A Rationale
For Using Technology
Modern communication devices such as DVD
players, VCRs, audiotapes, cable television, computers, CDs, and the interned
can provide multisensory learning and in-depth ways of gaining knowledge.
Experiences with such media can make learning come alive. A multimedia
dimension to learning is more appropriate for the diversity in learning styles
and abilities of learners in most
classrooms. The latest pedagogical tools that technology provides permit
teachers to customize instruction to the needs and pace of a wide range of
individual students-and all students do not have to be available or present at
the same time in order for instruction to take place.
Four key assumptions are at play in this
argument for the merits of using technology in the classrooms :
1)
Information in school can be independently learned
from electronic media and data sources other than the teacher or text.
2)
Students are capable of assuming responsibilitty for
their own learning, especially if the material presented is visually and
auditorially stimulating.
3)
Students learn best when they control their rate of
learning, and
4)
Teachers can be assisted to successfully integrate
technological-based instruction.
Chalkboards And Display Boards
Long before modern technologies were
introduced in the classroom, teachers employed visual aids and innovative presentation
strategies to help their students learn. Chalkboards, visual display, records,
filmstrips, slides, skits, and plays offered multysensory learning opportunities
in the classroom. The chalkboard is perhaps the oldest and most traditional
piece of equipment found in the classroom. Next to the textbook, it is the most
widely used instructional aid. According to two educators, the chalkboard “is
so omnipresent that many of us fail to think of it as a visual aid at all; yet
most teachers would be hard put if they had no chalkboards available”.
There is usually one chalkboard at the
front of the classroom and sometimes others at the sides or back. In older
schools most of the chalkboards are black (hence the name), but because black
tends to absorb like and make the room gloomy, the color isbeing changed. Light
green and yellow reduce glare and eye strain, absorb less light, are careful
and provide a good contrast with white and colored chalk. Many schools now use dry-erase
boards instead of chalkboards. The background of these boards is typically
white, and teachers write on it with multicolored dry-erase markers. These
dry-erase boards typically are more visually appealing than blackboards, can be
cleaned easily, and have the advantage of leaving no chalk dust.
Guidelines
for Using Chalkboards and Dry-Erase Boards
1.
Write legibly and large enough for all to see.
2.
Don’t talk toward the chalkboard or dry-erase board while writing
on it. Write and then talk or talk and then write.
3.
Organize your chalkboard or dry-erase board work ahead of time.
When possible, outline item with a
letter or numbering system. There are many possible system, but use one system
for consistency.
4.
Don’t clutter the boards. Limit your writing or drawing to major
ideas of the lesson.
5.
Don’t use unusual or personal abbreviations.
6.
Use colored dry-erase markers, chalk, rulers, string, stencils, and
other materials to make your illustrations more effective. Don’t
over use the boards. Provide handouts of lengthy or complicated
materials.
Overhead Prjectors
And Data/Video Projectors
The overhead projectors and the data/video
projector or video projection system offer technological options for presenting
visual information. One of the greatest benefits of the overhead projector and
computer projector is that the teacher or lecturer can face the audience while writing.
The data/video projector, used in conjunction with PowerPoint or
HyperStudio, also offers the option of including music, video clips, and text
that “fly-in” across the page upon command; in addition, documents can be
scanned in to create a polished and entertaining presentation. Preparing this
kind of presentation on the computer does require some expertise and can take
time. You will need to check with your building’s technology support person to
see if the equipment needed for computerized presentation is available for
classroom teachers to use.
the overhead projector is relatively inexpensive and easy to use and has thus
be come standard equipment in many classrooms. Overhead transparencies can be
made relatively quickly in most copy machines from any document that can be photocopied.
Commercially prepared overhead tranparencies are also available for many
textbooks or can be purchased by general subject area. Overhead projectors also
offer teachers the otion of writing or transparencies during the calss
activity. This can be especially helpful when small groups work to produce information
that is to be presented to the larger group. Each small group can create
handwritten transparency and project it for all to see.
Guidelines for using overhead and data/video
projectors
1.
Keep the materials up-to-date.
2.
Preview the materials or prepare them before class
begins.
3.
Be sure the materials are appropriate for the students
interest and maturity level and that they fulfill your instructional objective.
4.
Be sure all students can see the surface on which the
material is projected, focus the materials properly.
5.
Explain and discuss each of the projected materials.
Films
Other than television, film (or
movies) is perhaps the most influential and seductive educational medium for
transmitting ideas and persuading an audience. Because of the vivid images it
presents, the motion picture has a dramatic impact on its audience. Films both
interest and motivate students. Thousand of good films have been made expressly
for educational purposes. A film is presented in a fixed, continuous sequence,
and the speed is also fixed (unless the images are such that the projector or
video equipment can be slowed down or the projection can be stopped). Because
student are forced to think at the speed and in the sequence determined by the
film, it tends to create a passive rather than an active mind-set. Giving
students questions or patterns to be aware of while viewing the film may help
engage a more active mind-set in the classroom.
Guidelines For Using Films
1.
Preview the film to make sure it is appropriate to the
student’s interest and maturity level and to familiarize yourself with the
content
2.
Arrange to have the video equipment (or the
project)set up in the classroom on the day scheduled for showing the video or
film. Be sure to arrange or someone to run the projector if you don’t know how.
3.
Be sure all students can see the screen. The room
should be dark enough to produce a quality picture.
4.
Prepare the students for the presentation. A list of
major points or questions to answer or a guide to the film is often helpful.
Hand it out to the class before the showing.
5.
Allow time for discussion after the film.
Television And Videos
Recent evidence suggest that television has
become “a second school system” or cultural transmitter. Children under 10
years old watch television an average of thirty to thirty–five hours a week, or
for about one-fifth of their waking hours. Research from the 1980s suggested
that, by the time a child graduated from high school, he or she would spend
15.000 to 20.000 hour in front of the screen as compared to 12.000 to 13.000
hours in school.before children reached age 6, they would spend more time in front of a television than
they would talking to their fathers in their lifetimes, there is absolutely
little evidence to suggest that the situation has changed as we begin the
twenty-first century. The danger in this situation relates to the inherent
isolation of American youngsters from adult. Specfically, compared to young
people in other industrialized cultures, Americsn students spend almost twelve
hours more per week in one another’s company and away from adults. We will
discuss this fact in more detail later in this chapter. The key point here is
that American young people are socialized by technology to a potentially
greater extent than are young people of other cultures.
Utilizing Television
Because of television’s impact on
acculturation and socialization of children and youth and its influence on
almost all of society, educators not ignore this medium. They must,
1) Find ways to reverse the rend toward lower
achievement resulting from to much time spent watching commercial television
2) Counteract the tendency to use television
as a means of escape or a social companion, which isolates some children (and
adults) from contact with other people and participation in more worthwhile
activities
3) Find possitive ways to incorporate the
medium into the school curriculum. As figure shows , television viewing is a
critical part of what happens in many american classrooms and accounts for
almost 10 percent of the time that students are with teachers.
Two types of programming can be employed in
schools, educational television refers to programs produced for
broadcast on commercial or public television stations that are intended to
inform and develop understading. Many commercial and public television stations
produce programs that fit educational goals and objectives. In particular,
public television –broadcast in many large cities and delivered through cable
across the nation has real aducational potential that has not been utilized
fully by teachers.
Guidelines
for Using Television and Videos
1.
Select programs to coincide with the learners’ levels of interest
and maturity and with instructional objectives. Consider the educational
significance, quality, content, writing, and production.
2.
Make sure the classroom or media center is suitable for viewing the
program. Check the lights
and shades, acoustic arrangements,
seating facilities, and placement of the television.
3.
Give students any necessary background data and tell them what to
expect before viewing the program. You may want to hand out question sheets
that focus on major points. These are especially helpful if students are
assigned to watch a program at home.
4.
Avoid using television as a lecturing device or a substitute for
intruction. Integrate it into the lesson and discussion.
5.
Hold a discussion after the program to analyze the main points.
6.
Discuss with your media specialist copyright issues before showing
a tape that you have prerecorded.
Computers
Computer technology for school purposes has been available since
the 1950s, but it is in the last few decades that computers have begun to have
a major impact on classrooms and schools. In 1980 some 50.000 microcomputers
were used in 15 percent of nearly 99 percent of the schools. By 2001, student
access was so prevalent that the ratio of students to computers (with internet
access) was nearly 5 to 1. 
As a
result of the Goals 2000: Educating America Act passed by Congress in March
1994, schools across our nation are spending billions of federal dollars on
computers, software, and related services in an attempt to meet the national
priority of universal access to technology for teaching and learning.
As a
result of the Goals 2000: Educating America Act passed by Congress in March
1994, schools across our nation are spending billions of federal dollars on
computers, software, and related services in an attempt to meet the national
priority of universal access to technology for teaching and learning. 