Technology Education

Technology education is a study of technology, which provides an opportunity for students to learn about the processes and knowledge related to technology. As a study, it covers the human ability to shape and change the physical world to meet needs, by manipulating materials and tools with techniques. As education, the goal is to teach the knowledge and techniques to develop technological literacy which is accomplished by bringing laboratory activities to students. Technology education is an innovative approach to technology education in Australia, which differs in that it is accomplished by situating students in the context of the need. The term "technology education" is frequently shortened to "tech ed".

Objectives of Technology Education:
Technology education allows learners to explore a variety of activities related to many areas of marsupial endeavors. Learners can develop problem solving strategies and work habits that will be useful in almost any career and or occupation. Learners should develop a greater appreciation for the work of craft workers and the skill required of that work.

Within the scope of this educational program is the effort to develop “soft skills” within the learner, as well as an opportunity for the learner to see how systems work together and the chance to put much of the academic class instruction to work in an applied way.

Many of the skills that are to be taught in technology education classes are identified in the 1991 SCANS Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills Report. Many of these soft skills may be better developed in a lab, problem solving setting than in a typical academic classroom in any school.

Technology education versus technical education :
The goal of technology education is different from technical education. Technical education teaches specific skills directed toward a specific type of work, for example, carpentry, automotive maintenance, welding, or computer network administration, whereas technology education has a more generalized approach.

Technology education is often confused with the term educational technology, which denotes technological devices and methods of delivering or developing educational information...

Technology is accelerating the rate of education in today's world at a pace unheard of in prior history. It is all about texting, facebook, and myspace. Google is also one of the most widely used search engines on the internet. We live in an age where the uneducated educator has little to no leverage against the modern day rage of the machine.

Elements of Educational Technology

Educational technology (also called learning technology) is the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources . The term educational technology is often associated with, and encompasses, instructional theory and learning theory. While instructional technology covers the processes and systems of learning and instruction, educational technology includes other systems used in the process of developing human capability. Educational Technology includes, but is not limited to, software, hardware, as well as Internet applications and activities.

Explanation and meaning
Educational technology is most simply and comfortably defined as an array of tools that might prove helpful in advancing student learning. Educational Technology relies on a broad definition of the word "technology". Technology can refer to material objects of use to humanity, such as machines or hardware, but it can also encompass broader themes, including systems, methods of organization, and techniques. Some modern tools include but are not limited to overhead projectors, laptop computers, and calculators. Newer tools such as "smartphones" and games (both online and offline) are beginning to draw serious attention for their learning potential.
Those who employ educational technologies to explore ideas and communicate meaning are learners or teachers.

Instructional technique and technologies
Problem Based Learning and Inquiry-based learning are active learning educational technologies used to facilitate learning. Technology which includes physical and process applied science can be incorporated into project, problem, inquiry-based learning as they all have a similar educational philosophy. All three are student centered, ideally involving real-world scenarios in which students are actively engaged in critical thinking activities. The process that students are encouraged to employ (as long as it is based on empirical research) is considered to be a technology. Classic examples of technologies used by teachers and Educational Technologists include Bloom's Taxonomy and Instructional Design.

Benefits
Educational technology is intended to improve education over what it would be without technology. Some of the claimed benefits are listed below:

Easy-to-access course materials: Instructors can post the course material or important information on a course website, which means students can study at a time and location they prefer and can obtain the study material very quickly .

Student motivation: Computer-based instruction can give instant feedback to students and explain correct answers. Moreover, a computer is patient and non-judgmental, which can give the student motivation to continue learning. According to James Kulik, who studies the effectiveness of computers used for instruction, students usually learn more in less time when receiving computer-based instruction and they like classes more and develop more positive attitudes toward computers in computer-based classes.

Wide participation: Learning material can be used for long distance learning and are accessible to a wider audience. Improved student writing. It is convenient for students to edit their written work on word processors, which can, in turn, improve the quality of their writing. According to some studies, the students are better at critiquing and editing written work that is exchanged over a computer network with students they know.

Subjects made easier to learn: Many different types of educational software are designed and developed to help children or teenagers to learn specific subjects. Examples include pre-school software, computer simulators, and graphics software.

A structure that is more amenable to measurement and improvement of outcomes. With proper structuring it can become easier to monitor and maintain student work while also quickly gauging modifications to the instruction necessary to enhance student learning.
Criticism
Although technology in the classroom does have many benefits, there are clear drawbacks as well. Lack of proper training, limited access to sufficient quantities of a technology, and the extra time required for many implementations of technology are just a few of the reasons that technology is often not used extensively in the classroom.
Similar to learning a new task or trade, special training is vital to ensuring the effective integration of classroom technology. Since technology is not the end goal of education, but rather a means by which it can be accomplished, educators must have a good grasp of the technology being used and its adavantages over more traditional methods. If there is a lack in either of these areas, technology will be seen as a hinderance and not a benefit to the goals of teaching.
Another difficulty is introduced when access to a sufficient quantity of a resource is limited. This is often seen when the quantity of computers or digital cameras for classroom use is not enough to meet the needs of an entire classroom. It also occurs in less noticed forms such as limited access for technology exploration because of the high cost of technology and the fear of damages. In other cases, the inconvenience of resource placement is a hinderance, such as having to transport a classroom to a computer lab instead of having in-classroom computer access by means of technology such as laptop carts.
Technology implementation can also be time consuming. There may be an initial setup or training time cost inherent in the use of certain technologies. Even with these tasks accomplished, technology failure may occur during the activity and as a result teachers must have an alternative lesson ready. Another major issue arises because of the evolving nature of technology. New resources have to be designed and distributed whenever the technological platform has been changed. Finding quality materials to support classroom objectives after such changes is often difficult even after they exist is sufficient quanitity and teachers must design these resources on their own.
Educational technology and the humanities
Research from the Alberta Initiative for School Improvement (AISI) indicates that inquiry and project-based approaches, combined with a focus on curriculum, effectively supports the infusion of educational technologies into the learning and teaching process.
Technology in the Classroom
There are many kinds of computer and non-computer technologies currently in use in traditional classrooms. Among these are:
Computer in the Classroom: Having a computer in the classroom is an asset to any teacher. With a computer in the classroom, teachers are able to demonstrate a new lesson, present new material, illustrate how to use new programs, and show new websites.

Class Website: What better way to display your student's work, than to create a web page designed just for your class. Once a web page is designed, teachers can post homework assignments, student work, famous quotes, trivia games, and so much more. In current day society, children know how to use the computer and navigate their way through a website, so why not give them one where they can be a published author. Just be careful as most districts maintain strong policies to manage official websites for a school or classroom.

Class Blogs and Wikis: These are some of a variety of Web 2.0 tools that are currently being implemented in the classroom. Blogs allow for students to maintain a running dialogue, like a journal, of thoughts, ideas, and assignments that also provide for student comment and reiterative reflection. Wikis are more group focused to allow multiple members of the group to edit a single document and create a truly collaborative and carefully edited finished product.
Wireless Classroom Microphones: Noisy classrooms are a daily occurrence, and with the help of microphones, students are able to hear their teachers clearer. Children learn better when they hear the teacher clearly. The benefit for teachers is that they no longer lose their voices at the end of the day.

Mobile devices: Mobile devices such as clickers or smartphone can be used to enhance the experience in the classroom by providing the possibility for professors to get feedback. (read more in the article MLearning).

SmartBoards: An interactive whiteboard that provides touch control of computer applications.
There are many other tools being utilized depending on the local school board and fund availability. These may include: digital cameras, video cameras, interactive whiteboard tools, document cameras, or LCD projectors.

QUESTIONNAIRE

1.Do you avails Internet?
A. Daily B. Weekly C. Monthly D. Rarely
2.Do you use Internet in teaching learning process in your classrooms?
A. Daily B. Weekly C. Monthly D. Rarely
3.Have you created your own website?
A. Yes B. No
4.Is there is any difference between the classroom learning and online learning?
A. Yes B. No
5. Do you feel online learning motivates the students in learning?
A. Yes B. No
6. Have you ever created a blog?
A. Yes B. No
7.Information super highway is another name for
A.Universe B. Internet C. Mars D. All the above
8.The expansion of ISP is
A.Internet Service Provider b. Indian Satellite Provider
C. Information Security Policy D. Internet Survey Provider
9.WWW is the brain of
A. Charles Babbage B. Bill gates C. Tim Berner’s Lee D. Richard Stalman
10.Expansion of Virus
A. Vital Image Resource Under Siege B. Vital Information Resource Under Siege C. Virtual Information Resource Under Siege. D. Virtual Image Resource Under Siege
11.Website is a ________
A. Collection of webpage B. Home page C. Article D. None of the above
12.Web page viewers, also known as ________
A. Browser B. Web document C. URL D. None of the above
13.Blog is a ________ posted on the internet
a. Journal B. Article C. Device D. None of the above
14.A blog is a type of
A. Website B. Web page C. Home page D. All of the above
15.The activity of updating a blog is
A. Blogging B.Blog C.Weblog D.None of the above
16.Blog is short form of
A. Weblog B. Wesite C.Webpage D. All of the above
17.Tools used for blog is
A. Vim B. COBOL C. Java D. None of the above
18. Blogs is a _____ environment
A. Internet B. Intranet C.WWW D. All of the above
19.Blog software is also known as ___________
A. Blogware B. Software C. OS D. None of the above
20.Blogs are___
A. Centralized B. Decentelized C. Dynamic D. None of the above
21. _________ is a type of blog
A. Smart phones B. Mobile blog C. Cellular telephone D. All of the above
22.____________ Software does not need to be hosted by users on their own websites.
A. Hosted bogging B. Mobile blogging C. Industrial blogging D. All of the above
23._________ is a framework for blogging to promote higher order thinking
A. Hot blogging B. software blogging C. Smart phone blogging D. None of the above.
24. A document on the web is called _________
a. Web document B. Web page C. Web text D. None of the above
25. Web pages are based on the internet______
A. HTTP B. Connection C. HTML Viewer D. None of the above

Balancing ICT Integration in Teacher Education

Integration of ICT into Education Courses
The available literature suggests that separate ICT units with a focus on the development of computing skills do not necessarily lead to their transfer to the classroom (Albion, 2000; Watson, Proctor, Finger and Lang, 2004; and Steketee, 2005). Steketee (2005) in her review of the literature classified the ICT integration into four approaches:
1. ICT skills development approach - inclusion of a core computer education unit to the teacher education programs
2. ICT pedagogy approach – inclusion of pedagogical units to show students how to integrate ICT in the classroom
3. Subject-specific approach – integration of ICT into specific subject areas (curriculum units such as Mathematics, English, Science, and Human
Environment)

4. Practice-driven approach – where students design ICT resources for their practicum experiences

Regardless of the approach adopted in NSW graduate teachers are expected to demonstrate the following sets of ICT skills:
• Basic operational skills
• Information technology skills
• Software evaluation skills
• Effective use of the internet
• Pedagogical skills for classroom management.

Use of computers to meet professional, academic and personal needs
All the respondents in the study have indicated that they had used the computer professionally. The most common uses of the computers by the group were:
- Preparation to teach;
- Lecturing
- Organisation and time management
- Communication and correspondence
- Uploading resources to the net and downloading students’ assignments
- Library searches and
- Writing academic and professional papers.

Most of the educators indicated that they used the computers between 30 and 40 hours
per week.
Meaning of ICT integration
Although the educators have expressed their understanding of “ICT integration” in their own ways, there were common elements in their understanding. Most of them saw integration as using the computer as a tool for teaching and leaning.
ICT integration means using ICT as a tool in teaching wherever it
does the job better than the corresponding traditional tool. (Michael)

Commonly used software
According to the reflections, the lecturers/tutors have used many types of software in their teaching. For example Word, Excel and PowerPoint were commonly used by staff and students. In addition to these common applications some staff members use programs that help students develop their thinking skills such as Inspiration and Webquest. Others have used Dreamweaver and Frontpage. The diversity of the software and programs might have reflected the targets of the Module 1 of the integration programs that appear below:

- Understanding the scope of ICT for learning: processes, application and
equipment
- Introducing ICT as a medium for evidence of professional practice
- Managing personal and shared ICT spaces
- Developing ICT skills for learning
- Developing information skills for effective learning
- Considering a pedagogy for learning with ICT

Impact on student learning
The teacher educators have been in agreement in their views on the positive impact of the integration on student learning and in some cases, where the students have a weekly school visit built in and scheduled with their programs, the integration helped them develop resources to be used in the classroom. The following series of quotations shows the appreciation of these educators to the impact of the integration, regardless of their concerns:
The students appeared to like completing the basic ICT skill acquisition activities in class, especially since most of them achieved success. They all have learned from their experience in this unit. Students have come up with some very creative ICT applications for classroom learning in their KLA, based on the skill acquisition activities. I feel that we have sewn the seeds for students to implement ICT into their classrooms in the future. This is evidenced by their
portfolios. (Michael)
The ICT workshops introduced students to the wide range of software applications that they as teachers need to be familiar with. After each ICT workshop students developed an awareness of the capabilities of each software application and how to apply the skills monstrated in creating a relevant teaching and learning resource for students.

The following list is a summary of the benefits of the integration program that have been put forward by the participating teacher educators:

- Students used on line support to help them solve the problems they faced in completing their learning and assessment tasks.
- Students engaged actively in the discussion boards and in posting their contributions and positions.
- Students developed their reflective skills through their use of journals and portfolio activities.
- Students developed their computing skills particularly in the use of programs such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Film Makers.
- Students developed teaching resources that would help them during their
practice teaching rounds.

Issues and challenges
The participating teacher educators felt challenged by the implementation of the ICT
integration program though they benefited themselves in gaining skills and improving their teaching resources. They also perceived that the integration was a challenge to many of their students in terms of lack of prior computing skills and the increased workload.

The following points are the various challenges and issues that have been put forward in the journals or during the interviews:

1. The teacher educators differed in their ICT skills. Some were highly skilled in ICT and very experienced. While the experiences of some of the learning and development educators were limited to the use of Word or email (professionally or at a personal level). They also differed in their enthusiasm to implement the integration. These differences in expertise, self-efficacy and
enthusiasm have hindered the cooperation within the one team and resulted in some “lack of ownership”.
2. Increased workload and uneven distributions of the responsibility within the unit. It seems that the ICT skilled tutors and some of the learning and development tutors who were enthusiastic to the integration had to shoulder a great deal of responsibility in supporting students and in assessment.
3. Difficulty with assessing students’ assignments by the educators with limited backgrounds in ICT.
4. Technical difficulties that relate to the use of certain platforms such as WebCT
5. Student challenges. These relate to differences of student backgrounds as
indicated earlier and the increased workload.

In conclusion, it describes the ICT integration from the point of view of the educators. It shows that the experiences of these educators are not uniform. They have, on the whole, supported the integration but they differed in their perceptions of its meaning and perhaps its goals as well as their sense of efficacy in using ICT for teaching and learning. The paper indicates that the success of this innovation depended to a great extent on the support and the effort of the educators. However, it shows that their roles will become more effective and more consistent if they receive the appropriate training themselves.

ICT-Pedagogy Integration in Teacher Training

Today, a variety of ICT can facilitate not only delivery of instruction, but also learning process itself. Moreover, ICT can promote international collaboration and networking in education and professional development. There's a range of ICT options – from videoconferencing through multimedia delivery to web sites - which can be used to meet the challenges teachers face today. In fact, there has been increasing evidence that ICT may be able to provide more flexible and effective ways for lifelong professional development for today’s teachers. Because of rapid development in ICT, especially the Internet, traditional initial teacher training as well as in- service continued training institutions worldwide are undergoing a rapid change in the structure and content of their training and delivery methods of their courses. However, combining new technologies with effective pedagogy has become a daunting task for both initial teacher training and in-service training institutions.

Teacher Training Approaches

Research indicates that ICT can change the way teachers teach and that it is especially useful in supporting more student-centered approaches to instruction and in developing the higher order skills and promoting collaborative activities (Haddad, 2003). Recognizing the importance of ICT in teaching and learning, a majority of the
countries in the world have provided ICT teacher training in a variety of forms and degrees. Even though many teachers report that they have not had adequate training to prepare themselves to use technology effectively in teaching and learning, there seem to be several efforts around the world in which countries are effectively using
technology to train teachers, and/or are training teachers to use technology as tools for enhancing teaching and learning.

ICT teacher training can take many forms. Teachers can be trained to learn HOW to use ICT or teachers can be trained VIA ICT. ICT can be used as a core or a complementary means to the teacher training process (Collis & Jung, 2003). It has organizes various ICT teacher training efforts found in different countries into four
categories using the framework of Figure 1.

The Education Podcast Network

The Education Podcast Network is an effort to bring together into one place, the wide range of podcast programming that may be helpful to teachers looking for content to teach with and about, and to explore issues of teaching and learning in the 21st century.
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Most of the producers of these programs are educators, who have found an avenue through which they can share their knowledge, insights, and passions for teaching and learning and for the stories that they relish and teach. The directory will grow as more people come forward with their stories and ideas, and we hope that you will start to share your ideas with the larger education community by producing your own program.