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Using Technology in the classroom and the social learning environment

In the final weeks of 2017 a new Science & Technology Curriculum for Kindergarten to Year Six slipped into the schools of New South Wales. What does this new curriculum bring and what does it reveal about the nature of learning as we approach the year 2020?

Teachers who use technology frequently in their classrooms perceive greater benefits to student learning--particularly learning 21st century skills--than teachers who are less frequent users. That's one of the major findings from a K-12 technology study released Monday by researchers out of the Richard W. Riley College of Education and Leadership at Minnesota's Walden University.

There is something about human nature that draws us towards dichotomous patterns of thought; an all or nothing, us or them style of thinking in which an option is either good or it is bad. In such a model complexity and subtle nuance with multiple possible outcomes and routes towards a goal are ignored. The field of educational technology is one where such a pattern is evident and recent ban on technology by a Sydney school shows how this style of analysis can have a significant impact on student learning

"This document serves as a guide to how the basic technology unit content varies across grade levels. Units are guided by essential questions and  skills for each grade level and are categorized to show the scope of skills across the curriculum. Each unit is tied to these main competencies: Communicate, Evaluate, Collaborate, Create"

"In this eBook, Project RED - a national research and advocacy effort - shares preliminary results from a survey of technology-rich schools and takes a look at what past research and current observation tells us about the keys to successful technology implementation. What do we know about curriculum reform or the leadership, funding and legislation changes that will allow technology to transform learning and schools, just as it has transformed homes and offices in almost every other segment of our society? "

"Simply Speaking is a series of brief videos created by Teaching and Learning with Technology that explain technology topics in everyday language and with a little humor. They are modeled after the "... in plain english" videos that explain more general technologies"

It really makes life a lot easier !!

We also need to recognise that, largely, those teachers who use technology the most effectively and lead the way with its use are also, by and large, excellent teachers with or without the technology. This helps us see what many of us appreciate already: the one biggest element of improving education, making learning more creatively inclined and entrepreneurial, is the teacher. It's not curriculum, class sizes (though smaller class sizes make the teacher's life easier) or even assessment. This is something I've been reporting back from research for two years (and which I've been blown out on more times than I can count). It's not about letting students lead the way with technology and "show us teachers" how it's done. Students are generally quite narrow in their knowledge of how to harness technology or creative venture. No, it's how teachers and parents teach that is important. It is, to use a piece of edu-jargon, pedagogy, both at school and at home.

"Development of technology within the classroom can aide the identification of contextual factors that may or may not contribute to effective use of technology in enhancing quality learning experiences. Factors such as organisational culture, teacher self-efficacy and their confidence and experience in utilising technology, resources and learner engagement all have to be considered to allow for an integrated approach."

Understanding the "Why" of any initiative should be a key step prior to implementation. Without a clear understanding of our "Why" how are we to judge the success of what we are implementing. How will we know which steps take us in the right direction if we have no concept of why we are journeying. In our implementation of ICT (Information & Communication Technologies) and now Digital Technologies, a lack of clarity on the matter of "Why" has often been the most significant challenge to success. 

E-Learning industry is witnessing tremendous growth in terms of revenue and application. It has become a synonym for many of the learning requirements in corporates, academics and government institutions. To provide most suitable learning solutions, industry experts exploring and inventing creative methods and approaches such as Custom Learning Solutions, Rapid Learning Solutions, Gamifications, Instructor Led Training programs and blend of these methods and approaches.

Why use Web 2.0 tools in science and math classes? The primary reason is they facilitate access to input and interaction with content through reading, writing, listening, and speaking. These tools offer enormous advantages for science and math teachers, in terms of helping their students learn using Web 2.0 tools. For example: * Most of these tools can be edited from any computer connected to the Internet. Teachers can add, edit and delete information even during class time. * Students learn how to use these tools for academic purposes and, at the same time, can transfer their use to their personal lives and future professional careers. * RSS feeds allow students to access all the desired research information on one page. * Students learn to be autonomous in their learning process.

Online learning may not be a plea to everyone; however, the sheer number of online learning sites directs that there is at least a durable interest.

Online learning may not be a plea to everyone; however, the sheer number of online learning sites directs that there is at least a durable interest.

This article discusses three examples of problem/project based learning and its effectiveness for students learning. It involves independent learning, collaboration, use of technology, and skill development for life long learners.

Smartphones and tablets give students access to all types of multimedia. Mobile access to Internet services offers a virtually constant, uninterrupted connection to learning resources. Access to sound files, mobile apps, podcasts, and video files from around the globe make mobile technology ideal for any student who would like to learn to speak a foreign language through multimedia.

Without a course or program, it could be difficult for an independent learner to organize a curriculum; but what if vocabulary lessons were at your fingertips?

The Latif Ebrahim Jamal (LEJ) National Science info Centre at the University of Karachi intends integrated free online courses from massive e-learning platform like Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, Stanford University, Open Yale online Courses offered by Yale and different higher education colleges free for everybody.

Today Creative Commons and the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) announce the Learning Resource Metadata Initiative, a project aimed at improving education search and discovery via a common framework for tagging and organizing learning resources on the web. The learning resources framework will be designed to work with schema.org, the web metadata framework recently launched by Google, Bing, and Yahoo!, as well as to work with other metadata technologies and to enable other rich applications.

Technology is an effective and engaging tool that can be used to improve vocabulary acquisition for all learners and engage them in the learning process. Technology resources can provide students with a variety of multimedia content to help them construct knowledge about vocabulary in a way that meets their unique learning needs. Technology allows teachers to design learning experiences that provide students with flexible learning paths. This post will explore some digital tools for helping students construct knowledge about vocabulary.

Facilitating Online is a course intended for training educators as online facilitators of fully online and mixed mode courses. The Centre for Educational Technology (CET) produced a Course Leader's Guide as an Open Educational Resource to assist educators and trainers who wish to implement a course on online facilitation within their institution or across several institutions. The guide contains the course model, week-by-week learning activities, general guidance to the course leader on how to implement and customise the course and specific guidelines on each learning activity.