UNIT 3

Importance of Educational Technology

Many of today’s high-demand jobs were created in the last decade, according to the
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). As advances in technology drive globalization
and digital transformation, teachers can help students acquire the necessary skills to succeed in the
careers of the future.
The effective use of digital learning tools in classrooms can increase student engagement, help
teachers improve their lesson plans, and facilitate personalized learning. It also helps students build
essential 21st-century skills. Virtual classrooms, video, augmented reality (AR), robots, and other
technology tools can not only make class more lively, they can also create more inclusive learning
environments that foster collaboration and inquisitiveness and enable teachers to collect data on
student performance.
Still, it’s important to note that technology is a tool used in education and not an end in itself.
The promise of educational technology lies in what educators do with it and how it is used to best
support their students’ needs.

Benefits of Educational Technology

1. Instructional Effectiveness
-One benefits 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.
2. Active Learning
-Interactive technology supply stimulating environment that encourage student involvement in
the learning process.
3. 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.
4. Cooperative Learning
-Well- structured cooperative learning activities can foster the development of leadership
abilities, teamwork, and improved self- esteem.
5. Communication Skills
 -Communication skills can be enhanced by using technology in small group discussion and by
integrating telecommunications into the curriculum. Exposure to correct diction, pronunciation, and
enunciation will encourage the students to emulate what they hear.
6. Multisensory Delivery
-Technology supplies information through multiple sensory channels, allowing the students with
various learning styles to assimilate and apply knowledge.
7. 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

1. Children conversant with technology show improvements in their writing , reading and Math skills.
2. Technology has also contributed to the decrease in drop out rates, improvement in student
attendance and enhancement in their learning abilities.
3. Technology in school benefits the children during their higher education.
4. Computer can offer livelier explanations of various objects.
5. The inclusion of technology in the process of learning makes learning an enjoyable activity, thus
inviting greater interest from the kids.
6. The knowledge from all around the world can be better brought about for the children and can be
better assimilated by them.
7. The administration processes, the official procedures of school can be simplified by means of
technology.
8. The data processing is the school employees and students can effectively be stored in a school
database.
9. The school could have a library system which by utilization of technology, can be maintained in an
efficient manner.
10. On similar line, the attendance records of the pupils and teachers can be maintained by means of
student database.
11. The school can host a website of its own, holding information about the school.

Importance of Educational Technology in Learning

1. Technology provides important tools to support knowledge construction for presenting learners’
ideas, understanding and beliefs and for producing organized multimedia knowledge bases for learners.
2. Technology serves as information vehicles for exploring knowledge to support learning- by-
constructing.
3. Technology is important when used for comparing perspectives, beliefs and world views.
Technology as context is important to support learning by doing as:
1. Representing and stimulating meaningful real- world problems, situations and contexts.
2. Representing beliefs, perspectives, arguments, and stories or others.
3. Defining safe, controllable problem space for student thinking.

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

1. Collaborating with others.
2. Discussing, arguing, and building consensus among members of the community.
3. Supporting discourse among knowledge building community.

Technology as an intellectual partner through:

1. Helping learners to articulate and represent what they reflecting on what they have learned and how
they come to know it.
2. Supporting learners’ internal negotiations and meaning making.
3. Constructing personal representation of meaning for supporting mindful thinking.

Enrichment Activity

I- Activity 3

Direction: Show the many importance of Educational Technology through images. Indicate or describe the
image.

Image Description
II- Think about It

Direction: Discuss the importance of technology in facilitating teaching and learning. Include basis to
establish the importance.

“Educational Technology At Its Best! “

III- Assess

Direction: Read and answer the following questions carefully.

1. Discuss the disparity in educational technology advancement in schools of industrialized First World
country (such as the U.S., England, Japan, Singapore, Australia) and a developing country, namely the
Philippines.

2. Given the lack of resources in our rural areas in the Philippines, what media can still be used for effective
learning in schools? (clue: traditional media)

3. Computer shops are pervasive around schools, but these are mainly used for playing games. Without
judging on the possibly dehumanizing effects of excessive computer game habits, how can a learner best
use computer resources as they may be available in schools or at home?