation with technologies can be an essential aspect of one’s progression in this new contemporary society. The emergence and subsequent dominance of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in this digitally mediated world has led to the need for digital education in schools, which in turn can bring both potentials and challenges in divergent school settings, as digital literacies bring differing values and meanings in relation to the setting they are situated in. Transitioning from old to new literacies; digital literacy as a socially-imbued construct; digital divide; ICT out-of-school; educators and ICT; and implementing ICT in the classroom will be discussed in order to extricate both the potentials and challenges with the immersion of digital literacies in education.

The way we teach students in the modern classroom has massively changed throughout the years. One major changing factor is the development and use of technology. Before, classrooms were filled with paper, pencils, crayons, and all things needed to be completely hands on with our education. Now, most classrooms have replaced these things with tablets and laptops and smart boards that students get to spend all day staring at. Technology has the potential to be a great thing for our students, but it is being used to the point that it is no longer helpful.

Computers over the past decades have gone through tremendous changes. In 1960 the first commercial computer was introduced as the first minicomputer that only consisted of a keyboard and monitor (Polsson, 2003). It was not until 1963 that Douglas Engelbart, of the Stanford Research Institute, invented the mouse. Five years later he demonstrated the keyboard, keypad, mouse, and windows together at the Fall Joint Computer Conference. Also at this conference he demonstrated word processor, a hypertext system, and a dynamic file linking (Polsson, 2003). Honeywell in 1969 released the “Kitchen Computer,” the first home computer, at the price of $10,600. IBM, also in that year, built SCAMP, one of the world’s first personal computers, now more commonly called PCs (Polsson, 2003). The first floppy disk which was an eight inch plastic disk called a “memory disk” was introduced by IBM in 1967 (Brown, 2003). In 1976 the 5.25 inch floppy disk was produced; another floppy disk, the 3.5 inch, was created in the 1980s (Brown, 2003).

There is a growing trend in the use of technology in the classroom. As a teacher, I am always looking for ways to use manipulatives in my lessons to increase meaning and authenticity for students. I would love to keep my students engaged, motivated and interactive in the classroom and still be able to get through the content each day. In order to achieve this, I need to have an arsenal of tools to draw from. That is why I agree with (Tataroglu & Erduran, 2010) as stated in the International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education (IEJEE) that “The use of technologies like IWBs in the classroom can provide teachers and students convenience and variety. “

Over the last few years it has been no secret that using technology in the classroom, from grades kindergarten to twelfth grade and also in higher education like college, has been a debatable argument. Parents, teachers, and students alike have discussed the possible benefits versus the hazards of classroom technology. Not only referring to the laptops and cellphones many students personally own, but also when referring to the incorporation of tools into the everyday education involvement. We should embrace technology when it helps people learn but not treat it as a substitute for teachers. Technology can be an influential force when conducted by teachers who understand what students need to do their finest. We can’t outsource the human connection at the expense of the learning experience. The world is continually altering the ways we do things at home, work, and in school. The quickness at which technology has advanced over the years plays a huge role in these alterations. From emailing to online courses, computers are certainly significant in our lives, and you can improve the learning process in schools in numerous ways. With the growing acceptance of computer technology, it is vital for everyone to support and encourage computer technology in today’s education.

In and of themselves, wikis, blogs, podcasts and microblogging will do very little to transform digital writing or learning in general. It 's really not the tool or digital space that can transform or enhance learning. It is what is done there and how the tool is used by teachers and students alike. However, as I think the articles captured, when used effectively these digital tools have the potential to develop critical digital literacies.

Technology has become much more common in the past few years in education. It has also been a blessing to some teachers; giving them more time and helping them find a unique new way to teach their students. Computers can be found in almost every single classroom and children as young as 4 years old have been taught the basic skills on the computer. Funding and new programs for computer teaching have come a long way. In the next few years, hopefully every child will have access to learning all sorts of new concepts on the computer.

Technology-based learning (TBL) constitutes learning via electronic technology, including the Internet, intranets, satellite broadcasts, audio and video conferencing, bulletin boards, chat rooms, webcasts, and CD-ROM. TBL also encompasses related terms, such as online learning and web-based learning that only include learning that occurs via the Internet, and computer based learning that is restricted to learning through the use of computers. E-learning is synonymous with TBL and has largely replaced it in scholarship and industry as the term of choice.

With improved living conditions, healthcare, communication, and evolution of human intelligence, technological advancement in the world today has grown to unprecedented levels. For example, as a result of technology, patients can remotely interact with medics located in different parts of the world through telehealth/telemedicine. In the field of education, students do not necessarily need to visit libraries to access books. There are several soft copies of books online that they can access from the comfort of their desktop computers, laptops, or even mobile phones. On a more advanced level, learning does not necessarily have to occur only through reading books and other traditionally accepted academic sources. The internet is awash with educational information that is typically the most up to date source. In her article “Project Classroom Makeover,” Davidson discusses the potential shift in paradigm presented by technological advancement in the field of education. She argues that with technological advancement, it is no longer necessary to have students sit in class and wait to be guided, instructed, and examined by experts. On the other side, Sherry Turkle discusses the human-machine interaction in her work “Selections from Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other” as an aspect of the changing paradigm. Nafisi’s article “Selection from Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books” then presents a society deficient of modern technology. The

Technology is now used for everything and found everywhere. Students are more likely to be using computers, tablets, hand-held game systems, or smart phones on a daily basis. Educators know that students crave the use of technology; consequently educators now need to start teaching keeping technology in mind. Educators also have to teach the students how to use specific technology and the ethics that go along with its use. An educator should start off with educational games and slowly work their way to full lessons. This is to slowly acclimate the students to new technologies. There are countless fantastic websites and other types of educational technology that educators can have in their arsenal. Here are a few online sites:

The idea of integrating technology (like computers in every classroom and an overhead projector that is connected to the teachers computer) into education is a relatively new idea, and when I first started researching the topic I tried to look for the adverse effects of technology and education. Through my research I have decided that integrating technology into the classroom is indeed a good idea. Even though some teachers and students have a hard time working with the new technology many schools are starting to use, the adverse effects of technology do not compare with all the benefits of integrating technology into education.