Fernando Leigh
English
Composition and Rhetoric
Research Paper
The best method
for improving educational standards is to utilize every tool
available,
including state-of-the-art technology.
Computers and the Internet have
expanded the way
in which education can be delivered to the students of today.
Today's
networking technologies provide a valuable opportunity to the practice of
learning
techniques. Educators are discovering that computers and multi-based
educational tools
are facilitating learning and enhancing social
interaction. Computer
based
telecommunications can offer enormous instructional opportunities, but
educators will
need to adapt current lesson plan to incorporate this new medium into
all the
classrooms. The only problem is that
some of today's schools are hindered by
an under-powered
technology based curriculum and, in order to stay competitive, the
American
educational system must do a better job of integrating.
Computers have made a fundamental change
in most industries, providing a
competitive
advantage that has come to be essential to stay in business. Therefore,
education must
also use technology to improve the educational process instead of
simply applying it
to existing structures. School systems
often consider acquiring an
enterprise
computer network, but justify its purchase by applying it to routine
administrative
tasks, or take period by period attendance.
Although these tasks are
important, they only represent a small part of what
technology can do for an
educational
institution. Technology must go beyond
just keeping attendance, it must
focus on keeping
students interested and productive.
"Curriculum improvement is the
best strategy to
prevent dropouts; technology is especially useful in this regard"
(Kinnaman
78). Technology can provide a unique and
compelling curriculum
resource, that
challenges every student.
The Clinton
administration has taken steps towards improving educational
standards via its
"Goals 2000: Educate America Act of 1994" (Thornburg 23).
However, several
interpretations of the Act never mention the use of technology.
Advocates of the
Act need to realize that Internet linked computers can provide more
current
information than what is found in today's "exciting" textbooks. For example,
science textbooks
and history textbooks are notoriously out of date. In contrast, the
Internet offers
students a vast pool of current scientific data. Most of the time the
Internet makes
learning fun, unlike the plain fashion of the "almighty"
textbook.
Computers and
other technology can also heighten the learning process by actively
engaging students
in the task of exploring data. Some
students may be tempted to
simply download
information from the Internet that does not have anything to do with a
particular
subject that they were asked to research.
This shows that the Internet may
have a greater
impact to education than to learn that information from a typical
textbook.
Since computers
and the Internet have expanded the way with which education
can be delivered
to students, it is currently possible to engage in distance education on
specialized
subject and fields through the Internet.
Distance education involves audio-
video linkage of
teachers to many students and even in remote areas. Video
conferencing
allows groups to communicate with each other.
Desktop video
conferencing
promises to bring student together from geographic and cultural distances
face to face via
computer. Students in New York City will
be able to learn about a
Chinese culture,
not only through books, but also from Chinese students. Not only will
the teacher talk
to the students but the students will be able to interact with each other.
This will make
the students more interested and fascinated with learning about another
culture.
Not only does the
Internet, and video conferencing help education, also
Microsoft has
created new programs for designed for educational purposes, Some of
these are
"Encarta World Atlas" and "Encarta Encyclopedia." "These two particular
programs make
learning easier and more enjoyable, all because of the use of the CD-
ROM device"
(Keen 100). Instead of looking for a particular
country and simply
finding out where
it is in a regular atlas, students can type in the name of that country,
and not only will
they find out where it is faster, but they will obtain more information
about that
particular country. Instead of having
volumes and volumes of heavy
encyclopedias,
Microsoft has place all of these massive books into one light CD. This
CD is much
simpler than the unpleasant job of flipping page by page just to read about
an uninteresting
topic, such as history. But, with the
use of this CD, not only do you
receive regular
information, but you may also view videos about certain people and
battles. This makes education an enjoyable task. With "Microsoft Works" student
will be able to
cut and paste their way to make interesting multimedia research
documents. Writing reports on a type-writer was a
displeasing way to write term
papers especially
if that student runs out of white-out.
This computer program offers a
spell-check,
thesaurus, and other helpful features which make writing that term paper
easier. These particular programs by Microsoft are
only a few of the educational
programs
available to students.
"The
successful use of technology in a few classrooms is not enough, because
developing a
successful technology using school requires careful planning and must be
a school wide
priority with broad support from the community" (Dyril & Kinnaman
48). The traditional top-down, uniform
distribution approach is almost never the best
way because it
limits innovation and development fails to provide equity and does not
reflect the
characteristics of the school community.
Most educational boards should be
open to any new
idea that technology has to offer. It
would not be fair for a student in
a particular city
to get a better education than another student in a another city.
Technology is not
meant to replace teachers, it is there only to serve students to make
tedious tasks
easier. Therefore, this technology
should be offered to every student
trying to get
ahead of the competition. In doing this,
it not only needs the support of
teachers, but it
also requires support from communities.
If technology in schools
receives the
support from entire communities, students in any area would be able to
keep up with the
competition.
Some of today's
schools are hindered by an under-powered technology based
curriculum and,
in order to stay competitive, the American educational system must do
a better job of
integrating. Teachers must take a
leadership position in designing and
implementing a
technology powered classroom curriculum, investing time and energy
to become
familiar with available resources. The
faculty at most schools should create
a set of
individual goals, including developing basic skills, defining core content and
thinking
creatively and clearly. Technology
enriches curriculum by increasing the
value and power
of traditional classroom techniques within the boundaries of school
structure and schedules. Technology can also improve writing with the
use of new
word processing
programs that provide easy to use tools that are not normally available
in the
classroom. Technology is able to help
students in a variety of ways. By making
learning more
enjoyable and less tedious, student will want to learn and will not see
education as such
a difficult responsibility.
Works Cited
Dyril,
Odvard. "Technology in Education:
Getting the Upper Hand." Technology
& Leaning. January 1995.
Vol. 15, pp. 38-46
Holzberg,
Carol. "Technology in Special
Education." Technology &
Learning.
February 1995. Vol. 15, pp.18-23
Keen, Peter. "Network Computers: Do it for the
Children." Computerworld.
16 December 1996. Vol.30, pp. 100
Kinnaman,
Daniel. "Taking Attendance is not
the Goal." Technology &
Learning.
October 1995. Vol. 16, pp. 78
Mehlinger,
Howard. "Technology Takeover
Attenuated" Education Digest. May 1996.
Vol. 61, pp.
25-29
Thornburg, David.
"An Active Agreement."
Electronic Learning. October 1994. Vol.14,
Vol. 14, pp. 22-24
Leigh 1
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