Meeting the Outside World from Within

the Classroom

Brittany Bordine and Octavia Greer

Keiser University

Dr. Dietzel

EDU 511

February 2014

How Has Learning Today Changed Compared to Traditional Classrooms?

In traditional classrooms, teachers simply present the lessons. This involves textbooks, chalkboards and a lot of note taking. Traditional learning often takes place in an actual classroom setting. In Universities especially, technology has opened up new doors and allowed for traditional learning to move forward. Learning today involves distance learning, online courses, and email. Classes today do not have to be in a classroom setting because technology has opened up more possibilities to learn from a distance and the comfort of your own home. This allows for more integrated classes and diversity of experiences (Desai, Hart, & Richards, 2008).

How Has New Technology Impacted the World?

Technology impacts the world in various ways. Most evidently technology has influenced the way society communicates, conducts business, problem-solves, and most of all changes the way people learn.

How Has New Technology Impacted Local Communities? Technology impacts local communities in a direct way.

Connections between all members of the learning community such as parents, teachers, and students can remain in contact in and out of school time. Primarily, the internet is the great support for facilitating relationships amongst teachers and parents. Parents can utilize the internet to check for student’s assignments, school updates, and other pertinent information (Bransford, 2000). To that effect the school can relay to the community what how they can help the school in it quest to educate and what the school is doing (Bransford, 2000). For example, an internet page was created by the American Schools Directory (www.asd.com) to support over 100,000 public and private K-12 schools in the United States that allows each school to post a Wish List for needed help or equipment, along with providing each student and teacher free e-mail service (Bransford, 2000).

How Has New Technology Impacted Individual Learners? Technology can be a fun and engaging way for

students to get involved in their learning. It can provide a means of learning that is hands on

and interesting to individual students. Students in today’s world relate to the use of

technology and so have a preference to use technology over traditional means of learning.

Technology has also opened up learning online and students that are multi-lingual able to learn without worrying about whether or not they can keep up in a traditional classroom (Chen & Lee, 2011).

Types of Educational Technologies

Wikispaces Google Documents Email Smart Technologies Web 2.0 Distance Learning Tablets Social Networking Computers Cloud Computing

Purpose of Educational Technologies

Educational technologies allow for teachers to add to their teaching. Technology provides numerous resources that allow students to learn in a more hands on and familiar way to them. With technology teaching and learning can move beyond the traditional classrooms and open up more possibilities for learning such as email and Wikispaces.

How Can Educators Use Such Technologies to Enhance Metacognitive Skills and Prepare Learners for the 21st

Century? When technology is utilized in the classroom appropriately the

effects upon learning outcomes are distinguished as learners will be able to successfully transfer skills that is taught in the classroom to the real world. Based upon the principles of learning and the interactivity technologies used in the classroom brings to learners, creating learning environments that reflect on how students learn by doing, receiving feedback, and continually refining their understanding through critical thinking and problem solving (Bransford, 2000). Allowing learners to meet the outside world within the classroom creates greater learning opportunities that enhance learners metacognitive skills. It is presumed that learners development of conceptualizing phenomenas related to the physical and social worlds can be cultivated if learners have the opportunity to build and manipulate models of such phenomenas; this is found in softwares that offer simulations (Bransford, 2000).

Learners are better prepared for the 21st century when technology-based tools are used appropriately in the classroom.

References

Bransford, J. (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school (Expanded ed.). Washington, DC. National Academy Press.

Chen, C., & Lee, T. (2011). Emotion recognition and communication for reducing second-language speaking anxiety in a web-based one-on-one synchronous learning environment. British Journal of Educational Technology, 42(3), 417-440.

Desai, M. S., Hart, J., & Richards, T. C. (2008). E-Learning: Paradigm shift in education. Education, 129(2), 327-334.