Is Technology making an Impact on Education?

The use of advanced technology in educating students had made a significant impact in learning process. The process of learning in the classroom can become significantly richer as students have access to new and different types of information, can manipulate it on the computer through graphic displays or controlled experiments in ways never before possible and also can communicate results and conclusions in a variety of media to their teacher. Lecture is not only the medium for educating the students now a day. A teacher needs to have knowledge about technology in order to educate students. For example; a teacher should use PowerPoint slides, projectors, videos, etc. to teach students. And students should not only use books as a reading material but they should also gain knowledge through online posts like journal and articles.

The use of technology in education has been steadily growing in the United States with a recent push from the Federal, State and Local Education Agency levels. Due to highly use of modern technology, the use of technology in the classroom became a necessary. Students will not be interested to learn through just lecture only. In order to teach these modern, smart and technological students, teachers need to use technological appliances as well.

Following are the stages which show the improvement in the effectiveness of technology in the classroom:

·       Entry: Learn the basics of using the new technology

·       Adoption: Use of new technology to support old instruction

·       Adaptation: Integrate new technology into traditional classroom practice. They focus on increased student productivity by using word processors, spread-sheets, and graphic tools.

·       Appropriation: Focus on cooperative, project based and interdisciplinary work

·       Invention: Discover new uses of technology tools

After the adaptation stage, technology becomes more than just a tool for presenting the curriculum and transitions into an extention of the instructor and the student.
Reference:http://www.macinstruct.com/node/7