Use of computer in different educational areas

USES OF COMPUTERS IN EDUCATION

“Computers in Education”

Abstract: Computers have become the life line of young generation. The present generation students like to embrace all the things in the ambit of this modern technology. The educators are feeling shy and reluctant to accept technology as their work partner. Will our present and the immediate next generation educators like to view the gap widening between them and further generation students in terms of usage of technology for teaching learning purpose or they would like to modernize themselves in the struggle to keep intact their responsible professional position intact? Are universities and institutions in the field of teacher education focusing upon the courses for using computers in education or they simply feel delighted to see the state boards at school level and National/State councils for Educational Research and Training are advancing at great speed to plan out integration of technology with education with teachers struggling to complete even the prescribed syllabus?

To ‘teach’is one of the simplest tasks! Just you know the content and “make available” a student willing to learn; start teaching. You may pursue a diploma/degree in education for teaching in more formalized structure. After completing a formal teacher training course, a teacher gets a tag of “A Qualified Teacher”. But does this really provide courage and confidence to face A MODERN TECHNOLOGICAL HIGH TECH CLASS OF YOUNG GENERATION? Today students of this modern generation are much advanced and smarter than their teachers in terms of usage of modern technical gadgets. It looks as if technology had been with the children since birth, especially computers been an integral part of child’s life and personality. He/she would once forget what his/her parents had instructed, but would never forget to be “Online” at a specified time to join his/her friends at chat room.

But they even want that computers should be there for their routine ‘boring education’, although not at the cost of their dearly loved teachers. Students are ready to accept the changes in their learning styles, but their teachers are feeling feared that computers are complicated to handle, if they are used in education for teaching learning purpose and computers might substitute the traditional teachers. Neither the pre-service teacher training courses are focusing to include computers in integration with education, nor are the in-service trainings focusing upon using computers in education. Schools all over the country are demanding teachers who are ready to initiate the process of Computer Assisted Instructions and initialize integration of technology with education, but the teachers we are producing are just like the conventional and that too overlapped with traditional methods of teaching. When the time will come, that universities and institutions in the field of teacher education, feel an urge to revise their curriculum keeping in view the modern technological changed society?

In order to meet the challenges provided by present society, many universities in the field of Teacher Education had introduced an optional course in computers. This only brought awareness about computers in the field of Teacher Education. The student-teachers were made to know about basic computer hardware and some software application packages. But keeping in mind the interest and psychology of modern learner, many universities tried to ‘Integrate Technology with Education’. They primarily focused upon use of computers in education hence; they initiated to teach a core paper “Computers in Education” with other foundation papers in education, so as to initiate a process of making a relation between teacher-computer-student.

Although National Curriculum Framework (NCF 2005) and Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education (2006) prepared by National Council For Teacher Education in collaboration with National Council of Educational Research and Training, had urged to focus upon integration of technology with education, yet many universities not bothered to reframe their traditional curriculum for Teacher Education. And those universities who tried to initiate the process were faced by different challenges including lack of specialists and professionals to frame proper curriculum, curriculum as per needs of modern developing India with global economy, teacher educators and study material for such curriculum etc. There are indeed many specialized teachers and a plethora of study material for technical knowledge in computers, but we lack teacher educators and resources for teaching computers in relation to education. We indeed lack Teacher Educators who are willing to integrate technology with education.

A suggestive curriculum framework needs to be framed by National Council for Teacher Education and hence appropriate syllabus should be developed by different universities and authoritative institutions in the field of Teacher Education, so as to cover the prescribed framework. Real life uses of Computers in Education

Teaching Learning process

• Instructions:

o Instructing the students using PowerPoint slides, Word documents or Web pages and using hyperlinks for better concept clarity.

o Helps in improving pronunciation of students by using microphones, headphones, speakers, specially prepared software and special dedicated websites.

o Video conferencing, chat and email helps in better communication, hence better concept clarity. Also concept of E-tutor has given access to teachers instantly and given teachers a better chance to earn.

o Current syllabus can be viewed through website of the concerned school board; made available to students if teacher has made a website and uploaded using Internet; and updating- using web could be done easily.

o Inspiring students to express their imagination using Paint Brush

o Encouraging the students to surf web pages and gather relevant detailed information through web pages. o Readymade software could give practice material to students

• Learning:

o Collecting notes /pictures/videos from web pages for detailed information and projects/assignments.

o Saving the documents as soft copy for future use

o Learning through animations, as they are much near to the students

o E-books/online libraries/online encyclopedias help to guide in minutes and save precious time and resources.

o Creating videos using images, albums for better power point slides.

o Simulated Learning gives them an idea of the real situation.

o Publication of pamphlet/brochures for awareness with institution and among community members Testing and Evaluation process • o Keeping records of students for their academic scores o Keeping records in relation to personal history o Creating question bank for students o Using computers for testing by asking questions from question bank o Online Testing and Evaluation o Analysis and interpretation of the data o Previous year Question papers and sample papers using web sites.

Guidance purposes

o With reference to collective records of the students maintained year wise, stored in computers o Testing for aptitude, interest, psychology using computer data bases and internet.

Library

o Documents stored as soft copy for students/faculty members use o Online magazines , journals, brochures , research articles o Records of the books/record of the books maintained using special library software. o Records of the issues and returns of the books.

School Administration

• o Records of students(personal, academic, financial) o Records of employees of school o Accounts of the institution o Decision making process o Aid to memory with minimum paper work o Eye on current regulations of government and affiliating school boards and related authorities o School canteen for billing o Fees collection and maintenance of fees record. o Circulation of instruction/notices and getting it in printed form o Preparation of school magazine.

Framework for using Computers in Education

 Computers in the modern society

 Basic computer hardware

 Software application packages (like word processors, spread sheets, multimedia etc.) and their utility in education

 Development of Question Bank and interactive quizzes for evaluation

 Using Internet as communicative and research tool

 E-learning

 Copyright issues and the relative issues

 Computer Assisted Instructions

 Computers Enhancing Teaching Learning Process

 Integration of Technology with Education

 Lesson plans demonstrating use of computers in teaching

Higher Education

1. All universities and colleges in the United States are furnished with computer labs. Because many professors require their students to turn in typed documents, it is more convenient to have computer labs on campus for student use

Faculty Usage

2. Teachers at all levels use computers to administer assignments, keep track of grades or offer online instruction. Many teachers use online resources in their daily lessons.

Online Education

3. There is an entire "sub-industry" of education called "online education." Online education is done primarily through the usage of computers and the Internet where the student does the classwork from home.

Self-Learning

4. In addition to books, video and other materials, self-directed learners often use computers to continue their education outside of, or in addition to, traditional facilities.

Social Networking

5. Popular networking sites like MySpace and Facebook can also be used for educational purposes, as some instructors integrate aspects of those sites into their lessons.