WHY TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION.. OR WHY SHOULD WE INCLUDE TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION OF OUR CHILDREN? By: WENDY C. PITALLANO

WHY TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION.. OR WHY SHOULD WE INCLUDE TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION OF OUR CHILDREN?

By: WENDY C. PITALLANO

     Nowadays, there have been a lot of controversies and issues whether integrating technology into the education of the children. Some says that students can learn without technology and others say that technology plays an important role in student’s learning. Technology is becoming a visible part of children’s lives.  There are reasons why technology became an integral part of learning of our children at present time.

Firstly is that technology can expand time and place. This is true that technology is available 24/7 or everyday. Compared to just a typical classroom teaching, students have access to their teacher for only 40 minutes in a day. And that information technology allows learning anywhere, anytime, not just in one particular carried on paper minutes a day. Second, students could have a depth of understanding or learning. Using interactive simulations and illustrations can produce much better depth of understanding of a concepts/ lessons. Example are the use of projectors that that the teacher can conduct onscreen demonstration/illustration of a certain concept for more easily than with words, voice and arm-waving. And students may access to the same tools over the web/internet that can broaden the ideas by experimenting with the simulations themselves, anytime and anywhere. Third, technology can allows students to learn independently rather than teaching them or pushing them to learn. Students can be given projects that require them to learn the necessary materials themselves. They could have the ability to get information/ learn anytime without the presence of the teacher. These makes learning more interesting for the student and there are lot of students nowadays that sometimes cannot wait to go out of their regular class to work on with the computers. Fourth, is that new media technology are becoming part of self-expression of students. Because in old days, students could write in a notebook and show it directly to the teacher but with the use of modern technology they can make powerpoint presentation, record/edit spoken words/videos, run a class newspapers, makes website and create blogs. Fifth, technology could allows students to be globally competitive and communicate around the world. And that could make sense to the development of personality of the students and improve their social attributes. Lastly, making use of new technologies paid lower cost. It can be less expensive than using so much papers, cartolina and manila paper. And there are lot of laptops, netbooks that can be bought in lower cost. 

Moreover, from classroom settings to home use, computers are now a part of how children learn, play, and communicate.   There is a clear mandate from the education community to question what technologies get made and how they are used with children. At the same time, technologists need to question what educational strategies their teaching tools promote.  Today there is an emphasis placed on learning models that support the active construction of knowledge and skills.  There has been a shift from educational environments which support the passive acquisition of isolated facts, to environments in which the learner actively explores the world and constructs their own internal models of understanding.  From an early age, children physically explore by building with blocks, digging in sandboxes, and drawing new ideas.  Activities such as these support the development of skills which include: creative problem-solving, collaborative learning, expressive design, and conceptual abstraction. 

But nevertheless, we must not forget that we should use technologies in a right way. We must be wiser and don’t let technology manipulate us, instead we are the one who should manipulate technologies.