Teaching with technology

“Technology has revolutionised the way we work and is now set to transform education. Children cannot be effective in tomorrow’s world if they are trained in yesterday’s skills” (Tony Blair, UK Prime Minister 1997)

Our vision for the future 

Technology all around the world is changing and developing at an extremely fast pace.  We now use various forms of technologies to do our daily tasks in new ways to save time, money and other constraints. We believe that schools over the next ten years will embrace the changes and developments in technologies, to create technology-infused schools. This page highlights the main ways in which we believe technology will change the ways classrooms operate and how students learn and interact.

1.      NEW TECHNOLOGIES USED IN ALL CLASSROOMS

Over the course of ten years, we predict that schools will make use of new technologies to engage and teach students in every classroom. These technologies would include interactive whiteboards, iPods, new media, web 2.0 tools, and Internet forms of publishing such as wikis, blogs and websites. We agree with teachers’ predictions that the future of technology will develop into a wholly wireless, connected world where students can easily gain access to information from other schools and around the world (Lynch 2003, pp3-4).

Teachers of subjects which are not usually associated with ICT such as mathematics and science would also find ways in which to integrate technologies into their lessons to engage students and assist in their learning. We foresee technologies being used in the majority of lessons, such that the focus is not on how to use the technology, but rather for the students to engage in the subject content through the use of the relevant technologies. For example, teachers could create a class wiki where students could collaborate online, and contribute to, edit and reflect on their peers’ work (DEMOS 2007).

2.      TEACHING AND LEARNING

The use of technologies in education will change the focus of student learning. BECTA suggests that student learning will become more independent, meaning that students will use technologies such as the Internet to research information for themselves (BECTA 2007). We also predict that technologies will allow for individualised learning, allowing teachers to pitch educational content at different levels. Activities could be “customised and individually paced to serve a variety of learner needs, where the student is less of a listener and more of a collaborator in the learning experience” (Chute, Thompson & Hancock 1999 in Inoue & Bell 2006 p236). We therefore predict that the role of the teacher will become more of a facilitator rather than solely the provider of information and instruction, and that teaching will become more ‘student-focused’ (BECTA 2007). DEMOS illustrates the point of student-directed learning through the suggestion that students should have the opportunity to create a ‘Creative Portfolio’, which can be shared with other people and allows students to have ownership of their work (DEMOS 2007).

3.      COMMUNICATION

We foresee changes occurring in communication due to the development and integration of technologies in education. Firstly, communication between teachers and students will become easier, quicker and more personal. Teachers could interact with their class over online discussion boards or messaging programs, provide students with online resources and homework information, and communicate with students via email. Secondly, teachers could also improve their communication with parents, by using email services to provide feedback to parents, answer questions and respond to queries about their children. Parents could also participate in their students’ education by logging on to the school site where they could access information on their child’s grades, work etc. Lastly, the integration of technology in schools would greatly improve the communication available between students and other members of society, through the Internet, web publishing, moblogging, radio broadcasting, podcasting etc.

4.      ACCESS

We believe that the problems faced in schools today with regards to access to technology will be eradicated in ten years time. Our vision for the future is for every child to be equipped with a laptop and for every school to have acceptable access to broadband Internet and other digital resources. Our page on issues discusses the problem of the digital divide between student access to technologies between private and public schools, and inequalities associated with gender, socio-economic status and location. Our image of the future includes equality for all students. Policy makers in the education system will have to collaborate with the Federal and State governments to ensure this image is fulfilled, and schools will have to take on the responsibility to deliver the policies effectively (DEMOS 2007).

5.      TECHNOLOGY-LITERATE TEACHERS

Teachers need to be trained in how to teach students critical thinking skills such as analysing and evaluating needed for working with technologies and the information obtained from them.

To achieve this scenario in the future, the following things need to start happening now! These essential standards are derived from the International Society for Technology in Education’s National Educational Technology Standards (2002)

Click to view the image

- Rebecca Manuel

References

Condie R. & Munro, B. 2007, Impact of ICT in School: A Landscape Review [Section 5] , Coventry, UK: BECTA, viewed 24 February 2008, <http://partners.becta.org.uk/page_documents/research/impact_ict_schools.pdf>

[DEMOS] Green, H. & Hannon, C. 2007, Their Space: Education for a digital generation [Chapter 5], Leicester, UK: DEMOS, viewed 24th February 2008, <http://www.demos.co.uk/files/Their%20space%20-%20web.pdf>.

Inoue Y & Bell S 2006, Teaching with Educational Technology in the 21^st century: The case of the Asia Pacific Region, Information Science Publishing, USA p236

International Society for Technology in Education 2002, National educational technology standards for teachers : preparing teachers to use technology, Published Eugene, OR. : The Society,

Leask and Pachler 1999, “Learning to teach using ICT in the secondary school”, New York : Routledge

Lynch, J. 2003, Two teachers imagine the future [unpublished document], Deakin University, Burwood, Australia.