7TECHNOLOGY
THEEDUCATIONAL PROCESS
Creating a common language in technology
Exploring and defining
the task
involves the activities
students undertake to
identify and explore a
need or opportunity,
taking into consideration
the user, the client, the
available resources and
social, ethical and
environmental issues.
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Generating and developing ideas involves students exploring options, considering existing solutions, generating alternatives, representing and refi ning those ideas and deciding upon options.
Students identify, explore and select resources such as techniques, materials and equipment that will best achieve the solution for their decisions and actions
Producing solutions
involves students finalizing design decisions
completing final design representations such as production drawings or storyboards
sequencing the step-by-step actions for production
managing safety risks
practicing and refining techniques
and completing the production of the solution
Students reflect on the success of the solution, the process and the learning.
Planning, managing and evaluating
Ongoing evaluation, related to the criteria of success, informs the students’ decision making at each phase
the evaluation at the conclusion of the project involves reflection and learning about the process used and the success of the solution.
It is an essential
component of each
of the above
phases.
Management
decisions made by
students involve
planning and
reviewing
milestones and
implementing and
monitoring time,
actions and
financial plans.
The TPACK model
This model attempts
to capture some of
the essential
qualities of
knowledge required
by teachers for
technology
integration into their
teaching, whilst
addressing the
complex, multi-
faceted and situated
nature of teacher
knowledge.
Other elements related to different types of knowledge included in the TPACK model :
Content Knowledge
Pedagogical Knowledge
Technological Knowledge
Teaching with technology
An examination of each component raises a set of issues that we need to consider in order to make technology integration as successful as possible. The students
The instructor
Course content
Technology tools
We need to think carefully about our students, their exposure and access to technology as well as their preferred learning styles.
Finally, we can turn to the technology itself and analyze it according to its functions.
This approach to teaching and learning with technology assumes that the four component parts are integrated and that changes in one part will require adjustments to the other three in order to achieve the same goals.
Learning, Teaching, and Technology
Example 1 A four-year-old girl
sits at a computer with her mother, exploring Just Grandma and Me, an electronic storybook. When she clicks on a word, the computer says it aloud. The child repeats the word. After clicking through the text one word at a time, she says the whole sentence aloud, turns to her mother, and exclaims,
"I can read!"
Example 2 At the Harvard
Literacy Lab, students with reading and writing diffi culties willingly compose autobiographies, stories, and poems for personal home pages posted on the Lab's Web site. When e-mail responses to their writing arrive from other parts of the country and from as far away as Japan and Australia, they proudly mark the location of the sender on a map of the world.
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These two examples illustrate how computers are changing the way children are learning to read and write. They show the potential of new technology to revitalize reading instruction and to make reading more relevant to the lives of children growing up in the electronic age.
Technology is now being widely used in the
c lassroom to enhance and enrich teaching
and learning. The avai labi l i ty of new
information technology is contr ibuting to many
innovations in c lassroom act ivit ies.
Strategies and techniques
Strategies/techniques now used to support technology in teaching and learning enable teachers to work collaboratively with students while the students themselves become more immersed in their own learning.
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New information technologies are increasingly being adapted and integrated into the educational process. The growing use of these technologies in teaching and learning activities has given rise to numerous questions.
Are the new technologies changing the traditional approach to classroom activities?
How much are the technologies changing the strategies/techniques used in the delivery of instruction?
Are the technologies changing the quality of interpersonal relations in our classroom?
Technology of one kind or the other has always been used in the educationalenvironment.Devices utilized in the teaching and learning process :
The printed page
Chalk and chalkboard
Overhead projectors
Filmstrips
35mm films
The emergence of newer forms of technology
Computers,
Computer discs interactive (CD-i)
Videodiscs
DVD
Desktop videoconferencing,
Internet
These forms have created a renewed interest for their use in supporting teaching and learning activities.
These technologies are also capable of promoting educational activities (synchronous or asynchronous) which are not confined to specific time and/or place.
Education and training activit ies are increasingly employing the use of a variety of technologies to support pedagogy and learning.
Word-processors
Spreadsheets
Databases
Are being utilized as
tools in supporting
teaching and learning.
THE CHANGING CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT
Teachers respond to their use in the classroom setting in a number of ways.
1. There are those teachers who fear using any form of technology apart from those with which they are very comfortable. (e.g., chalk/chalkboard and printed page).
2. Others make use of some form of technology even if they do so infrequently (e.g., overhead projector and videotapes) during class presentations.
3. Some teachers maximize the use of diff erent technologies sometimes to the point of overuse during classroom activities.
The infusion and
integration of
technology in the
education process
have presented new
avenues by which
teachers can enrich
and enhance teaching
and learning
activities.
Strategies
The increasing application of technology to support teaching and learning provide a basis by which some teachers reconsider the strategies they use in instructional activities.
Different strategies are being employed in conjunctionwith the more familiar ones to accomplish the necessary learning objectives.
Students and their role
Many students are more familiar with some of the technologies employed in the educational environment.
They also show a high level of resourcefulness in determining different ways by which the technologies available might be used to support teaching and learning activities.
Working together in this new learning environment, teachers and students become teams of 'knowledge explorers' who translate textbook knowledge into new exciting presentations, using the different technologies
learning for many students become more exciting as they are actively involved in the process.
The infusion and integration of technology
D'Ignazio (1990a)
indicated, The infusion
and integration of
technology in classrooms
will increase the use of
strategies such as
thematic teaching, guided
inquiry apprenticeship,
group problem solving,
and critical thinking.
Lane (1994)
The use of electronically mediated instruction (EMI) to duplicate the traditional face-to-face classroom has resulted in a shift from teacher centered to learner-centered classes.
the responsibility for learning is shifted to the student and the teacher facilitates the learning by acting as a coach, resource guide, and companion in learning. Instructional technology does not only encourage teachers and students to work collaboratively but also results in more cooperative learning activities among the students.
The introduction of new information technology in teaching and learning hasimpacted the traditional classroom activities.
The various
technologies
generate a greater
level of interaction
between and
among teachers
and students.
Technology use in the classroom should only be considered appropriate if it is used for specifi c purposes in the teaching and learningprocess
Employing technology of any kind in the instructional process becomes valuable only when they are seen merely as elements in a well-constructed learning environment (D'Ignazio, 1989).
The use of technology, therefore, should be driven by specific objectives related to instruction and learning with direct linkages to the curriculum.
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