materi about technology in classroom

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.