Articles

Technology in Education: An Overview - Part 2

by Charlotte Lancaster We believe in Quality
What Is Blended Learning?
In its simplest terms, blended studying combines traditional, teacher-to-student lessons with technology-based instruction.

Many schools and districts use a “rotation” model, which is often seen as an effective means of providing students with more personalized instruction and smaller group experiences. In some cases, saving money (through larger overall class sizes, for example) is also a goal. The basic premise involves college students rotating between online and in-person stations for different parts of the time. There are various versions of this approach, however: Do learners stay in the classroom or go to a computer lab? Read about VR Real Estate Platforms, Android App Development Toronto, and much more.

Does online instruction include core content, or is it primarily for remediation? Are all students doing the same thing online, or do different students have various software and learning experiences?

One big craze for universities involves trying to be sure that what happens online is connected with what goes on during face-to-face interactions with teachers. That could involve offering teachers a say in selecting the software that students use, for instance, or making a concerted effort to ensure online programs supply teachers with data that is useful in making timely instructional decisions.

Another trend involves boosting students’ access to the Internet outside of school. Robust blended understanding programs involve “anytime, anywhere” access to learning content for college students­-a major challenge in many communities.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle confronting educators interested in blended learning, though, is the lack of a solid research base. As of now, there is still no definitive evidence that blended studying works (or doesn’t.) While some studies have found encouraging results with specific applications or under specific circumstances, the issue of whether blended understanding positively impacts college student learning still has a mostly unsatisfactory answer: “It depends.”

WHAT'S the Position of Tech Infrastructure and the E-Rate?
The promise of technology in the classroom is almost entirely dependent on reliable infrastructure. But in many parts of the country, schools still struggle to get affordable access to high-speed Internet and/or robust wireless connectivity.

A typical school district network involves multiple elements. In 2014, the Government Communications Commission set up connectivity targets for some of the parts:

A connection to the broader Web provided by an outside service provider to the district office (or another central district hub).
Target: 100 megabits per second per 1,000 students in the short-expression, and 1 Gigabit per second per 1,000 students inside the long-term.
A “Wide Area Network” that provides system connections between the district’s main hub and all of its campuses, workplace buildings, and other facilities.
Target: Connections capable of delivering 10 Gigabits per 2nd per 1,000 students.
“Local Area Networks” that provide connections within a school, including the equipment necessary to provide Wi-Fi service inside classrooms.
Focus on: The FCC recommended a survey to determine a suitable measure. Numerous school-technology advocates call for internal connections that support 1-to-1 computing.

To support institutions (and libraries) in building and paying for these networks, the FCC in 1996 established a program known as the E-rate. Fees on consumers’ phone bills fund the program, which provides paid out more than $30 billion since its inception.

In 2014, the commission overhauled the E-rate, raising the program’s annual spending cap from $2.4 billion to $3.9 billion and prioritizing support for broadband service and wireless networks. The adjustments were already being felt as of Fall 2015; after steadily declining for years, the number of academic institutions and libraries applying for E-rate funds for wireless network products skyrocketed, with nearly all of the applicants expected to receive a portion of the $1.6 billion in overall wireless-related requests.

How Is Online Testing Evolving?
The biggest development on this front has been states’ adoption of online exams aligned with the Common Core State Standards. During the 2014-15 school year, 10 states (plus the District of Columbia) used exams from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), and 18 states used examinations from the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, all of which were delivered primarily online. Many of the other states also used on the internet assessments.

The 2015-16 school year will be the first in which more state-required summative assessments in U.S. middle and elementary schools will be shipped via technology rather than document and pencil, according to a recent analysis by EdTech Methods, an educational technology consulting firm.

Beyond meeting legislative mandates, perceived benefits include cost savings, ease of administration and evaluation, and the potential to employ complex performance duties.

How Are Digital Materials Used in Classrooms?
Digital instructional content material is the largest slice of the (non-hardware) K-12 educational technologies market, with yearly sales of more than $3 billion. That includes digital classes in math, English/language arts, and science, as well as “specialty” subjects such as business and great arts. The market is still dominated by giant publishers such as for example Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Pearson, who have been scrambling to transition from their print-centric legacy products to more digital offerings.

But newcomers with one-off items or specific areas of knowledge have made inroads, and some apps and on-line services have also gained massive traction inside of schools.

Because of this, many schools use a mix of digital assets, touting possible benefits such as greater ability to personalize, higher engagement among learners, enhanced capability to keep articles updated and current, and greater interactivity and adaptivity (or responsiveness to individual learners).

Still, even though, the changeover to digital instructional materials is happening slowly, for reasons that range from the financial (for districts that haven’t been able to purchase devices for all students, for example) to the technical (districts that lack the infrastructure to support every pupil being online jointly.) Print still accounts for about 70 percent of pre-K-12 instructional materials sales in the United States.


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About Charlotte Lancaster Advanced   We believe in Quality

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Created on Dec 31st 2020 00:06. Viewed 193 times.

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