The contribution of educational technologies in enlarging social-cultural skills of general school pupils Contents Introduction

How Technology can be used to Improve Learning

The following are ways that technology could be better leveraged to improve learning:  

• 
  With the widespread availability of student databases that are able to track individual progress, teachers are encouraged to identify learning objectives and differentiate instruction based on the needs of their students.
  
• 
  Whenever teachers attempt to present instruction using technology, they should do so using a channel that is relevant to the objectives, the learning style, mode and the technology selected.
  
• 
  When evaluating technology-based instruction, there needs to be appropriate evaluation techniques that are in line with the methods of instruction, objectives and the technology.
  
• 
  Teachers can design follow-up activities when using technology to evaluate students’ learning and the role technology played in that process.
  

“The elements of vision of the school and pedagogical collaboration and sharing of expertise and development practices (in practices of the teaching community) are based on the studies presented here. There are countless reasons why technology is a key aspect of learning in the schools. Whether we like it or not, technology is everywhere; and in order for our students to survive in post-secondary education and the business world, they must know technology.”
To narrow it down, we came up with 10 reasons for the importance of technology in education:

1. 
   Students demand it.
   

Students are engaging with technology constantly outside of the classroom. Kids like to be interactive, and learning through technology has now become a part of their lifestyle.

2. 
   New teachers are demanding it. 
   

The technology movement has been implemented in post-secondary education as well as other professional jobs. For new teachers, technology is considered a necessity for the learning environment.

3. 
   Kids are the digital native.
   

Kids know technology better than most adults. It has become the easiest way they learn, because it is such an integral part of their life. Engaging with technology in the classroom has not only helped them learn better, but they also acquire multi-tasking skills. At this day in age, they hardly know how to learn without it. This knowledge is important, because they would be way behind in the real world without it.

4. 
   Kids can learn at their own pace.
   

We know from years of experience that kids learn at their own pace, but sometimes the traditional classroom makes it difficult to do so. With the integration of technology in education, children have the ability to slow down and go back over lessons and concepts, and more advanced kids can go ahead. It also frees up the teacher to help kids on a more one-on-one level.

5. 
   With technology, there are no limitations. 
   

Having access to other information outside of the book gives students many different ways to learn a concept. Teachers can come up with creative ways to teach their students that keeps them engaged. Technology has changed the learning environment so that learning is more hands-on. Schools throughout the nation are diverse in income, and often kids don’t always get the resources they need. The implementation of technology in schools helps close that gap.

6. 
   Technology has the ability to enhance relationships between teachers and students.
   When teachers effectively integrate technology into subject areas, teachers grow into roles of adviser, content expert, and coach. Technology helps make teaching and learning more meaningful and fun. Students are also able to collaborate with their own classmates through technological applications.
   
7. 
   Testing has gone online
   

One protocol that schools don’t have control over, but must adapt to, is online testing. Testing online is the way of the future, but it has a lot of advantages. Assessing students’ performance can be done instantly with technology. Beyond seeing test scores in real-time, teachers can better track and understand students’ grasp of the subject.

8. 
   Multitude of resources 
   

Computers, tablets, and other forms of technology bring multiple resources for the teacher that’s not in the book. They not only keep students engaged with exciting new features and apps, but also have other ways to teach students material. Every kid learns differently, and technology helps with this gap as well.

9. 
   Technology keeps kids engaged.
   

The students of this generation are considered technological learners. They learn best being more interactive, and technology is what helps them do that. Children often struggle to stay on task or interested, and with resources to help the teacher, they can better stay focused and learn faster.

10. 
    Technology is necessary to succeed outside of primary and secondary education
    Whether we like it or not, technology is an essential concept to learn. Because it changes so quickly, children are better off learning about it sooner. It is a primary part of every industry, and there is no way
    

1.2 Enlarging pupils' social-culture skills

“Educational Technology has absolutely revolutionized the entire education system. Until recently, the teachers used to be the sole interpreter of knowledge to the learners and the textbooks the sole resource. Educational technology has affected the conventional roles and it has opened up the new areas of teacher functions such as management of resources and management of learning. Today, teachers have a range of media to assist and supplement the instructional work.”³
Teachers can even specify the learning intentions, select the topic, identify the stimulus situation, determine media, manage teaching and finally conduct evaluation and modify the instructions in the light of evaluation results.
Educational process can’t proceed systematically without the help of educational technology. Every aspect of educational system is fully enlightened with educational technology.
1. Educational technology has provided a scientific base to the educational theory and practice. It has transformed a passive classroom to an active and interactive classroom, with audio-visuals, charts and models, smart classrooms and e-learning room which has drastically motivated and increased the attention level of the students.
2. The introduction of educational technology has modernised the teaching-learning climate of the educational institutions. The learners to be exposed to professionally designed programmes on video or computers.
3. Educational technology has helped and supplemented the teachers in their instructional programmes through the structured lessons for remedial, enrichment or drill purposes. The learners get training for self instruction and teachers are relieved of the burden of routine repetition for exercise and revision purposes.
4. Through a systematic organisation of content and instructional materials, educational technology has provided well-integrated structured materials for teachers thus saving a lot of their time which in turn may be utilized for creative work and quality improvement.
5. The training and use of educational technology contributes towards the professional growth of teachers. It equips them in the use of scientific methods for solving educational and administrative problems. It adds to the teaching competence of teachers and inculcates a scientific outlook and scientific temper in teachers and students.
6. Educational technology has improved the teaching-learning process and made it more effective and process oriented. Television, Radio, V.C.R, Computers and LCD projectors etc. have enriched and facilitated effective transmission of knowledge.
7. Educational technology has not only maintained the standards of education but also improved the ways of teaching by giving it Teaching Aids and Programmed Instructional Material.
8. Mechanism of feedback devices for modification of teaching-learning behaviour have produced effective teachers in the teacher-training institutes.
9. Students who appear for higher or competitive examinations have been benefitted by educational programmes on T.V, Radio and Internet.
10. Educational technology has opened up new fields of educational researches in the field of examination process, evaluation and classroom-teaching.
11. Educational technology has provided practices and strategies that help teachers to teach according to individual differences of learners.
12. Educational technology has provided scientific foundation to education through the theories of learning and intelligence.
Thus educational technology is required in each and every aspect of teaching learning process. Educational technology serves all the purposes for modern education. Education today can’t go far without the help of educational technology. The innovations of technology in the field of education have done wonders to educational process. It has not only maintained the structure but also improved the nature of the educational process.
The expectations about rapid acceptance and implementation of digital technology into educational practices have not been fulfilled, although some promising results indicate the connection between new pedagogical practices (= less teacher-centred) and the use of digital technology. In schools, technology is often still used for prevailing teaching methods, such as information sharing, or doing simple exercises, rather than for promoting collaborative or creative activities, solving complex problems or improving students’ digital competence.
Two alternative explanations for transforming educational practices associated with ICT have been suggested that the first is a ‘slow revolution’ and support for existing practices, in which small changes accumulate over time and create a slow-motion transformation towards new ways of working. Only routines are replaced, and no changes are made in learning content or pedagogical practices. This explanation is anchored to the notion of a time lag between the invention of new technology, the adoption of innovations and the slow spread of its virtues through the general population. According to this explanation, the adoption of technology is an inevitable result which will come about anyway. The second explanation, ‘active transformation’ tries to account for the sustaining of teacher-centred practices: teachers and school make plans and decide how technology should be implemented in how best to answer to the specific challenges the school has. The curriculum content and/or processes will be changed, and these are changes that could not have taken place without digital technology.
“There is a large body of studies about how digital technology has been implemented in education; e.g. what resources schools, teachers and students have; how much digital technology is used in classrooms; and what practices digital technology is used for . First, it is essential that teachers and students have the opportunity to learn to use digital technology, and second, that they have meaningful and necessary resources to use it. Teachers’ digital competence, related to pedagogical understanding of using technology in education, is the corner stone of supporting students’ digital competence. The elements of pedagogical practices and digital resources are based on the studies presented here.”
Those theoretical approaches emphasising learning as collaborative knowledge creation ) have strongly influenced our views concerning the pedagogical development in schools through digital technologies. According to these approaches, teaching should primarily promote knowledge innovation and collective advancement of shared knowledge products. Arguments for these approaches are the requirement to promote adaptive expertise, collaboration skills and capabilities to work creatively with knowledge, which are the competencies needed in education, working life and society in general. Recent discussions concerning the learning of ‘21st Century Skills’ have similarities with these ideas: school learning should focus more on supporting the development of the relevant competencies that are needed to cope with the challenges of the unknown future, instead of concentrating on content learning and routine tasks
Features of pedagogical practices representing the collaborative knowledge creation approach include learners’ engagement, goal-oriented production of knowledge objects for relevant purpose, collective efforts and resources and versatile use of modern technologies. The role of technological applications in such practices is often to provide flexible tools for communication and networking, co-authoring of shared knowledge products and managing joint working processes. The elements of pedagogical practices are based on the studies presented in the two previous chapters.
Scardamalia and Bereiter suggested that to help students to succeed in the knowledge society, schools should become knowledge-building organisations, in which students are members, not clients. Their suggestions are in line with the ideas of learning as knowledge creation (in which tradition they have a profound contribution). The element of pupils’ involvement (in school-level knowledge practices) is based on the this approach.
Mobile technologies Portable devices such as tablet computers, smart and feature phones and MP3 players have particular resonance for English teaching in situations where practitioners move between different locations and where learning occurs in isolated contexts. These technologies have the potential to deliver high quality multimedia stored on internal drives or removable memory cards or that can be accessed over wireless and telecommunication networks. Many portable devices feature long-lasting batteries, particularly important where power supplies are only available during certain times of the day. Moreover, some can be powered using solar cells or charged via wind-up mechanisms. Touch sensitive screens and simple menu systems may also be of particular benefit in situations where a lack of familiarity with mice, keyboards and operating systems might inhibit learning. Many mobile devices sport one or more cameras and where there is a reliable internet connection, users can communicate over distance using simple video conferencing tools. GPS functionality and internal compasses also enable users to access and interact with powerful mapping tools. Front facing cameras allow learners to be creative as well as enabling them to trigger the release of information, for example by scanning QR codes (a type of barcode). In-built audio recording functionality allows children to record their thoughts about an area of learning or perhaps interview peers or family members prior to a task.
“Mobile phones and other ‘smart’ devices are perfect for developing mobile assisted language learning (MALL) activities. Clever software can facilitate the delivery of multi-modal content as well as offering the potential to register user interaction, provide feedback and track progress.
Whilst much of the research evidence focuses on improved outcomes for individual pupils, dialogic pedagogy has far more to offer than improved results on standardised tests. Monologic classroom practices do not engage the social collective, pupils are seen mainly as a collective of disconnected individuals”⁴. If, as Watkins recommends, classrooms are to become ‘Communities of Learners’, we must address the affective as well as the cognitive and create learning opportunities through enquiry. Early results from Alexander’s ‘Talk-to-Learn’ project suggest that a dialogic approach can achieve this as it promotes a more inclusive classroom where pupils who normally do not compete to speak in class gain the confidence to contribute. Dialogic teaching is valued as a process that can promote inclusion of all pupils and has much to contribute to the establishment of communities of learners. Increasingly such learning is recognised as central to personal and social education. The EPPI review of evidence on citizenship education found, for example: The quality of dialogue and discourse is central to learning in citizenship education. Dialogue and discourse are connected with learning about shared values, human rights and issues of justice and equality . . . Transformative, dialogical and participatory pedagogies complement and sustain achievement rather than divert attention from it. In a discussion of pedagogy and dialogue, Skidmore identifies ‘the affective conditions for learning created by different patterns of teacher–student interaction as a neglected line of enquiry’. What is important here is the tradition of seeing cognition and affect as discrete entities rather than interdependent concepts. Egan wants us to question methods of teaching and testing which see education as ‘a process of accumulating knowledge and skills uninvolved with emotions, intentions, and human meaning. He stresses the difference between ‘knowing a lot’ and knowledge which is meaningful.