CHAPTER 3

IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATIONAL
TECHNOLOGY

Technology is the need of the day. Every technological reform is a small step towards
advancement. Every Invention in technology is a step towards the progress of mankind.

Centuries ago, people never thought of working on a computer. Generations of the past would
have hardly imagined being able to communicate with people on the other side of be globe. But
there were some intelligent minds who dared to dream of revolutionary discoveries that they
made the "impossibles” possible.

Benefits of Technology in Education

• Instructional Effectiveness

One benefit of multimedia instruction can be an increase in student achievement. Students appear
to be much interested when more senses are involved in lesson presentation and activities. They
learn more when they see and read, hear and experience exercises designed for them.

• Active Learning

Interactive technologies supply stimulating environments that encourage student involvement in

the learning process. Students enjoy playing games, solving problems, and working interactively
with computer lessons, modules, and practice exercises

• Critical Thinking

The structure and use of technology can promote higher level thinking skills. The learner-
participants are assisted to remember, understand, apply, synthesize, evaluate and create.
Technology can design exercises to enrich their thinking skills, making decisions, and testing the
credibility of such decisions through reflective and reasonable thinking

• Cooperative Learning

Well-structured cooperative learning activities can foster "the development of leadership

abilities, teamwork, and improved self-esteem". These conditions will uplift the ego of the slow
learners and give a sense of achievement among the bright one through helping others improve
their learning.

• Communication Skills

Communication skills can be enhanced by using technology in small groups and by integrating
telecommunications into the curriculum. Exposure to correct pronunciation, diction, and
enunciation will encourage the students to emulate what they hear. Exposure to good and correct
grammar will enable them to get used to speaking and proper communication.

• Multisensory Delivery

Technology supplies information through multiple sensory channels, allowing the students with
various learning styles to assimilate and apply knowledge. As the experts say, the more senses
are involved, the better the assimilation of knowledge and learning

• Multicultural Education

Telecommunications make it possible to expand classroom "walls" and link students and
teachers in national and international exchanges.

Importance of Technology in Schools

Researchers gave account of why technology is important in schools. Studies have shown the
following results:

 Children conversant with technology show improvements in their writing, reading and
math skills.
 Technology has also contributed to the decrease in drop out rates, improvement in student
attendance and enhancement in their learning abilities.
 Technology in school benefits the children during their higher education. It lays a strong
foundation of the successful professional life of an individual.
 Computers can offer livelier explanations of various subjects. The Internet is an ocean of
information, which can be harnessed for the rendition of information in school.
 The inclusion of technology in the process of learning makes learning an enjoyable
activity, thus inviting greater interest from the kids.
 The knowledge from all around the world can be better brought about for the children
and can be better assimilated by them.
 The administration processes, the official procedures of school can be simplified by
means of technology. School records, the information about all the students and the
teachers and also other school employees can efficiently be maintained by means of the
advanced technology.
 The data pertaining to the school employees and students can effectively be stored in a
school database.
 The school could have a library system, which, by the utilization of technology, can be
maintained in an efficient manner.
 On similar line, the attendance records of the pupils and teachers can be maintained by
means of a student database.
 Moreover, the school can host a website of its own, holding information about the school.
The introduction of technology in schools can thus result in a decreased use of paper and
in bringing most of the school office work in an e-format.

Thus, we see that technology not only benefits the students but also eases the
administrative work in schools. It makes possible, a more effective way of storage and
distribution of information. The realization of the importance of technology in schools and its
successful implementation is a necessity. (http://www.buzzle.com/articles/importanceof-
technology-in-schools.html)

Importance of Educational Technology in Learning

Technology can be the delivery vehicles for instructional lessons or in a constructivist

way as partners in the learning process. Technology helps the learner build more personal
interpretations of life in her/his world. It makes the learner gather, think, analyze, synthesize
information and construct meaning with what technology presents.

1. Technology provides important tools to support knowledge construction for presenting

learners' ideas, understandings and beliefs and for producing organized, multimedia
knowledge bases for learners. Manuals and workbooks are important materials in adding
knowledge to the existing information of the learners. Using technology materials can be
presented in different media like transparencies, slides, posters, diorama and storyboard.

2. Technology serves as information vehicles for exploring knowledge to support learning-

by-constructing. Example: Technology is used for accessing needed information Books as
technology are used for research and resources for answering questions. Internet also
provides good source of knowledge among the learners.

3. Technology is important when used for comparing perspectives, beliefs and world views.
Example: Newspaper as technology provides information on the current issues and events
happening around the world. The internet provides a rich pool of data which enables the
learner to compare events, materials, and beliefs. Books as technology also give information
about differences of insects, plants, and animals and other information.

Technology as context is important to support learning by doing as:

1. Representing and simulating meaningful real-world problems, situations and contexts.

Technology provides varied materials that cater to the different senses that are stimulated by
the activities and technology used to better understand the lesson. Example is using real
object like texture of different barks of trees to develop the concept of rough and smooth.
Smell of wood can also be taken up along with the varied colors of wood. Hard and soft
wood can also be tried by using some carving materials.

2. Representing beliefs, perspectives, arguments, and stories of others. Technology in the

form of documentation and picture taking can show some religious beliefs like the conduct of
baptism, wedding, fiestas, and processions. Religious beliefs of different sects use their
respective bibles as basis for their arguments. Books, magazines, and other literary features
in newspapers reveal stories of others about events in family life. -Engaging in doing the
above mentioned activities with the use of technology truly represents the beliefs,
perspectives, arguments, and stories illustrate technology as context.

3. Defining safe, controllable problem space for student thinking. Students can be given
exercises about thinking critically. Critical thinking is the reflective reasonable thing focused
on what one believes and does. When confronted with problems, the technology related to
thinking skills are used by the learners to find the reasonable solution by analyzing,
synthesizing, and evaluating to come up with a judgment.

Technology as a social medium is important to support learning by conversing through:

1. Collaborating with others. Example: Young students listen to political candidates'

plans after election and collaborate with other voters in analyzing who is the best candidate
to be chosen.

2. Discussing, arguing, and building consensus among members of the community.

Students can form health brigade and discuss with community people how to observe
cleanliness and healthy upkeep of surroundings to prevent diseases like dengue, typhoid
fever, cholera, and other diseases. They can argue on wrong practices in the use of leisure
time like gambling, drinking wine, and the use of drugs through positive reminders and
posters showing the after-effect of these vices.

3. Supporting discourse among knowledge building communities: Example: Students can

initiate activities like putting up a community vegetable garden through sessions on what,
why, and how in gardening. Students can discuss the food value of the vegetables and the
proper preparation and cooking of the vegetables.
Technology as an intellectual partner through:

1. Helping learners to articulate and represent what they know reflecting on what they have
learned and how they come to know it.

Example: Students can be asked to write reflective journals about the teacher's performance
by jotting down the objectives of the lesson for the week, the strategies used by the teacher,
and the evaluation applied by the teacher. In this exercise, the teacher will become aware of
how the lesson was delivered.

2. Supporting learners' internal negotiations and meaning making.

Example: The student can be led to a dialogical thinking exercise where two sides will be
given like who is more intelligent, the girls or the boys. The students will be asked to
enumerate why the girls are more intelligent. After having exhausted all the reasons, there
will be a change of ideas to be defended like the boys are more intelligent. After looking at
the two sides, then the students will be asked to select the premise which was defended well.
The teacher will then provide the answer supported by psychological theory and principle
about the role of environment and heredity on intelligence.

3. Constructing personal representations of meaning for supporting mindful thinking.

Example: The students will be asked to answer this question" If you are a communication
gadget, "what would you be?" A student may select a microphone and tell the reason for
selecting it. "So that the thoughts could be heard by listeners who are far from the speaker."
Another will select a radio, and would reason out that many news could be relayed to others.
The last student will select a television, so that the news relayed can also be seen by the
viewers. This exercise will promote mindful thinking to support personal representations.

Research indicates that technology, when used effectively, whether from the traditional
or constructivist point of view, and when used effectively, "increases students' learning,
understanding, and achievement but also augments, motivation to learn. encourages
collaborative learning and supports the development of critical thinking and problem-solving
skills" (Shacter and Fagnano, 1999).