Module Group7 Technology-In-Education Educ200 [PDF]

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Technology in Education INTRODUCTION Starting today, join me in exploring the new and modernize world in the field of education. It is not enough that you only learned the legal bases of education and the laws that was implemented and used in our educational system. Technology plays an important role in the teaching and learning process. This module, which focuses on technology will make you enjoy and appreciate the beauty of technology that most of people especially teachers and students used today. It is overwhelming as it has broad concepts but this module will guide you in understanding the topic. Without further ado, allow me to present to you the objectives of this module. OBJECTIVES At the end of this module, you will be able to: 1. Identify the various concepts regarding technology in education. 2. Differentiate technology of education and educational technology. 3. Explain the role of technology in education. Technology in Education: An Overview Technology plays an important role in the teaching and learning process. Even before, if we can trace back the history of educational technology we can say that it is already being used to help the teachers teach their learners. But first let us define what technology is. Technology is defined as the application of scientific knowledge to the practical aims of human life or, as it is sometimes phrased, to the change and manipulation of the human environment. Therefore, when we say technology we are not only referring different devices like computers, cellphone, and the like. Even books, chalkboards, and teaching strategies can be considered as technology, why? Because these are application of scientific knowledge like research. Thus, it is safe to say that technology was made or invent to make easier for everyone (Invention + Easy way = TECHNOLOGY). Technology in education is defined as "a study of technology which provides an opportunity for students to learn about the processes and knowledge related to technology that are needed to solve problems and extend human potential" (ITEA, 200, p.242). It is concerned with the broad spectrum of technology, which encompasses, but is not limited to, such as: design, problem solving, technological systems, resources and materials, criteria and constraints, processes, controls, optimization and trade-offs, invention, and many other human topics dealing with human innovation. With the use of technology, teachers are able to upgrade and improve the learner-centeredness of their classroom. It enables teachers to engage their students in unique, innovative, and equitable ways. Furthermore, teachers are also able to expand their network and connect with other teachers and educators nationally and globally. Now let us trace the historical development of technology in education.



Historical Development of Technology in Education      



The ELDER SOPHIST (450-350 B.C.) used the term "techne" to refer to the process of applying knowledge in a systematic way to the practical art of instruction. SOCRATES (470-399 B.C.) taught through question and answer methods. In the 17th century JOHANN COMENIUS introduced textbooks for children The first educational television station went on air in Houston, Texas, in 1953. In 1956 CCTV were established for instructional purposes. Programmed Instruction was developed in the works of B.F. Skinner (1954) and N.A. Crowder (1960)



CONCEPT OF TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION Before we attempt to know the technological trends in communication, it is necessary to understand the meaning of certain key terms that are either used separately or in combination in describing and discussing about various facets of communication technology, its use and application in various spheres of human endeavours; Information simply means a collection of facts or knowledge acquired through study, experience or instruction from which further conclusions may be drawn. Information refers to knowledge of specific events or situation that has been gathered or received by communication or intelligence. Communication on the other hand communication is the process of conveying information through exchange of ideas, feelings, intentions, attitudes, as well as by speeches, gestures, writings, behaviour and possibly by variety of ways including the electromagnetic means. In other words, communication is the meaningful exchange of information between two or multiple participants either directly or indirectly mediated by other persons, media and technology viz. printed books, broadcasted talks, telecasted discussions and webhosted documents, audio, video and even live conferencing. Technology is defined as the discipline dealing with the art and science of applying scientific knowledge to practical problems. Instructional Technology is the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning. Communication Technology may be defined as the knowledge, skills and understanding needed to exchange information verbally or non-verbally in an efficient manner. While communication deals with the process of accessing information, decoding information and its transmission the technology deals with the mechanism of processing of it via a medium or channel with increasing efficiency e.g. radio, television, computers and many such electronic and telecommunication tools. The technology facilitates communication between individuals or groups who are not physically present at the same location.



Trend means the general direction of a phenomena (e.g. fashion, market etc.) often governed by popularity or large scale acceptability by the masses. Hence, by “Technological Trends in Communication” we mean the latest development in the field of information and communication technology that has been immensely popular and widely accepted by the masses across the globe. It is not enough that you only knew some terms and definitions surrounding technology in education, here are the various concepts regarding technology in education. According to Australian Communications and Media Authority, the technological trend that we witness today is due to:   



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An accelerating pace of change driven by overlapping developments in technology and connection between people, databases and objects; Continuing spread of distributed connectivity through integration of information processing beyond the desktop into everyday objects and activities; Enhanced content and network management capabilities driven by developments in deep packet inspection and content filtering technologies, coupled with the need to improve esecurity, identity management, intellectual property protection and energy efficiency; The emerging social web acting both as a platform and database enabling innovation and creativity by users and service providers; and Continuing scientific and technological innovations, which in combination are driving advances in computing power, display technologies, artificial intelligence and nanotechnology.



Communication Technology today is a major branch of study dealing with the topics that we have seen in the preceding paragraphs. It is beyond the scope of this unit to discuss and elaborate all the emerging technological trends in communication. Let us therefore, have an overview of some the major technological trends in communication in the following section. Overview of Technological Trends in Communication We have seen in the previous section how communication has evolved over a period of time. In the present section we will see which technological changes and innovations in the field of communication have been found immensely popular and how those have become the mainstay of the contemporary society. Technological trends in communication can be viewed from different angles viz. (1) the technological applications that are transforming and shaping the communication (2) the technical infrastructure that makes the technological application possible, and (3) the trends in information communication network management. 



Technological Applications Transforming and Shaping Communication



Let us first see which technological applications are shaping and transforming the way we communicate today and those make the world around us more and more intelligible.



Internet: The internet is the most powerful and the most popular medium of communication today and it will continue to remain the main driving force behind future developments in information and communication technologies. Internet is a system of networking computers across the globe using TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) or IP (Internet Protocol) which are a set of standards for transmitting and receiving digital data. The Internet consists primarily of the collection of billions of interconnected web pages in host servers that are transferred using Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and is collectively known as the World Wide Web (WWW). The Internet also uses FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to transfer files, and SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) to transfer e-mail. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies. Accession or to surf a particular site one need to type the web address in the web browser that is technically called Universal Resource Locator (URL). URL typically begins with http://www.xyz......... and ends with extensions like .com/org/co/in/uk etc. Alternatively, one may locate his desired web page with the help of different search engines like, Google (http://www.google.co.in), Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.co.in), etc. which instantly offer us to choose our desired page out of thousands of URLs on a given topic. To access the Internet in homes it is required to have either a dial-up or broadband connection through telephone or dedicated cable network. Besides, high-speed internet can be accessed wirelessly through Wi-Fi, satellite and 3G/4G enabled cell phones. Internet access points are now available almost everywhere such as libraries, banks, educational institutions, Government departments, private internet cafes, airports, hotels, coffee shops etc. The internet is widely accessed today for various usages like web browsing, ticket booking, banking, online payment, online education (e.g. e-pathsala), e-learning, online-tests, e-governance, e-business, e-trading etc. One of the important advantage of Internet is it allows greater flexibility in working hours and location, especially with the aid of high-speed connections. The Internet can be accessed almost anywhere by numerous means, including wirelessly through mobile phones, tablets, laptops, gaming consoles and other portable internet devices. The Internet has been a major outlet for leisure activity since its inception, with entertaining social experiments. People use the Internet to access and download music, movies and other works for their enjoyment and relaxation. Free and fee-based services exist for all of these activities, using centralized servers. WWW: The World Wide Web is one of the many services offered on the Internet. The Web is a global set of documents, images and other resources, logically interlinked by hyperlinks and supported with Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). URIs symbolically identifies services, servers, and other databases, and the documents and resources that they can provide. Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the main access protocol of the World Wide Web. Web services also use HTTP to allow software systems to communicate in order to share and exchange business design and data.



Compared to printed media, books, encyclopedias and traditional libraries, the World Wide Web has enabled the decentralization and democratization of information on a large scale. The WWW has enabled individuals and organizations to publish ideas and information to a potentially large audience online at significantly reduced expense and time. Publishing a web page, a blog, or building a website involves little initial cost and for that matter many cost-free services are available. Advertising on popular web pages is also a lucrative business as the sale of products and services directly via the Web continues to grow. People use the WWW to access news, weather and sports reports, to plan and book vacations and to find out more about their interests. The WWW also provides the much desired platforms for messaging and mailing services to stay in touch with friends and other relatives and likeminded people worldwide, sometimes in the same way as we used to have pen friends previously. The first generation (year 1990-2000) of the web was characterized as the Information Age that enabled us to have access to various important information through search functions. The second generation of Web (2.0) that hypothetically spread between years 2000-2010 has largely been about interaction and it became known as the social web. Currently in the early stages of development, the semantic web (Web 3.0) is expected to provide a more custom-made web experience by anticipating and delivering information of interest to individual users (ACMA,2009). Streaming media: Streaming media is the process of delivery of digital media for the immediate consumption or enjoyment by end-users. This means that an Internet-connected device, such as a computer or something more specific such as Smartphone, can be used to access on-line media in much the same way as was previously possible only with a television or radio receiver.The range of streaming media content is much wider, from specialized technical webcasts to on-demand popular multimedia services. Podcasting is another application where audio material is downloaded and played back on a computer or moved to a portable media player to be listened to on the move or any time as per preference of the user. These techniques using simple equipment allow anybody, with little censorship or licensing control, to broadcast audio-visual material worldwide. Now many radio and television broadcasters provide Internet feeds of their live audio and video programs. They may also allow time-shift viewing or listening in a customized manner as per the preference of the users. These providers have been typically joined by a group of pure Internet "broadcasters" who never had on-air licenses. YouTube which was launched in 2005 is now the leading website for free streaming videos with a huge users following. It uses a flash-based web player to stream and show video files. The compression technique enables more efficient delivery of video content through internet. Registered users may upload an unlimited amount of video and build their own personal profile. YouTube claims that its users watch hundreds of millions, and upload hundreds of thousands of videos daily. Chat:It is a typically real-time text-based or voice or video communication between two or more people simultaneously via computer networking. Chat messages are generally short in order to enable other participants to respond quickly. Thereby, a feeling similar to a spoken conversation is created. People in online chat sessions type messages to each other using their



keyboards/keypads. The text message instantly appears on the screens of all the participants. People can also talk to each other through voice chats and video chats. Video chats are possible if there is a provision of web cameras attached to the interconnected computers or through smartphones and tablets having front facing cameras and of course the appropriate software. E-mail: Electronic mail is the exchange of computer mediated messages between the sender and the recipients through internet. E-mail is instant and if both the recipient and the sender are online simultaneously then the communication occurs in real-time. Otherwise the sent messages remained stored in one’s designated virtual mail-box that can be accessed any time as per the convenience of the receiver. Email servers accept, forward, deliver, and store messages on behalf of the users. Neither the users nor their computers are required to be online simultaneously. Connection to internet is required only briefly, typically to connect to the mail server, for as long as it takes to send or receive messages. There are many software platforms available to send and receive e- mail such as: Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, Outlook, etc. Along with the messages other files, photos, videos and any other data can be shared as attachments amongst the users. Emails are exchanged between the sender and recipients using the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) with software programs called mail transfer agents (MTAs); and delivered to a mail server by programs called mail delivery agents (MDAs, also sometimes called local delivery agents, LDAs). Users can retrieve their messages from servers using standard protocols such as POP (Post Office Protocol) or IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) which are programmed accordingly. Programs used by users for retrieving, reading, and managing email are called mail user agents (MUAs). Email is now being increasingly used on smartphones thanks to the specific mobile apps designed for that purpose. Earlier users could only access email on computers, it is now possible for users to check their email out of their home, office or institution and while on the go. Alerts can also be sent to the phone to notify them immediately of new messages. This has given email the ability to be used for more frequent communication between users and allowed them to check their email and write messages throughout the day. With all its advantages, Emails should be used judiciously and need to be carefully monitored for spamming, phishing, spoofing and spreading of Worms, Trojans and Viruses via mail attachments. Teleconferencing: It is a means by which individuals or group located at different places can meet and exchange data, speech, visuals (like graphs, diagrams etc.). Through video conferencing, particularly in two-way video conferencing people located at remote sites can see themselves in live action using information and communication technology. Video conferencing creates a social presence that resembles face-to-face meetings and discussions that enables participants to see the facial expressions and physical demeanor of each other while actually being present at remote sites. Alternatively, internet teleconferencing includes internet telephone conferencing, videoconferencing, web conferencing, and Augmented Reality conferencing. Internet telephony involves conducting a teleconference over the Internet or a Wide Area Network. One key



technology in this area is Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP). Popular software for personal use includes Skype, Google Talk, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger. The more advanced version of teleconferencing is on the anvil in the form of Telepresence that aims to provide a video-based immersive system which attempts to imitate a face-to-face meeting using high-resolution 3D vision and audio. Such tele-immersive systems combine aspects of virtual reality with videoconferencing and aim to allow people separated by great distances to interact naturally, as though they were in the same room. It combines the display and interaction techniques of virtual reality with new vision technologies that transcend the traditional limitations of a camera. The result is that all the participants, however distant, can share and explore a life-size space. Current hurdles for the widespread adoption of Telepresence systems are the high costs of the systems installation, extensive bandwidth usage, and the lack of interoperability with existing videoconferencing systems and other business applications. Social Networking: Social Networking service is a web-based platform primarily aimed at establishing social relations among people who, share interests, activities, backgrounds or reallife connections. A social network service typically consists of a user profile, his social links, and a variety of additional services to share each other’s feeling, interest through instant messaging, mailing/sharing of files, pictures, videos etc. with friends, friend of friends and even with others. Social networking sites allow users to share ideas, pictures, posts, activities, events, interests with people in their network. There are many social networking services emerged over a period of time that include Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter etc. These social networking services make it possible to connect people who share interests and activities across political, economic, and geographic borders. Social networking provides individuals and organisations with a low-cost medium for producing and distributing content in ways that were previously only available through traditional media (TV, radio and print). With the predominance of social networks and convergence of digital identities enable the users to have and to maintain one central digital identity that feeds into their multiple social network profiles. Secure exchanging and distributing of personal data and information (photos, videos, music etc.) have become easier. Social networking now is increasingly being used for education, business promotion, creation of political awareness, sharing of research findings and scientific knowledge, advertising, philanthropic activities, legal and police investigation, dissemination of social message by the Government Departments and even NGOs pertaining to general health, hygiene etc. Social networks will continue to change everything in our everyday life. A recent European survey found that “the use of social networking tools as part of everyday life has also led to an increase in efficiency”. Types of ICTs which are commonly used in education:



1) E-learning: E-learning is basically linked with higher level training, which involves harming at both, official and casual level, which makes use of internet, LAN, WAN, partially or completely, for proper communication or interaction. 2) Blended Learning: This type of learning combines traditional method of teaching with elearning methods. 3) Open and distance learning: The Commonwealth of Learning defines this kind of learning as "a way of providing learning opportunities that is characterized by the separation of teacher and learner in time or place, or both time and place". 4) Traditional (Face to face): Course content and learning material are taught in person to a group of students.