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Karen H. Garner

How Technology has changed the way we learn

Karen H. Garner

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Education Redefined:

Many of us recall scraping sounds of chalk sliding across the board, and the familiar white dust clouds out behind the school when it was your turn to take the erasers out to beat them clean. The all to normal teacher standing on front of the class using brightly colored visual aids is all but a memory now as technology has claimed a new frontier.

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Ideas become reality:

Our children today are being encouraged and even driven to understand the cutting edge of technology as it applies to our lives as a society. The far fetched idea of a computer for every student in the class room become a reality. Elementary students are taking classes to learn the basics of computer skills as part of the standard curriculum.

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Practical Applications:

Students today are using their minds in a more complex way including the use of more complex tools. This ActivBoard is a wonderful example of the changes in classroom education today as it has completely replaced the traditional chalk boards and involves full student participation. These boards are often thought of as the ‘interactive whiteboard’

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The ActivBoards are compatible with a variety of devices, including PC’s and soon digital camera’s will be added to that list. What this means for teachers is the ability to not only bring more information to the classroom but also a better collaboration of educational tools. This also includes cooperative learning with international classrooms.

Going Global

We are all a team:

Many kindergarten classrooms are incorporating these high tech learning devices as well. Such as the SMART table. The table lets up to eight students solve problems collaboratively. Tools such as these help young minds develop problem solving skills, teamwork skills as well. The technologically based classroom in general leads to more higher level thinking.

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Onward and upward:

As one might expect the advances of technology have deeply incorporated themselves into the high school classrooms. Here many schools are focusing on the fundamentals of technology to help students develop interest in career possibilities. As these school continue to show increasingly positive results more and more middle schools are beginning to follow suit. These students are developing cutting edge skills and creating projects such as robots and alternate energy motors.

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Karen H. Garner

Ready or not, technology has become mainstream in all things we do. Most schools have computer labs and many have computers in every classroom. More than 90 percent of all schools are connected to the internet.

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With numbers showing that college graduates not only have a better opportunity to grasp those job openings, they also have higher earning power. What this means is more and more people are returning to school.

What am I doing wrong?

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Adults returning to school often find themselves overwhelmed with the demands and the time it takes to catch up. Online classes can offer that opportunity to return to school but to do so on your own time and give you the time you need to adjust and catch your breath. Technology has allowed these classes to become virtual including virtual labs for those technical courses.

What am I doing?

Karen H. Garner

Time is precious! Especially when juggling a full time job, a household, and children. For this reason many adults look to online learning for the flexibility they need when dealing with scheduling issues. Internet based classes allow for communication and assignment submission, better documentation with regard to these assignments.

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Give me a break!

Karen H. Garner

Lets face it, many of us are spoiled on the convenience that technology offers. Where else can you lounge in your PJ’s sipping coffee at your kitchen table and still earn a degree? Computers, the Internet, virtual servers, and emails have allowed so many adults the opportunity to do something they would otherwise not likely do.

Shoes optional12

Karen H. Garner

.EDU

Opportunities to gain a degree at an upper scale university has also become factor for some seeking a higher degree. Where distance and familiar obligations would otherwise make it impossible to seek a degree from a favorite university across country now it is within reach.

Well I attended …13

Karen H. Garner

With all things there are both positives and negatives. With the introduction of technology into the classrooms so too come the cell phones as well as more opportunities for students to share answers.

Nothing is perfect!14

Karen H. Garner

While there are many noteable benefits in technology based learning, one of the most undeniable facts is the loss of traditional gifts such as reading a book. Many children are turning their attention to video games and computers. Many now speculate whether the printed book will no longer exist in the near future in favor of the virtual books downloadable on favorite shopping sites.

The death of an era15

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We have all witnessed the growth of technology, and seen even the most avid traditionalist among us convert to using cell phones and computers it should come as no surprise that technology has shaped the way we learn as children or as adults.Distance educationSMART tables andActivBoards are just the beginning of the new era of learning.We go forward willingly or kicking and screaming but we must realize that without technology, much of the things we appreciate so much now would never have been possible. Should we embrace the changes? I think the technology definitely has a place in the classroom. I do believe all good things should come in small doses however. It is an individualistic view, as the question is still being debated. “How much is too much?”

Are we going to far?