Chapter 1-Introduction to Technology for Teaching and Learning

TECHNOLOGY FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING 1

Introduction to Technology for Teaching and Learning
What is technology?
 The application of scientific knowledge to make different operations/tasks easier,
convenient and more productive.
 Machinery and equipment developed from the application of scientific knowledge to
enhance output.
There are different types of technology. They are:
 mechanical technology,
 medical technology,
 communications technology,
 electronic technology,
 Industrial and manufacturing technologies.
 Educational Technology.
Technology assumes a core part of our day-to-day lives. We have made greater progress in terms
of technology in the past 5 years than in the last 2 decades. Due to its rapid progress in every
area, such as, healthcare, construction, banking, entertainment, and education and almost every
field of life.
Technology for teaching and learning
Technology for teaching and learning or educational technology has modernized the teaching
and learning processes with the inventions, such as
 computer-based teaching,
 interactive learning tools,
 audio-visual systems, and
 online learning resources.
Educational technology mainly aims to improve the learning process by replacing or
complimenting/approving the more traditional approaches with scientific and technological tools.
Technology has the potential to be a significant instrument for revolutionizing learning. It has
the potential to strengthen and develop connections between educators and students,
reimagine our approaches to learning and collaboration, close long-standing equity and
accessibility gaps, and customize learning experiences to fit the needs of all learners. Moreover,
Technology brings in underlying structural changes that can be critical in attaining large
productivity gains. Technology, which is used to assist both teaching and learning, fills
classrooms with digital learning tools such as computers and handheld devices; and extends
course options, experiences, and learning resources. Technology has the potential to change
education by bringing in a new paradigm of linked learning.
A. TECHNOLOGY CONCERNING TEACHING AND LEARNING
Technology for teaching and learning describes communication, information, and
technological tools used to enhance learning, teaching, and assessment. This may involve
computer-based learning or multimedia materials used to supplement in-class activities.
Learning technology tools include tutorials/lectures, simulations, productivity tools,
communication tools—such as email—and more. It also includes the range of digital tools and
media used for teaching and learning. Technology help students increase their self-responsibility,
can act as an extension of their individual and collaborative learning, and empower students to
take part in higher-order learning to understand how knowledge is used beyond the classroom.

The term "technology" is a major problem in many sectors, including education, in the twenty-
first century. This is due to the fact that technology has become the primary means of
information transfer in the majority of countries. Nowadays, technology integration has gone
through advancements and revolutionized our society, completely changing the way people
think, work, and live (Grabe, 2007). As part of this, schools and other educational institutions
that are ICT integration should be included in courses that are meant to educate students to live
in a “knowledge society.” curriculum (Ghavifekr, Afshari & Amla Salleh, 2012).
While, the aim of ICT integration is to improve and increase the quality, accessibility and cost-
efficiency of the delivery of instruction to students, it also refers to benefits from
networking the learning communities to face the challenges of current globalization (Albirini,
2006, p.6). The ICT adoption is not a one-time event, but rather a series of continuing and
continuous activities that completely support teaching and learning as well as information
resources (Young, 2003).
We need to understand that today there is really a need Technology for teaching and learning
in order to meet the demand for a world class education system that would fit for the new
millennium/age. In this case we need to
1. First recognize that we are agent of revolutionary change.
2. Second, we need tools to help us do things in a better and inexpensive manner.
3. Third, it is also important that we acquire knowledge and set of skills/competences on
the use and application of technology in teaching and learning. To better apply and
develop our capabilities in teaching and learning we also need to know that educational
technology.
It can be a subject to be studied and it can be used to study other subjects. Information is a
processed data and has meaning, and used for making decisions. Technology on the other
hand, came from the Latin word “techne” which means art, craft, skill.
According to Paul Saettler, a well-known historian of educational technology, “the world
technology does not necessarily imply the use of machines, as many seem to think, but refers to
any practical art using scientific knowledge.” When these two are combined what we have now
is the term information technology which is used in many fields such as business,
medicine, agriculture, and of course in education. It is the means by which science is used inthe
collection, storage, processing and movement of information in many fields like business,
medicine, agriculture, and of course education. It is the networking of computers that gave birth
to Information Technology (IT).
The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), defined
ICT as the range of technologies that are applied in the process of collecting, storing,
editing, retrieving and transfer of information in various forms (UNESCO, 2002).
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education is the mode of education that
use information and communications technology to support, enhance, and optimise the
delivery of information. Worldwide research has shown that ICT can lead to an improved
student learning and better teaching methods.
B. ROLES OF TECHNOLOGY IN TEACHING AND LEARNING
As teaching and learning go together, let us explore what would be the roles of technology for
teachers and teaching and for learners and learning. According to Stosic (2015), educational
technology has three domains:

1. Technology as a tutor. Together with the teacher, technology can support the teacher
to teach another person or technology when programmed by the teacher can be a tutor
on its own. The teacher will simply switch on or switch off radio programs, television
programs of play DVDs, or CDs that contain educational programs. There are online tutorial
educational programs, too.

2. Technology as teaching tool. Like tutor, technology is a teaching tool, but can never
replace a teacher. This is like a handyman, which is just there to be reached. Like any
other tool, it is being used to facilitate and lighten the work of the teacher. It will be good if the
teacher can also create or develop technology tools that are needed in the classroom.

3. Technology as a learning tool. While the teacher utilizes technology as the tool for
teaching, likewise it is an effective tool for learning. As a learning tool, it makes
learning easy and effective. It can produce learning outcomes that call for technology-
assisted teaching. Even teachers who are teaching can utilize similar tools for learning.
As a learning tool, it is very interesting that even the elderly uses these tools for learning
for life.

FOR TEACHERS AND TEACHING

There are numerous roles that technology plays in the job of teachers. As a tool, technology has
opened wider avenues in management of resources and management of learning. Likewise, it has
modernized the teaching-learning environment in schools. Here are some examples of the myriad
of roles that technology can do for teachers and teaching.

1. Technology provides enormous support to the teacher as the facilitator of learning.

It transforms a passive classroom to an active and interactive one, with audio- visual aids
and models, smart classrooms, e-learning classrooms which motivate and increase
attention level of learners. Many of these can be searched on the web.
2. Technology has modernized the teaching-learning environment. The teachers are
assisted and supplemented with appropriately structured instructional materials for
daily activities. There are varied available technology-driven resources which can be
utilized for remedial lesson or activities. Likewise, there are also a lot technology-
driven resources that can be used for enrichment purposes. You may search for
examples on the web.

3. Technology improves teaching-learning process and ways of teaching. This will

make the act of teaching more efficient and effective. There arrays of teaching methods
and strategies that can use technology which are found compatible with learning styles.
The multiple intelligence theory of Howard Gardner tells us that there is a genius in
every child. This implies that there must be varied ways of teaching as there are many
varied ways of learning. All the learning styles can find support from technology, so that
teaching will be more effective and efficient.
4. Technology adds to the competence of teachers and inculcates scientific outlook.
Through the utilization of theories of learning and intelligence, which are explained in
references uploaded in the net, the teachers are encouraged to imbibe skills to source
this information with speed and accuracy.
5. Technology supports teacher professional development. With the demand of
continuing professional development for teachers, the availability of technology
provides alternative way of attending professional development online. For those who
are involved as providers of continuing professional development like trainers, facilitators or
organizers, they can level up or enhance their delivery systems with the support of technology
tools.

FOR LEARNERS AND LEARNING

6. Support learners to learn how to learn on their own. All teachers fully understand that
subject matter or content is a means to achieve the learning outcomes. There are three
categories of knowledge according to Egbert (2009): declarative knowledge, structural
knowledge, and procedural knowledge.

• Declarative knowledge consists of the discrete pieces of information that answers

the questions what, who, when, and where. It is often learned through memorization
of facts, drills and practice. It can be learned by simple mnemonics or conceptual
maps. Declarative knowledge is the fundamental knowledge necessary for students
to achieve more complex higher order thinking such as critical thinking and creativity,
inquiry and production.

• Structural knowledge consists of facts or pieces of declarative knowledge put together to

attain some form of meaning. An example of declarative knowledge is "pencil". The idea that
evolved from a pencil is an understanding that: "it is something used to write." This is
referred to as structural knowledge. It can be presented by concept, maps, categorization or
classification.
• Procedural knowledge is knowledge in action or the knowledge of how to do something.
It is based on facts but learned through the process of procedural knowledge. Examples
include how to drive a car, how to use a cell phone, or how to speak English. Procedural
knowledge is indicated by a performance task or graphical representation of a concept.
The traditional sources of knowledge are printed books, modules and journals. Other sources are
primary sources such as information taken from research. However, knowledge or content can be
learned in many ways. But how can technology support the learning of declarative, structural or
procedural knowledge?
To teach content, time is always an issue of teachers. Oftentimes, we hear teachers say: "Too
many things to teach, too little time to do." Technology may be the answer; however,
the challenge is for teachers to use technology to learn the technology first. As a facilitator of
learning, the teacher can guide the students to look for the resources and to utilize them
appropriately. There are varied programs that can be used by students’ offline of online
for students. What should be necessary is that the students are engaged, the tasks should
focus on questions like how, why and which in addition to who, what, when and where.
7. Technology enhances learners' communication skills through social interactions. This is
commonly described as the transmittal of information from one person to another as single
individual or groups of individuals. According to Shirly (2003) in Egbert (2009), there are three
basic communication patterns:
• Point to point two-way or one-to-one like internet chat, phone conversation or even
face-to-face conversation.
• One-to-many outbound like a lecture or television. There is no social interaction.
• Many-to-many like group discussion, buzz session, heads together. This kind of interaction
provides opportunities for social interaction. Social interaction occurs in two ways where the
participants ask for clarification, argue, challenge each other and work towards common
understanding. Social interaction through communication occurs through technology (directly
between two persons via email, a cell phone or other communication technology). It can also
occur around technology like students discussing about a problem posed by a software program
or with support of technology like teachers and students interacting about the worksheet printed
from a website. In all the three modalities, communication occurs and technology is involved.
For this particular role, what are the benefits derived from technology supported
communication?
 Enables any teacher to guide the learners virtually and making learning unlimited
because communication and social interaction go beyond a school day or a school
environment.
 Enhances students' freedom to express and exchange ideas freely without the snooping
eyes of the teacher face to face.
 Enhances learners to construct meaning from joint experiences between the two or more
 Help learners to construct meaning from joint experiences between the two or more
participants in communication.
 Help learners to solve problems from multiple sources since there are limitless sources
of information that the teacher can direct or refer to learners.
 Teaches learners to communicate with politeness, taking turns in sending information
and giving appropriate feedback
 Enhances collaboration by using communication strategies with wider community and
individuals in a borderless learning environment.
 Develops critical thinking, problem solving and creativity throughout the
communication.
8. Technology upgrades learners' higher-order-thinking skills: critical
thinking, problem solving and creativity.
Twenty-first century learning requires the development of higher-order thinking skills.
Technology has a great role in the development and enhancement of these skills.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the simulation/imitation of human intelligence by computer systems and
other machines aimed at performing higher-level tasks that require human intelligence and are
normally performed by human beings.

Chapter 2
2. Theory and application of technology
Technology is continually changing the way we work and play, create and communicate. So it’s
accepted that advancements in digital technology are also creating game-changing opportunities
in the world of education.

For teachers, technology is opening up new possibilities to enrich and stimulate young minds.
Today, there is growing excitement around the potential for assistive technology,
 virtual and enlarged reality,
 high-tech collaboration tools,
 gamification, (Gamification combines playing and learning by utilizing gaming as an instructional tool)
 podcasting, (the practice of using the internet to make digital recordings of broadcasts available for downloading to a
computer or mobile device.)
 blogging,
 3D printing,
 artificial intelligence, (a virtual student advisory service)
 personalized learning (Personalized learning is an educational approach that aims to customize learning for
each student's strengths, needs, skills, and interests) and much more.
when we talk about “educational technology and its application the discussion can refer to both:
  The theory and practice of educational approaches to learning, as well as
 The technological tools that assist in the development and communication of knowledge
Educational technology focuses on the theory and practice of utilizing new technology to
develop and implement innovative educational approaches to learning and student achievement.
Behind all the high-tech tools, the digital bells and whistles, are the teachers who possess the
skill — and the inspiration — to use these new technologies to expand the educational universe
of their students.
Benefits for students include expanded opportunities for personalized learning, more
collaborative classrooms and new strategies such as so-called “flipped learning,” in which
students are introduced to the subject material outside the classroom (often online), with
classroom time then being used to develop understanding through discussion and problem-
solving activities with peers.
“We need technology in every classroom and in every student and teacher’s hand,” says
education technology pioneer David Warlick, “because it is the pen and paper of our time, and it
is the lens through which we experience much of our world.”
The best programs are structured to impart a comprehensive understanding of the tools used in
educational technology, the theories and practices, and critically important related issues
(budgeting, legal/ethical considerations, real-world partnership opportunities, educational equity,
etc.) that are essential for such technology-enhanced programs to deliver on their potential to
inspire student learning, achievement and creativity.
As in different institutions innovative, online Education program, is launching with a new
specialization. The program is designed to prepare teachers to become effective teaching
technology leaders and coaches, virtual educators and instructional innovators who embrace
technology-influenced teaching practices to empower student learning.
The program’s are fully online format — in which students learn from expert instructors who
possess deep experience in the field, while also interacting with fellow teachers from across the
country — enables busy education professionals to complete their degree while working full
time.