Role of Information Technology in Education

ROLE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION

GROUP #5

Content

1. Introduction

2. Traditional Role of Technology in Education

3. Contemporary role of IT in education

4. Tool Used in Contemporary role

* IT used by the Teachers

5. IT for learning disabilities

6. Use of IT in Distance Learning

* A brief definition of Distance Learning

* How is distance learning provided?

* Types of distance learning

* Advantages of distance learning

* Disadvantages of distance learning

7. Advantages of using IT in education

* Time saving

* Money saving

* Depth of the knowledge

* Accessibility

8. Problems

9. Conclusion

10. Work Cited

Introduction:

In the current age we live in, technology has become an important component. Every day there is some new gadget or software that makes lives easier and improves on the technology and software that already exists. Making lives easier is not, however, the only role technology plays in our lives.

Technology is playing an increasing role in education. As technology advances, it is used to benefit students of all ages in the learning process. Technology used in the classroom helps students adsorb the material. For example, since some people are visual learners, projection screens linked to computers can allow students to see their notes instead of simply listening to a teacher deliver a lecture.

Software can be used to supplement class curriculum. The programs provide study questions, activities, and even tests and quizzes for a class that can help students continue learning outside the classroom. Technology has also become part of many curriculums, even outside of computer and technology classes. Students use computers to create presentations and use the Internet to research topics for papers and essays.

Students also learn to use the technology available to them in computer and tech classes. This ensures that after graduation they will be able to use the technology in a work setting, which may put them ahead of someone who didn't have access to a particular technology or software in their own school setting. As technology advances, students have better access to educational opportunities like these. When something new and "better" is revealed, the "older" technology becomes more affordable, allowing it to be used in educational settings, even when schools are on a tight budget.

Technology has also advanced to help children even before they've started school. Educational video games and systems for young children help them prepare for school and in some cases get a head start on their education.

Traditional Role of Technology in Education

There are two main types of technology in education that has been classified and they are "product technologies" and "idea technologies". Product technology includes all the physical and touch able hardware, such as computers, printers, projectors, calculator and so on. On the other hand the idea technology can also be refereed as software technology. Such as e books, worksheets computer software. In contrast, idea technologies do not have such tangible forms.

Usually idea technologies are represented through some product technology. For example we can talk about simulator; another application of IT in education is flight simulator. In aviation institution they make the learning pilot to make the feel real. It is really risk giving learning pilot to fly an airplane, but the flight simulator is advanced technology which has helped the learners to feel the real time experience in a room. There is not risk of big life taking accident, and same technology can be used to benefit the lot of people within the course of time. This has saved the expense for learning it.

The distinction between product technologies and idea technologies is important because most of the historical attempts to use technology in education have focused on product technologies, such as teaching machines, educational television and films, and, most, computers (Reiser, 1987). Consequently, the role and value of these product technologies were how they supported the established beliefs and practices of classroom teachers. These established practices were largely based on behavioral models which emphasized the transmission and delivery of predetermined content. These approaches exemplify the "student as bucket" metaphor where the emphasis is on "pouring knowledge" into student's minds by designing and delivering well- planned and controlled instruction. Learning is viewed as a consequence of receiving the information

Contemporary role of IT in education

Among many educational goals, the main outcomes are the students should be able to remember, understand and use information from what they learned. Among these outcomes one is very difficult to achieve. People after spending huge amount of time in school are unable to use much of the content they have learned. The students' inability to apply their learning is attributable to the shallow processing that often occurs in school. Schoolwork often focuses on remembering and organizing lesson content, but rarely on making information meaningful. Meaningful learning happens when there is external connection between existing and new information. Mayer (1984) identified three learning stages that affect meaningfulness: selection, organization, and integration. Information must initially be selected. Selected information must be organized in working memory if it is to be transferred to long term memory. Information that is not organized is meaningless. The nature of the organization determines the degree of meaningfulness. The information that is gathered from familiar knowledge or experience is more durable than information that