A Closer Look on Technology integrated in Education

         Due to the unquenchable emergence of gadgets and other instructional media, the different educational institutions have made their steps also in achieving this call for progress among the students through the use of technology. According to the book Educational Technology 2, it has been mentioned that the effectiveness of the book wanes in comparison with the visual images school children have become become used to after the advent of television, video and computer gaming. Moreover, surveys have shown its effectiveness in terms of  mental concentration, memory retention and closer-to-life experiential learning. 

          In order for me to search more about the integration of technology on education to the foreign country, I made my online interview with Fr. Julius Yasinto, SVD, MA, MSc., Rector of the Catholic University of Widya Mandira, Kupang, Indonesia. 

My letter was stated this way:

October 12, 2013

FR. JULIUS YASINTO, SVD, MA, MSc

Rector

Catholic University of Widya Mandira

Praised be Jesus and Mary!

I am a student enrolled at St. Mary's College of Tagum, Inc. at Tagum City, Davao del Norte, Philippines. I received your name from S. Grace Casianan, CM, and I would be most grateful if I could get more information from you on your institution.

We, the fourth year Education students, taking up Educational Technology-2 subject, are currently at the brink of widening our understanding on how technology helps the learning of the students especially on the learners in your institution. Thus, I would like to ask you the following questions:

1. How is technology being integrated in your education system?

2. What are the facilities of your school that are related to the use of technology?

3. Do these facilities maximize the level of participation and performance of the students? In what aspect?

Your immediate response would be a great help for me to accomplish my report on the integration of technology on the educative process of foreign learners.

May the enlightening light of the Holy Spirit shine upon you.

Most respectfully yours,

MARY JASTINE S. TORREON

Student

St. Mary's College of Tagum, Inc.

      I was fortunate that Fr. Julius Yasinto, SVD, MA, MSc. immediately responded to my queries but for the reason that he was out of town, he answered all my questions through sending it to S. Grace Casianan, CM, a Carmelite Missionary who helped me to coordinate with Fr. Julius.

1.How is technology being integrated in your education system?

First, it is integrated through Digital Admission System, Academic and Student Computerized Data Maintenance, Financial and Facility Computerized System, Digital Library and University Website. Second, it is integrated into Audio - Visual teaching facilities.

2. What are the facilities of your school that are related to the use of technology?

The facilities are: audio-visual instruments in class rooms and meeting rooms, wireless and cable internet connection, computers labs and digital language labs.

3. Do these facilities maximize the level of participation and performance of the students? In what aspect?

Yes, these facilities maximize the level of participation and performance of the students. For instance, power point presentations increase the attention and participation of the students during lectures. Digital admissions system helped prospective students to apply online, online registration shorten registration process.

As you can observe, their school has never been left behind in terms of the instructional media used in their educative process. They are even more advanced compared to other schools here in the Philippines. I could see that their facilities really gives every student an opportunity to enhance their learning through technology. As a future professional teacher, if those facilities would also be present in every school in the country, I believe that there will be no longer students left educationally incompetent.

Moreover, in my field of specialization which is English, the facilities mentioned above like the digital language laboratories and audio-visual instruments available in every classroom, will be an assurance that the learners will be proficient in different macro skills including the listening, speaking, reading and writing.

In a nutshell, when technology is integrated in the school's educational system, it would give the students an avenue to participate more actively and creatively. With that, it would surely heighten up the students' learnings and experiences.

The Blasting Blow of Edtech2 on Finals

“It is important to remember that educational software, like textbooks, is only one tool in the learning process. Neither can be a substitute for well-trained teachers, leadership, and parental involvement.” – Keith Krueger 

           As we discussed Understanding Hypermedia, I was able to inculcate in my my mind that the presentation of information-learning activities in hypermedia is said to be sequenced in a non-linear manner, meaning that the learner may follow his path of activities thus providing an environment of learner autonomy and thinking skills. With this lesson, I learned that as a future professional educator, you must give the students the chance to work on their for they might be learning more using their own ideas and depending also on their ability and motivation. 

             The main role of the teacher within the classroom is a facilitator of learning. Thus, it is very important also that the teacher herself must be able to give time to render advises, instructions and be able to answer possible questions that the students may raise. Proper supervision from the teacher must be given to the students who are learning through hypermedia so that they will be even more guided on their progress in their educative process. 

           Moreover, I must be a proponent of different activities that would make the learners learn more effectively. I must inculcate through them the competencies that relate to learning concentration, lasting memory recall and higher visual literacy.

Technology Roars During Midterm

      

          Probably the most challenging part for a teacher is on how to make the students have longer memory span and keep them interested throughout the lesson. During the first half of the semester, I was able to distinguish the difference between a traditional classroom from a Student-centered one. When I heard this, I never thought any deeper for I was able to conceptualize it from the context itself. However, as we go through to our discussion in EdTech2, I realized that as a teacher of today's generation, you must be flexible enough in dealing with your students. As it has been discussed, traditional classroom, it may be observed that the classrooms are usually arranged with neat columns and rows of student chairs, while the teacher stands in front of the classroom or sits behind his/her desk. this situation is necessitated by the need to maintain classroom discipline and also to allow the teacher to control classroom activities through lecture presentation and teacher-led discussions. On the other hand, Student-Centered classroom is the teacher would let the students work after giving the students a series of instruction. As you can observe, there is a great disparity between the the two classrooms. The latter one renders an opportunity to the students to become more active  learners, who can interact with other learners, demonstrating independence and self-awareness in the learning process.

            As a pre-service teacher, this topic did struck me during the length of  the Midterm of this semester. I believe that knowing this topic along with the other topics in Edtech would hone my teaching skills towards my students. With this lesson, I was challenged to think more activities that indulges technology on the future lessons that I will be teaching to my students. 

Expectation Beyond Technology

Peter Blake once said, "New technology is common, new thinking is rare".

     Presenting reports through powerpoint with moving letters, pictures and other images, easier way of getting information to a particular lesson and giving emphasis in a magnified view are just some of the trends that the educators of today's generation are using inside the four-cornered classroom. Moreover, these are the bearings that the learners are exposed with. The above mentioned highlighted the disparity from yesteryear's ways of teaching in which, the students were befriended with their textbooks from the beginning to the end of the school year and circling around only on paper-pencil tests. As a facilitator and administrator of learning, I , more than anyone else should be well-rounded to the holistic development of the students especially in their academic standings through moving some steps forward in dealing with technology as a tool to improve their competencies without of course looking behind the contributions and  ideas of the traditional way of teaching. Upon taking EdTech2 as one of my subjects, I'm pretty sure enough that it will talk about computers, gadgets and other tools as a helping instrument in the field of teaching. However, instead of letting my mind be bounded with the common views about technology, I moved beyond its context to give rise  to the thought that it will be a spring board for the learners to 'level-up' their capacity to learn. With this subject, it will help me find for some resources to boost the students' interest to learn and resort to the application and longer sustainability oftheir learning. 

     It is an inevitable thought that we need technology in every classroom,in every student and teacher's hand, because it is the pen and paper of our time, and it is the lens through which we experience much of our world that will unfold innovative thinking throughout all walks of life. #