As technology improves, people are privileged to utilize innovative advanced technological devices that technologists have developed and refined to offer a comprehensive set of resources in meaningful ways. Students are lucky enough to enjoy these highly-developed implements that assist them for their education. For instance, IBM’s Reinventing Education Program and I-clickers are two recent products that are intended to improve the present educational system. Especially I-clickers, an interactive technology that enables professors to pose questions to students and immediately collect the responses of the entire class, are essential tools in present day classes. Since I-clickers help advance the learning objectives of a course, all professors should adopt the use of I-clickers in classes.
One of the most appealing aspects of I-clicker is that it elicits students’ participation and engagement in classes. Now students have I-clickers, they all can make their voices heard in the class. That is, after they answer the questions given, students can now compare their own responses to the responses of other students in the class, which sparks a level of interactive discussion among students. Once students see the distribution of responses, they would be able to reconsider the question as in groups and to reach an agreement about the best response, and I-clickers certainly facilitate the process more efficiently. I-clicker, as a potential bridge for the communication gap between lecturers and students, encourages the interaction between students and faculty as well. By taking a clicker poll or even a survey, instructors often follow the class discussion with a second cycle of questioning, answering, and displaying before wrapping up the dis...
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...erm exam period. With I-clickers, however, students can easily identify and address areas of confusion and adjust the pace of the course appropriately because I-clickers provide students with prompt feedback on their comprehension. From the quiz responses, the professor is able to determine whether he should spend more time explaining the concept, or if the majority of the class understands the idea, allowing him to move on to the next topic.
In conclusion, classes will be very entertaining. I-clickers bring many positive aspects such as motivating students to participate more often, improving their class performance, and monitoring their understanding of the course material. Adoption of I-clickers can have a great impact on learning experiences and educational outcomes. Students will certainly enjoy a more fruitful academic life with this educational technology.
Kenwright, K. (2009). Clickers in the Classroom. TechTrends: Linking Research and Practice to Improve Learning , 53 (1), 74-77.
In the last decade, increasingly powerful technologies have begun to make their way into classrooms across the nation. Many classrooms are now equipped with personal computers that run educational software to help teach students facts and concepts in a more engaging way than a traditional lecture. Advances in telecommunications technologies have led to almost universal access to the Internet, allowing students and teachers to communicate with people from around the world and gain access to a wealth of educational materials. New ways of obtaining and presenting information have given students powerful new methods for understanding the world around them. However, while use of technology in the classroom has been shown to be highly beneficial for students, it is important to note that without a well-planned technology support system, this expensive educational technology often goes under- or mis-utilized..
Teachers are responding well to this because it enables students to better communicate to clarify with teachers on information they may not understand as well as join in or guide conversations in the direction he or she would like it to go. This has proven to be useful for the students that are shy and do not ask questions in class.
... challenges the relationship between students and teachers, because technology enables learners to gain control of their own learning. The new technology provides access to information that was once under the control of teachers.
Instructors try to make their lectures and labs as interactive as possible to help the students see the lecture in different ways. Instructors try to make the classroom more entertaining for everyone by adding different interactive and creative activities. While laptops are convenient there is not as much interaction between the instructors and students. Students are too focused on typing to pay attention and they don’t absorb...
These benefits I believe include excitement, flexibility, motivation for more students, which will cover a wide age-range, learning styles, and many different topics. They also will help create a personalized learning environment. As an educator, I have learned how these modifications in technology can help to motivate, engage, and enhance the learning of my students. Thornburg (2009) “…some technologies have the potential to shape and reshape educational practice in the next few years” (p. 9). During this course, we have discovered and discussed various benefits as well as challenges associated with adopting new technology. These resources and interactions have been influential in helping me focus more on the benefits, and they have given me tools to address the challenges. This course has helped me understand that the use of interactive educational activities can promote higher order thinking skill, such as problem solving, critical thinking, and
While many teachers embrace technology in the classroom, some hesitate to change their curriculum. Some teachers complain using technology causes more headaches than it is worth. These teachers feel comfortable with their traditional methods and do not embrace change. As the world becomes more interconnected, opportunities for communication and collaboration among peers greatly increases. Teaching these skills to students prepares them for life after school. According to Siemens (2004), the need for students to analyze and evaluate information surpasses the need for students to memorize facts. In order to teach these skills, educators must be willing to adopt new methods for teaching and administrators must support the transition from traditional to modern teaching methods.
My topic of interest for research was student engagement with audience response systems. The purpose of this assignment was to discuss why the topic was to be studied, the presumptions of the topic, the personal experience with the topic that would create obstacles or bias, how the topic will benefit the field of education, and if the topic was sufficient for a Capstone project.
Do you ever wonder how professors handle huge lecture classes throughout the semester? They use computers to utilize software and web programs to enhance the learning experience. In this reading you will learn and understand how computers have positively and negatively impacted Higher Education over the years. Some people completely support the use of computers in the classroom while others completely reject the thought. With the average class size doubling it’s becoming harder for the professor to have a one on one experience and teach the student so that they actually learn. But with the implementation of computers students can now email and talk to their professors. They can also complete and turn in assignments making it easier on the professor
Student response systems, or clickers, are a wireless handheld device used by students to provide responses to a variety of different assessments as a part of classroom instruction (Caldwell, 2007). Researchers have not yet agreed on a standard term for student response systems. For the sake of this paper, student response systems will be the all encompassing term for this technology. There are different types and brands of student response systems, but the concept is the same for all, which is to provide feedback to the instructor in an interactive way during instruction. The use of clickers is not necessarily face to face. When used correctly, student response systems are a tool of engagement (Berry, 2009). Students are engaged in active learning when they apply knowledge and solve problems (Sullivan, 2009). Lastly, student response systems eliminate fear of asking questions in a classroom, because the student knows that if they do not understand the content, they may indicate so without fear of being singled out. Student response systems are an engaging tool, that when used effectively in the classroom can activate student learning.
For the teacher, computer technology can lead to more efficient time management in record keeping and developing lessons plans as well as the ease of conducting any kind of research and communication without having to leave the classroom.
Today, many professors use audio-visual accessories during their lecture, which make the classroom environment interactive and help students to learn the course material more easily. Similarly, students had to manually write down all the lecture notes back in the days. But now, we seek pdf notes from our professors. The worst scenario would be to take a picture of the notes with a cell phone. This definitely gives student time to focus on the professor’s lecture rather than copy notes. These facilities available today were fairy tales for the students a few years back. Also, students do not have to struggle with the huge book stacks in the library to find information for their research papers. With the help of internet, one can now easily access to enormous amount of information within few seconds. For instance, despite the fact that I am writing this paper on a day when the library is closed, I have been able to gather required information for myself with the help of internet. This has made my work much easier as I do not have to go to the library and go through those dusty, huge book stacks and relentlessly skim through numerous books and periodicals in order to write this paper. In addition to that, I can search information on any topic almost anytime, anywhere using my phone. Moreover, students now can take online class which has given them the choice to be remotely present in their class. One can sit in front of his computer and join the lecture, ask question to his professor, and take part in the classroom discussion. It is almost no different than being physically present in the classroom. Technology has provided us with every opportunity to succeed academically. In an article signifying how modern technology has shaped classroom, Gregory Huang, a tech-journalist, depicts the scenario of a classroom in a Chinese university: “One wall of her “smart
Technology properly used in the classroom has many advantages to a student’s learning. Technology can help students become more involved in their own learning process, which is not seen in the traditional classroom. It allows them to master basic skills at their own rate rather than being left behind. Teachers and students alike can connect to real life situations by using technology in the classroom; this can also help to prepare students for real world situations. Technology can be used to motivate students as well as to offer more challenging opportunities. It can also be used as a visualization tool to keep students interested in the subject that is being taught. When technology is used effectively, students have the opportunity to develop skills that they may not get without the use of technology (Cleaver, 2011). Assessing and monitoring students is easier on the teacher because of the ability to use technology in the classroom. When technology is used correctly it offers limitless resources to a classroom atmosphere.
...n because of the ability they present to measure student knowledge at any moment. I did not know before using the Technopedia site that there were so many different types of student response systems. I always just imagined the basic student response system with four A, B, C, and D buttons. However, the fact that you can have student response systems that allow for elaboration to open-response questions make this technological tool even more useful and effective. With so much pressure on standardized testing, this tool allows teachers to question and rank the knowledge of each individual student. Furthermore, because of the abilities of current Smartphones, the expensiveness of student response systems goes out the window in a classroom that allows cell phone use. I truly believe that both of these technologies can truly change and positively effect education.
The introduction of technology into education has revolutionized the teaching quality and learning outcome in the last ten years. The integration of technology into lectures by teachers in classroom has become so natural that both teachers and learners consider computers and their related applications for instruction are “a routine component of the classroom and educational processes in general” (Nuldén, 1999 cited in Buzzard et al., 2011, pp.131-139).