An Introduction of Technology in Every Education Atmosphere

The use of information and communications technology (ICT) in education is transforming learning and teaching practices in significant ways. For instance, the integration of computer-mediated communication with multimedia course-ware  electronic libraries and databases has led to the emergence of a completely new kind of educational experience, namely E-Learning or networked learning (Rosenberg, 2001; Steeples and Jones, 2002). Affordances and opportunities offered by ICT are also causing educators and educational providers to rethink and re-engineer the nature of their educational practices (Gibson, 1977; Turvey, 1992). A significant product of this re-engineering includes a shift in the roles of teachers from being ‘providers and deliverers of subject matter content’ to becoming ‘moderators and facilitators of learning’ within student-centered models of learning and teaching. Some of these models of learning and teaching include ‘computer-supported collaborative learning’ (Koschmann, 1996; McConnell, 2000), ‘computer-supported problem based learning’ (Koschmann et al, 1996), and ‘distributed problem based learning’ (Koschmann, 2002). These models of learning and teaching are closely associated with a growing interest among educators and educational technologists in the capabilities of ICT for leveraging the learning and teaching transaction. Educators are enthusiastic about how they can use ICT to improve their teaching activities, which include the engagement of students with subject matter content, activation of learning, assessment of learning outcomes and provision of feedback to their students. Educational technology researchers are inquisitive about the influences of ICT on the achievement of content-specific as well as generic learning outcomes and the processes of learning, including students’ approaches to study, their motivation for learning and engagement with the subject matter content.

Literature from:

LEARNING & TEACHING WITH TECHNOLOGY

Principles and practices

Edited by Som Naidu

London and Sterling, VA, 2005

ISBN 0-203-44291-1 (Adobe eReader Format)