Technology in Teaching and Learning Essay -- Education Technology

Educational technologies are being utilized in every way shape and form, from inline gaming to numeracy, literacy and painting by numbers. From learning to leisure we have embraced the internet, in online chat rooms we communicate, interact and move into future learning through educational programmes and technology that lets us learn virtually. Instruction and directions are sent across cyberspace which change perceptions and give us an insight into different cultures far away across the other side of the world .The enigma that is cyberspace has the capacity to change our way of thinking, learning and teaching, and it is this teaching aspect that most interests me. As classroom based beings, teachers and the technological movement ebb slowly toward each other as interactive learners push educational boundaries into virtual reality. This assignment will attempt to show the importance of internet connections for interactive learners. As communication is the main aim of any interface, society in the main has accepted these progressive technologies and as our willingness to integrate this mechanically driven entity into our lives draws education into our very living rooms, for some though the challenge of engagement continues, especially for those with learning difference. Developing learning for students with difference has always confronted society with a dilemma; nevertheless the technological age of interactive education has increased access to learning for all those who are willing to take up the challenge. Traditional teaching methods have taken a backwards step and the cyber spaced virtual reality of online has in my view, rightfully taken its place at the classroom. In the Community Engagement Department where I teach a... ... of Inquiry into Higher Education, (NCIHE) (1997) Dearing, R. Higher Education in the Learning Society. Report of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education. London: NCIHE Publications (HMSO). Ehrich, R, W., Reaux, R, A., (1998) PCs for families: a study of early intervention using networked computing in education, Journal of Educational Computing Research, 19(4), p.383-410. Stefani, L., Nicol, D., (1997) From teacher to facilitator of collaborative enquiry, in: Armstrong, S., Thompson, G., and Brown, S., (Eds) Facing up to Radical Changes in Universities and Colleges London: Kogan. Tapscott, D. (1998). Growing up digital: The rise of the net generation. New York: McGraw-Hill.(p.16) York, M. (2003) Formative assessment in Higher Education: moves towards theory and the enhancement of pedagogic practice, Higher Education, 45(4), pp.477-501.