New Technologies for Education

Now a days advances in technology are found useful in the field of Education. Microcomputers,
electronic mail, interactive video, laser disc, satellites and teleconferencing, internet are few examples of
the communication revolution which now challenges the field of Education.

Let us describe varied applications of the new technologies to school-based community education. At the
same time, we shall explain what these devices and system are, how they are advantageous, and what
impact they have on the field of Education.

COMPUTERS -

Computers are now being used as teaching aids to help individuals to learn. They serve to access
information for learning, as well as to promote the formation of new ideas.

With the use of new softwares (computer programs), students can be assisted in writing, graphing , idea
generating, word processing, and applying managerial principles to problem solving and research.

Computers can now be programmed to be interactive. Learners can proceed at their own pace, skip
ahead, or review. For the uneducated, nontraditional and reentry students, computers allow individual
learning in an environment where they can avoid embarrassment, track their own progress, and engage
in drill and practice until they are competent.

In computer-assisted instruction, student get a variety of responses by way of animation, graphic and
audio. Among areas surveyed to be beneficial to instruction are computer learning in mathematics,
computational skills, basic reading skills and general education.

Recent researches also show that computer, learning lend itself to positive attitudes toward learning, such
as by way of increased motivation and improved self esteem among learners.

On the part of the teacher, technology frees him from routine tasks so that he/she can give more time to
the less formal kinds of teaching and counseling.

HIGH TECH PERIPHERALS -

Specialized peripherals are electronic devises which can be attached to computers in order to expand the
computer's use. the use of peripherals has been helpful especially in the eduction of the blind,
handicapped and disabled learners.

The light pen, the joystick, the paddle, and the mouse are devices that give options to learners for
registering decisions on the screen and participating actively in the learning process.

The LANor local area network is a linking of computers to a base computer making it possible to share
software materials. Computers can also link several classes and send messages to everyone in the
system.

Large screen projection can produce computer displays, visible to hundreds of students, on a screen or
wall.

VIDEO -

The videodisc when linked with the computer can allow access to scenes or segments useful to
a topic being studied. The videodisc produces full - color pictures and a sound track. Text, graphics,
photos, slides and films can also be combined in a single medium.

Today commercially produced videotapes, video compact discs or vcd, dvd or Digital Video Disc
can be cheaply purchased. As a portable medium, the learner can bring instructional materials at home
or in classrooms. he or she can also sop, interrupt or review the videos as he/she sees fit.

OPTIONAL DATA STORAGE -

Optional data storage can house huge amounts of data at a relatively low cost. On a computer
disk (CD) you can have storage space for 250,000 pages of text, the equivalent of 500 books, instantly
searchable and reprintable at one-fiftieth the cost of printing.

TELECOMMUNICATION or TELECOMPUTING -

Telecommunication is the transmission and reception of messages over long distance. It allows
the transfer of the spoken and written word to anyone, anywhere, at any time. With the advent of fiber-
optic technology, current transmission capabilities consist in a billion bits of information per second. This
is equivalent to sending the Encyclopedia Britannica across the Atlantic ocean some six times a minute.

Teleconferencing is designed as a substitute for face-to-face meeting and travel. It can transmit
voices, at times images, and allows for instruction at off-campus locations.

Televised instruction for distance learning is also afforded by telecommunications. The British
Open University enrolls over 10,000 students in television courses. It, however, relies heavily on printed
material as well as on the use of mailed assignments and self administered tests to assess student
progress.

Telecomputing is the use of the classroom computer to search through data base information
sources and to get topic information. This has possibilities for instructional computing. Systems such as
videotext and videodata can facilitate the flow of two-way messages by using a video display, local
processing and a remote data base that is accessed through the telephone network.

Implication of the new technologies

The new technologies are radically changing the nature and configuration of adult education.
With computer information, educators are no longer the primary source of factual information. Changes
are therfore occuring in the methods and content of instruction, both supplementing and changing the
relationship between the teacher and the learner.

It is clear that the relatively large expenditures required to purchase some of the more advanced
communication technologies may well have the potential of broadening the gap between haves and have-
nots in society and throughout the world.

Still, the new technologies have freed many individuals to enjoy their leisure and to work at home
in a distraction-free environment. And in the future, most educational services are foreseen to be
delivered electronically by teleconferencing, cable and satellite television, computer networks and other
means yet to be discovered-provided educators learn how to use the media in congruence with principles
of community education.
Mouse

Mouse is most popular pointing device. It is a very famous cursor-control device having a small palm size
box with a round ball at its base which senses the movement of mouse and sends corresponding signals
to CPU when the mouse buttons are pressed.
Generally it has two buttons called left and right button and a wheel is present between the buttons.
Mouse can be used to control the position of cursor on screen, but it cannot be used to enter text into
the computer.

Advantages

 Easy to use

 Not very expensive

 Moves the cursor faster than the arrow keys of keyboard.

Joystick

Joystick is also a pointing device which is used to move cursor position on a monitor screen. It is a stick
having a spherical ball at its both lower and upper ends. The lower spherical ball moves in a socket. The
joystick can be moved in all four directions.
The function of joystick is similar to that of a mouse. It is mainly used in Computer Aided Designing(CAD)
and playing computer games.
Light Pen

Light pen is a pointing device which is similar to a pen. It is used to select a displayed menu item or draw
pictures on the monitor screen. It consists of a photocell and an optical system placed in a small tube.
When the tip of a light pen is moved over the monitor screen and pen button is pressed, its photocell
sensing element detects the screen location and sends the corresponding signal to the CPU.