Technology: a Mixed Blessing in Education

                                    Human contact is irreplaceable                                             Karle A. Ospina García

    Technology has played an important role in the learning system, but it can also be detrimental to education. At first sight, web-based resources open  the door to further education for many individuals who lack the conditions to do it any other way allowing  people to gain a degree while still working full-time. However, when people decide to get enrolled in some virtual graduate or undergraduate programs, they miss the chance to interact face to face with others.   

      Supporters of virtual education argue that online learning may be more student centered and it can accommodate different learning styles. To a certain extent they are right since studying in this way represents self-paced learning, while reducing the travel, time and cost for attending face to face instruction. However, this type of learning may represent loss of motivation and high rate of failures and drop-outs, because there is not direct interaction with the professor and other students. 

    Dzakiria (2005)  reveals that one of the greatest problems experienced by distance learners is feelings of isolation, which makes the possibility of a trusting relationship between the learners with the teachers and with other learners difficult. Such evidence is parallel to Walker’s (in Vrasidas & Glass, 2002) discussion of his paper entitled “Is anybody there? The Embodiment of Knowledge in Virtual Environments”, a plea not just for information but also for contact, for human presence... Such isolation according to Simpson (2002) must inhibit, if not prevent “any possibility of dialogue” in learning, and interferes with the learning process.

     Opponents of traditional learning-enforced in the classroom- argue that virtual education allows students to easily manage their assignments and assessment submissions, and evaluate their performance. However; the learning process requires not only the acquisition and management of new information, but also the communication and interaction with others. At this point is important to emphasize the findings of some constructivists such as Vygotsky and Maria Montessori. They stressed the importance of the nature of the learner's social interaction with knowledgeable members of the society. They also stated that without the social interaction with other more knowledgeable people, it is impossible to acquire social meaning of important symbol systems and learn how to utilize them in an appropriate way. Actually, the students can enhance their learning in a classroom, where they get involved in cooperative tasks. Furthermore, they can enrich their knowledge or sort out their doubts with the help of somebody else. Some constructivist scholars agree with this and emphasize that individuals make meanings through the interactions with each other and with the environment they live in. 

Interaction is what makes people better communicators , especially in the academic field because they have the chance to strengthen their personal characteristics such as patience, respect for others, self awareness, kindness, intelligence, tolerance and sociability. Nevertheless, if technology empowers of education, its social emphasis will turn into a more mechanical process and the social dimension will be shifted away.

     To sum up, technology can enhance traditional methods of learning but cannot replace the human touch. Although internet offers many opportunities to succeed in the academic process; the energy and spontaneity of discussion among people sitting together in a small room cannot be replicated by electronic exchanges. People should think about education as a more valuable experience if it is developed in a communicative context.

REFERENCES

·         Dzakiria, Hisham. The Role of Learning Support in Open & Distance Learning: Learners’ experiences and perspectives. Malaysia ,University Utara Malaysia: 2005.

·         Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education-TOJDE April 2005 ISSN 1302-6488 Volume :6 Number: 2

·         Walker, R. (2002) Is there anyone there? The embodiment of knowledge in virtual environments. In C. Vraasidas & G. Glass (eds.), Distance education and distributed learning (pp.99-114), Greenwich , Connecticut : Information Age Publishing

·         Simpson, O. (2002). Supporting Students in Online, Open and Distance Learning (2 nd edition), London : Kogan Page.

·         McLeod, S. A. (2010). Zone of Proximal Development. Retrieved from http://www.simplypsychology.org/Zone-of-Proximal-Development.html

·         Abrahamson, C. E. (1998) Issues in interactive communication in distance education, College Student Journal, 32(1), 33–43.

THE CHALLENGES OF AN INCLUSION POLICY

                                                Paula Andrea Pelaez Velasquez

TO: Principals, directors, coordinators and teachers

The word inclusion is an attitude that involves  listening, speaking, participating, accepting and      cooperative skills.                                                                                              Fulvia Cedeño Ángel

To be included in a group means that a person is accepted by others, of course having in mind he/she has duties and rights to fulfill. The main objective of the Inclusion Policy is that all kinds of  students  have the possibility to attend, participate, learn and develop their knowledge in a common environment. This process is to be accomplished with good practices in the art of teaching and excellence in the outcome of competences in every student. Inclusion has turned classrooms into spaces that are rich in tolerance towards diversity and equitable in understanding and learning processes. According to social perspectives we notice that inclusion also looks for accepting and valuing cultural characteristics. Different  contexts and students’ interests are considered in order  to satisfy needs of a community, whereas teachers have the role of being motivators and facilitators that must generate changes in cognitive and social development.

Something demanding in today’s education is to have students with special qualities gathered all together in the same room, sometimes making extra efforts when trying to become more effective (accomplish a purpose) and efficient (accomplish the purpose the best one can and with the least waste of time and effort). Consequently the process of a meaningful teaching and learning becomes a challenge for public schools teachers, one of them being able to identify students’ abilities and difficulties.   Those with exceptional abilities can help others in a cooperative model and those with some limitations can experiment challenges when reaching some goals. They also will improve values of respect, tolerance, and social responsibility, reasons that will help them to build their self esteem and confidence.

According to Koïchiro Matsuura General Director of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) 1999-2009, by the time education systems are developed and improved, they must have to deal to complex and specific problems. They have to accept the facts that the number of students is exponentially growing and that  diversity in communities is enormous and is worldly recognized and defended. 

In order to be optimistic and have good results with our Inclusion Policy, institutions have to modify curriculum structures from a traditional to a creative, experimental and constructive one, pay special attention to practices in the classroom, research, innovate, train teachers to be able to manage heterogeneous classes and making parents part of their children’s education.   

 Paula Andrea Peláez Velásquez

Master’s Degree Student

University of Caldas

The importance of interaction in the classroom in the future education.

Johanna Munoz Pineda.

Caldas University.

The importance of interaction in the classroom in the future education.

The purpose of education has changed dramatically in the last decades. In a global world where technology has become a major tool and communication is fundamental, interaction plays a major role in the classrooms, transforming our schools and the way  we learn and teach. The main purpose of education is to prepare students for the future challenges of the real world. Teachers play an important role influencing and facilitating students’ academic achievement and preparing them for these challenges.

Learning in the classroom has changed, becoming a collaborative process in which teachers bring their experience, knowledge, and expertise along with all elements that students bring with them such as previous learning experiences, cultures, and ideas. Many people agree with the idea that   education is transforming along with the changes and demands of the new global societies, making it way different than education in the past. The use of modern technology as an important tool to facilitate learning shows this new change. In addition, the increasing use of the internet sources, interactive smart boards, and electronic tables along with electronic books and readers provide an instant interface between classroom and cyberspace, allowing teachers to transform classes, these gadgets evidence the impact to technology in today’s learning process.  Technology has made learning more proactive and global shortening distances and giving wide and more global perspectives of different issues.

On the other hand, experts have found that eliminating traditional classrooms in exchange for impersonal online classes would be the biggest mistakes because they say that one of the most important aspects of school life is the social interaction that comes with daily meetings among students. It can be said that future education may have some negative impact on our society since the use of technology is limiting the personal interaction in the classroom. The lack of interaction with teachers and classmates may reduce the opportunity of sharing different points of view in which students can actively engage in the learning process. Moreover, interaction in the classroom is the way  teachers can identify different styles of learning, implementing activities in which students would have opportunities of developing their knowledge through the sharing of experiences.

Finally, interaction plays an important role in today’s education since it provides students elements to succeed academically and socially. Since teachers and students are engaged in an active and interactive process of learning, new classrooms are supposed to provide students with a new learning style through the use of modern technology, working together in a classroom environment where different learning methods and technology are adapted to meet the new challenges of our global world.  

English and Teenagers: The Dread of Many Second Language Teachers

                                                        Sandra Milena Marín Ríos

Nowadays, teenagers seem  have become a pain in the neck, not only for their parents but also for their teachers. but, it is not a secret that at this age, they are neither children nor adults; they are just finding their middle point. In the teaching of second language teenagers are the dreads of many teachers  because in spite of all the teacher’s efforts, they seem not to want anything related to  learning, especially English for  it demands a lot of dedication and concentration from them.

In the past, teachers had the chance to deal with a different kind of teenagers;  more obedient, judicious and a little more responsible individuals. Currently, our teenagers are aggressive, irresponsible and they tend not like anything. They do not want to be in class and often their minds can be on other things, or they are just playing or listening to music with their cellphones, when teachers are giving an English lesson.

However, there are other reasons.  The number of English classes, in our country, 3 hours per week and the low possibilities in our schools to provide the adequate language environment. That is why as  teachers, we have to direct students to the different resources for learning outside the classroom and maybe this way, they could learn much more efficiently by themselves. According to Anderson (2008),  teachers should let students have more choices and begin to take responsibility for their own learning.  Harmer (2003) states; “Get them to write the questions, cut up texts (a bit too primary – like sometimes), write their own grammar exercises.  I mean somehow getting the ownership of the material over to them……put them in the center of the frame”. Harris (1991) suggests many ways on how to get students more “into the frame”. These include; giving them roles to help the teacher and the class, highlighting students in a positive fashion and using rewards.

Taking into account their age, teenagers usually want to get the control over the learning situation. Usually in a classroom, one of them becomes the “leader” and  could help the teacher with some discipline problems, not with aggression toward their partners, but also because that student is part of the group and talk their own language. As a teacher, I have had that experience, that allows that the student feels important, motivated and in the same way he or she involves the others.

For teenagers, on the other hand, to face a second language and the fact of speaking it in public  is so scary for them. So, maybe this could be a little demotivating frustrating and traumatic. Maybe that is the reason why they act toward this new learning like that. Besides teachers need to be more comprehensive and do not demand from the teenagers knowledge that they have not provided.

 Teachers need to ultimately  reflect upon the activities they address in the English class.   They could be more sensitive and try to create a warm atmosphere in the classroom, where the  teenage students   feel comfortable, self-confident and where their social learning  can be taken into account , and  at the same time the dread of teaching and learning  will end up for everyone.

Traditional education versus virtual education

                                                         Mauricio Andrés Manriquez

It has been proved that traditional education hasn’t been very useful for most people, and the main reason is because the learning process has taken place only in classrooms, and also because teachers have been the center of the class.

According to Thomas Frey in his writing “The Future of Education”, we as human beings learn since the moment we wake up and even learn when we are asleep, so with this research we can say that a classroom centric education is not necessary.

In the past the time used for learners to get information was way too much compared with the time they spend now to get the same information with a minimum of time. Also books are cheaper now than before and are easy to get them. That is why many people in the past couldn´t  have  a good education.

Nowadays  education is changing.  Learners have the opportunity to choose virtual education which means that they can learn from the place they want and manage their own time, too and a huge  number of the people in the world with access to the internet could benefit paying little money if compared with  traditional education and in some cases virtual education that  can be free.

According with statistics, virtual education is spreading all over the world and more people are becoming professionals, technicians, and getting master degrees. There is no doubt that you can get more benefits with the virtual education than with the traditional education, and the only things you need  in the virtual education are: a computer, access to the internet and computer skills to achieve your goals. 

A quality teacher or an entertaining one.

A Good Learning Process Depends on a Didactic Teacher, not on an Entertainer

María Eugenia Guapacha Chamorro

Institución Educativa República de Israel

Universidad del Valle

           

Nowadays the teaching process has been criticized by experts in education and even by people who have no knowledge about this field.  To come up with the fast-coming changes and new trends, many (traditional) teachers resort to dynamic and fun activities to make their lessons look more modern without changing deeply or modifying at all their teaching and linguistic views.  They unwillingly fall into a trap, that of entertainment or show business in class.  In this kind of attitude, making good lessons and having the students enjoy seems to be sufficient, for the teachers feel they have improved their teaching and that seems to be corroborated by the students’ liking their lessons.  It must be understood that mere entertainment is not enough; teachers need a sound didactic view to support what they do.

In ancient times, the teacher was considered  a master, a person who had all the knowledge related to his/her field.  Students did not have many options to choose; they were just limited to “swallow” what they got from their teachers.  Other sources and materials were restricted as well.  Close relationships between teachers and students were not necessary for each individual had his/her own responsibility in each process; teachers in charge of their teaching and students in charge of their learning. Classes were not supposed to be fun but hard work; and this view worked well: the students learned. this poses a question: are cognitive and affective aspects important in a teaching-learning process?

Being a teacher deals with several aspects that have to do with education.  A teacher should select an appropriate approach method, and procedures in order to involve and engage his/her students into their learning process.  He/she should be skilled in managing the didactics in his/her area that in this case is teaching a foreign language.

It is here where some confusion arises since many people confuse didactics with dynamic or fun activities.  A good teacher with a suitable didactics in class chooses a set of techniques and develops a plan, contents and methodology for his/her students to teach taking into account the theory and pedagogy.  Dynamic activities have to do with movement and they are close to games. Currently, with the influence of Pedagogy trends, schools and teachers are required to offer a good atmosphere to their “clients” that involves teachers to offer a good education and establish close relationships with students and parents.

In my point of view, this affective component (emotional factors, social relationships between teachers and students) helps learners feel comfortable when studying and approaching teachers.  These affective factors are relevant to build a good relationship but they are not mandatory; what really concerns  teaching is the proper didactics,  not just having fun in class which is not conducive to learning.  

 Many teachers are being forced to change their tendencies; of course if those tendencies are obsolete they need to be updated.  The point is that teachers might be  expected  to become  “clowns” in class, someone to entertain students to make their learning process meaningful and funny.  We do not need teachers dressed up like clowns with a huge red nose, big colorful clothes and long shoes who make students laugh all the time with a marvelous show.  We need creative teachers giving magic classes with new ideas and projects at school; a person who interacts with students and makes their learning easier through activities and tasks for them to solve.  We need teachers using technology in class and really entertaining pupils with fantastic stories and readings and talking about future and culture.  We need teachers who are updated in their field and are qualified to teach.

All in all, what we really need in our schools and universities are teachers capable of defending their point of view related to teaching;  a professional with proper methods and techniques which help their pupils love what they are learning; creative and fantastic teachers with a deep sense of respect for their learners, for their values and learning styles. We do not need merchants of education, liars offering courses and ideas that are not valuable in terms of relevance and educational process.  An effective teaching is not necessarily fun; good teaching is not mere entertainment; quality teachers are not entertainers, a teacher-centered lesson is not necessarily boring, games in class might be helpful but they should not replace meaningfulness and purpose.  A good teacher is an entertainer but an entertainer is not a good teacher; the difference is between means (fun, dynamic activities) and ends (learning).

Videogames are not an unserious activity, but a Powerful Teaching tool.

                                                                                                 Ivonne Alexandra Londoño Leudo

Throughout the years, videogames have had a huge impact in our lives. Some experts have demonstrated its negative effects  both in  human health and social behaviors. However, latest studies and research  related to meaningful teaching practices using ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) explain that videogames could be a stimulating factor for enhancing learning in any subject.  They are not  only a fun tool or distraction but also   a relevant part in the curriculum.

One advantage of videogames is the direct relationship with the ICTs Tools, which are considered   cutting-edge in education resources. they promote the  learner’s engagement to acquire knowledge, through the improvement of cognitive skills, visual-spatial, memory skills, multitasking skills, social values and also attitudes (Souvignier, 2001). Supporting this fact, there are some examples of the effective use of videogames: The history based and real time strategy computer game “Rise of Nations” developed by Big Huge Games in 2003, which is used to understand the development of societies where the player acts as a leader of a civilization, can create scenarios, learns about architecture through quests for conquering cities. As a result players develop strategic thinking, planning skills, math reasoning and also reading skills.

Moreover, the newest games have a clear purpose, to create a virtual environment involving not only visual and auditory tasks but also kinesthetic ones, demonstrated in the recent success of Nintendo Wii Fit, Nintendo DS, Xbox and Kinect. In fact, Microsoft worked with Dr. John Ratey (Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and author of “Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain”) experimented with a Kinect pilot program in two classrooms at Middleton Elementary School, finding the following results:

• ·         Showed a trend of improved executive function, which is the portion of the brain responsible for planning, problem-solving and working memory.
• ·         Showed a trend of increased attention, which resulted in better engagement and behavior during classroom lessons.
• ·         Reported higher levels of social understanding and acceptance among their peers, which helped reduce personal conflicts among classmates.

On top of that, studies related to Flynn Effect in digital societies which explain the increase of Intelligence Quotient (IQ), pointing out that “Children’s exposure to computer screens and, particularly, to videogames may have a similar long-term effect, individually and perhaps generationally, and there is already some research documenting it” (Newcombe & Huttenlocher, 2000). 

Nevertheless, Dr. Gentile (2007) in a scientific research on the positive and negative effects of media on children, adolescents, and adults, including such topics as media violence, educational media, video games, advertising, media ratings, and technology “addictions”, wrote that “playing violent games increases aggressive behaviors, increases aggressive cognitions, increases aggressive emotions, increases physiological arousal, and decreases prosocial behaviors”. 

On the contrary, regardless of all the negative evidence presented, these types of games promote the collaborative work, where everyone learns from the experiences of others, building self-confidence on the rise to success, respecting rules, interacting with the environment and improving its social awareness. Meanwhile, gamers have fun in their games, create social relationships respecting others points of view, rules, attitudes in their social groups. The game “Second Life” a virtual online world that was launched in 2003 is a great example of that, where people  can interact with others  around the world through their avatars.

 

For me, the gist of the matter is that video games are essential in the core of the curriculum.  Teachers should consider  the  advantages and disadvantages from these devices in planning classes. They need to understand that this tool will be useful for supporting traditional practices and bring students and teacher together in a friendly learning context.