The Importance Of Technology In Education

if my dad was Black or if I bared any Black ethnicity. When he was informed that I did not carry Black ethnicity and I was from a Portuguese and Hispanic dissent the father would state that I was the tallest "Mexican" he had ever seen and that I could not possess the tremendous talent and skill set without being from a Black ethnicity. Although I may contain biases, stereotyping, and prejudice I can acknowledge these faults in order to combat them to be better oriented in a cross-cultural helping relationship. This quality allows me to provide an ability that benefits culturally diverse clients through compassion.

Technology in the classroom is becoming more and more official and used because it is the source that teacher and students use the most. Electronic devices are replacing our textbooks, and students can investigate just about anything that teachers want to on our smartphones or any electronic devices. People are now very familiar with social media, and the way people use technology has completely transformed students’ lives and teachers. There are so many ways to learn with technology. Technology in the classroom should have a positive effect on students because it makes education better and easier for students learning.

Over time, many have questioned the role of technology in education and instructional teaching because technology in education is a developing field that many researchers are yet to venture into. Since its advent, technology has greatly transformed human life because it has widened the focus within which man operates because of making his efforts easier and attainable. Introducing technology in the education sector has been viewed as a move towards progress because it has greatly transformed a sector that was initially viewed as being conservative. Currently, educational institutions are outdoing each other in matters technology because each wants to be considered progressive. Moreover, with the advent of the digital era, it is expected that educational institutions should be on the forefront in the implementation of technology because most of these institutions provide the hubs that act as the research centers. In addition, university professors and other stakeholders are usually at the center of these innovations, and thus a failure of an uptake of technology in these institutions is a mockery of the view that educational centers are technology hubs (Collins & Halverson, 2009). With this in mind, this paper is aimed at exploring education and instructional technology in the future.

In the modern era of education, technology is held in high esteem with educators, students, and parents. The innovative waves of instruction are taking a hold on schools across America. Positive results are being seen. Studies and test scores have proven that progress follows proper implementation of technology in schools. The outdated practices of using textbooks as primary information and sitting behind your desk and lecturing are over. Students must be stimulated in a multitude of ways; however, the most diverse and innovative ways of presenting crucial information is through technology.

Online classrooms and their effects : One way that would change the way we turned in class work would be google classroom. As it would allow classrooms to have a virtual classroom where they could have access to assignments and class information that would provided by their teacher. Teachers would be able to create assignments with a specific due date which would alert the student via email. The introduction of google classrooms and other online homework submission services it would mean that the students would have to have access to computer from home or school. This would mean that schools would soon have to include access to computers and wifi into their classroom. Exposing the students to not only google classroom but applications that are widely used in the world outside of school, such as microsoft word , power point presentations and many more. Not only would online classroom submission applications added to public schools but also colleges with the use of blackboard.

The research behind technology in education demonstrates numerous types of techniques and devices that have been found to affect the success of students and teachers. Why do students and teachers only succeed when utilizing certain technologies? To answer this question, technology as a whole has an immense impact on education, but the technology must be integrated correctly and effectively into the classroom in order to be triumphant. Proper integration of technology will lead to success in the classroom.

In the past, for thousands of decades technology has not been a part of human’s everyday life. What is technology? According to the journalist, Karehka Ramey, “Technology is a body of knowledge devoted to creating tools, processing actions and extracting of materials”. In the 1980s, people have struggled to figure out ways to improve technology, yet there were no sufficient results. However, in the past few years, technology has improved changing and affecting people’s lives on a daily basis. Technology influences our lives, by making education more advanced, giving doctors the opportunity to save more lives, yet wasting people’s time on entertainments.

The inspiration to review flipped classroom as a topic of exploration stems from this author’s interest and expertise in using technology and how it can be used to engage and enhance the classroom environment today. Most high school seniors were born during the millennium and they grew up simultaneous with the birth of smartphones, youtube, myspace, facebook, snapchat and instagram. With the increase in technology on a daily basis, one begins to ponder what is the future of education and the type of instruction that is necessary in the classroom to prepare students. Flipped classroom became an interest because it involves using online lectures to provide teachers with more time in the classroom on activities that will strengthen the skills needed for the 21st Century.

Well before college and career, at the grade school level, there too is a growing demand for students to have access to integrated subject learning experiences. Because integrated subjects are the more accurate renditions of reality that feels most natural to students’ lives, lessons are more transferable to their real world experiences, which makes it easier for students to obtain, understand, incorporate, and modify or alter knowledge. Further demand for integration of technology is also sought in upper childhood, childhood, and even early childhood institutions as technology becomes a more core essential part of students’ lives as well as their potential academic and career futures. In a time driven by email and virtual communication, it is now just as important that a student know email or online communication etiquette just as much, if not more, than it is that they know how to write and send a letter by post. The demands of the grade school institutions for evolution of the system to meet knowledge needs are increasingly being served as new teachers are being taught to serve those demands through their higher education institutions; however, those same higher education institutions refuse to evolve their systems to also meet those demands.

As technology becomes ever ingrained in the field of education it polarizes educators on either side, either with technology being an atrophy to the critical thinking and reading skills of students or the only real way they can learn in a modern classroom. But who is right? Is technology a cancer to modern education, something that needs to be cut out before it spreads? Or is it a cure-all for poor school systems that completely levels the field? It is neither and it is both, technology is a mighty force in building multi-tasking skills and preparing students for their futures in the tech-dominated world. However, overexposure to this fantastical medium also hurts the students just as much, gutting their development of imagination, analyzation skills, and critical thinking. The over-saturation of technology in education has become a detriment to learning, making worse students and teachers, while at the same time harming certain comprehension abilities in students.

I am currently registered with the Queensland College of Teachers, and have been since I graduated my Bachelor of Education in 2011. Since then, I have taught in both my subject areas, English and Computing, and completed a Master's degree to further my knowledge in Information and Communication Technologies, an area I am very passionate about. Throughout my university studies, I have shown keen interest for technology in education (especially appropriating non-education technology for education purposes and 1:1 learning). I have a strong belief that technology can benefit education, given that it is carefully chosen to suit the context; one size does not fit all, one app does not fit all. In the past year at Saint Stephen's College, I have demonstrated that I am capable of teaching in a technical area (Technology) and it is a teaching area I quite enjoy.

As technology continues to advance and take new heights in so many ways, we can think of many ways that this is helpful and how it makes our job easier. Technology within the school systems are starting to become the thing of the very near future. With many schools implementing "bring your device to school" days. You have to start to think how will this start to tie into the children's lives and how will this benefit them in the long run. According to Leys (n.d.), Technology has some great benefits to help our students further their education, it is also used in harmful ways that have no benefits on learning. All of the technology and gadgets are great, think of the problems and/or barriers that are brought forth. There are learning processes in each. What has to be looked at from a parenting stand point, is how do our children continue to implement better writing skills with new technology? With our children being more into technology, and being taught with technology, we must see the decline in the writing skills of our children and how dependent they will become when leaving the education realm and transitioning into the real world. Expecting technology to do more for them than ever before. Examination has to be taken into consideration on how are our teachers that teach our kids going to be supported, and the financial realm of resources that need to be given to give the correct support.

For years people have been searching for a more efficient way to learn; ways such as flashcards, textbooks, and agendas. Unfortunately, these techniques are not always reliable, or easy to access. Luckily, due to recent tests, educators have discovered that the use of technology has surprisingly proved as a more effective class source. After this study many schools and educators began to use technology as an everyday in-class resource, but there are still many teachers who fail to see technology’s impact. Those who do not use technology do not realize that technology can be compatible and convenient in any environment, is constantly being updated with new resources, and it helps give students a better understanding of a specific class

Technology involves using tools to solve problems. From the perspective of a teacher, technology helps present information to students. A smart board or a Promethean board is a form of technology that helps present materials during a lesson. Students with visual impairments and visual learners benefit from the usage of smart boards and Promethean boards. For example, while doing observations for a second-grade class I noticed a teacher using an electronic version of their math textbook. Students had their textbooks out and the teacher had it up on the smart board so that they could all work on problems together. When I was in elementary school there were only black boards. However, I did take computer classes all throughout elementary school and all my classrooms had computer centers. I was not exposed to a smartboard until I reached middle school. One goal of adding the smart boards was to make both students and students more technologically savvy. Another goal was to increase the interaction and interest of students within the classroom. Midway through the seventh-grade, the classrooms got Promethean boards. At first, they were confusing to use, but by the time the year ended I was able to use them, so I achieved the goal of being more technologically savvy. Despite the initial confusion, they were fun to use in the classroom. My reading teacher would get electronic books and put them on the board as we read a story. At the end of a unit, this teacher would create Jeopardy

I am well aware of how technology can be an aid to education. I lived most of my life in Spain, which is considered a first-world country. However, in terms of education, Spain falls behind. Even though I didn’t notice it, not having a technologically advanced classroom hindered my learning. It wouldn’t be until I moved to the US that I realized how useful technology can be to the student. I truly believe that technology can help the majority of the students, and not just myself. As someone who has faced both sides of the coin, studying in a place where technology was discouraged in the classroom and studying in a place where technology was proactively encouraged, I believe that my experience can open people’s eyes to the usefulness of technology in education.