Global University

EDU 201

There is no doubt that technology has bought amazing

resources to the field of education, yet there is much
debate about the benefits in enhancing the education of
new generations.
All other professions are successfully transforming to
affordable models that use technology to empower typical
professionals to be effective.

Learning

Learning can no longer be confined to the years we spend

in school.
Technology provides access to a much wider and more
flexible set of learning resources than is available in
classroom.
Engaging and effective learning experiences can be
individualized or differentiated for particular learners.

What can we do with edtech?

Paint

Draw
Write
Publish
Print

OUR OWN TEXTBOOKS

Create our own diagrams for analysis

Use virtual reality
Share online information
Set secure online examination
Give instant feedback

Assessment
Through multimedia, interactivity, and connectivity it is
possible to :
1.Assess competencies
2.Assess problem solving skills
3.Make visible sequences of actions taken by learners in
simulated environments
4.Model complex reasoning tasks
5.Doformative assessment

Teaching
To deeply engage their students, educators need to
know about :
1. Their students goals
2. Interests
3. Learning resources and systems that can help
students plan sets of learning experiences that are
personally meaningful

A way to adjust with new technology!

Critical engagement with

change.
The subsumption and assimilation of education into
the information technology
industry has been likened to industrial and
technological changes that have
shaped education in the past and defined the course of
its social history.

Printing Press
Lead pencil
Television
VHS tapes

The critical understanding of what we use

in todays classroom, and why we use it, is
the foundation on which teaching and
learning in the 21st century must be
predicated.

What is the effect of the rapid assimilation of

virtual world of technology on the mental and
physical well-being of our students??

LUDDITES!

As educators we have a professional, ethical

responsibility to keep ourselves informed and up-to-date
on what is happening in our profession, because of the
vital and responsible role teaching and learning have in
building good citizens and a civilized society.

In 2011 Abilene Christian

University produced a paper
entitled iPad or iFad.

Pepperdine University in the USA have undertaken a

longitudinal case study on the use of the iPad as an
instructional and learning device in an attempt to
establish the validity of claims made by Apple Inc that
their device is the future for education.

The study was based on these 2

questions
Does the iPad have
the potential to
enhance students
performance on
course learning
objectives?

Can we develop a
formula for success?

Engaging with the research

From an historical view point the educational sector has always
embraced new technologies. From the days of the printing
press to the invention of radios, the telegraph, television, vinyl
records, tape recordings, videos, CDs, DVDs, internet
resourcing, podcasts, wikis and so on, educators have taken to
what works well and what contributes to the genuine
development of sound pedagogical processes in teaching and
learning.

A key study by Milken family

foundation
(Transforming Education through
Technology,
1999)

Burke,2010,2011
Clarke, 1983(famous
quip)

It is unfortunate that the IT lobby,

with its billions of advertising dollars,
and its quasi-research projects all
biased towards their own outcomes
hinder a clear, critical public debate.

some of the early studies are

indicating that fundamental changes
in social behavior and mental and
physical health after extended periods
of time using technology are
deleterious to human physical wellbeing, human social relationships and
the human character.

People behave more rudely and

aggressively online. Psychologists call
this the disinhibition effect ; People
are less inhibited when not seen and
feel they can express themselves
more freely and without feeling
vulnerable to criticism.

A young Indian student committed suicide by

hanging herself after two boys posted obscene
comments about her on Facebook
(Jalandhar, 2012).

Seventh grader Rachel Ehmke killed herself after

what her parents said were months of abuse at her
Kasson, Minnesota, middle school. Several
days before she took her life, an anonymous text
message was sent out to other students at the school
calling her a slut who needed to be forced out of the
school (Thompson, 2012).

Megan began receiving nasty messages from a boy a

few weeks after she met him, via her MySpace
account. After many messages of kindness and
support she received one telling her the world would
be a better place without you.
Megan believed she had been rejected by the boy
and committed suicide in her home. However, the
boy never existed. He was an online character
created by Lori Drew, a 47 year-old married woman
and a mother herself, who lived four
houses down the street.

Theres been no conclusive research which suggests

that online education, such as MOOCs, or any
mobile learning device, is going to enhance and
transform the learning success of school, college and
university students. What we do know through
research is that the kinds of experiences the iPad,
laptop or desk top computers or any other piece of
educational technology offers is limited to
the innate ability of the user to use these tools and to
learn.

The formal use of technology

in education is undermining teaching and learning
processes and the quest for knowledge. There are
hundreds of essays written by high school seniors every
year for an international examining body, and there has
been an exponential increase in the copying and pasting of
information from websites especially Wikipedia
without any real understanding of content. Moreover,
theres also a reduced capacity for critical thinking and indepth analysis from graduating high school seniors across
the world.