Etc 567 Paper

Educational Foundations Running head: EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS AND TECHNOLOGY USAGE

Educational Foundations and Technology Usage Peter C. Frank Northern Arizona University

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Abstract This paper examines the history of education and technology as well as the way technology developed. It also looks at factors affecting technology, as well as, the positive and negative impacts technology has had on society and education. The topics of technology in the life of people, such as telephones, television, instant messaging, e-mail, and chat rooms were examined. The topic of the knowledge and experience of educators using the technology in schools today was brought out. It is explained that the technology is only as effective as the educator employing it. The paper concludes with some suggestions from the writer on what designers and manufactures of technology could perhaps do to improve the negative aspects of technology.

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Educational Foundations and Technology Usage

History of Education and Technology According to Petrina (2002), in 1924, psychologists Otis Caldwell and Stuart Courtis envisioned: “The School of Tomorrow” will pay far more attention to individuals than the schools of the past. Each child will be studied and measured repeatedly from many angles, both as a basis of prescriptions for treatment and as a means of controlling development. The new education will be scientific in that it will rest on a fact basis. All development of knowledge and skill will be individualized, and classroom practice and recitation as they exist today in conventional schools will largely disappear. “The School of Tomorrow” would use mechanical equipment, radios, and movies to reveal a world beyond the limits of books and recitations. Textbooks would be constructed for individual success and to underwrite a program of self-rehabilitation. Psychologists, through experiments in laboratories and in schools of education would discover what everyone should know and the best way to learn essential elements. In the surveillant spaces of “The School of Tomorrow”, hygienically regulated students would learn essential items. (Petrina, 2002, pp. 75-111). Factors Affecting Technology in Schools Technology, computer technology in education in particular, has had a slow start. (Zhao and Frank (2003) stated: …[M]any educational researchers and practitioners, policymakers, and concerned citizens [worried] about the frustratingly slow adoption of computers and other modern

technologies in schools. Although computer technology [was] quickly spreading to almost every part of our lives…, the introduction of technology in schools has been less than successful. (p. 807) This lack of success has been attributed partly to “computer technology itself….First, there are conflicting ideas about the value of technology and hence conflicting advice to teachers about how technology should be used in schools (Cuban, 1999).” (Zhao & Frank, 2003, p. 807)

Technology in Today’s Schools In our schools today, “the most frequently used technologies are e-mail, telephone systems, and computers in the classroom.” (Zhao & Frank, 2003, p.820) Today … teachers use computers more in the classroom than in the computer lab…” (Zhao & Frank, p. 820). In my school, for example, quite a few of the teachers have computer projectors that are used quite frequently in conjunction with class lectures. Mathematics teachers are using smart boards in their classes. PowerPoint®, Excel®, and Word® are but a few other applications being used by faculties in schools. These applications are effective for lecture presentations, data gathering, analysis, and graphing, and for construction of various paper and pencil assessments. Assessments such as quizzes, tests, essays, or true or false exams.

Technology and Society Online social networks are quite commonplace in today’s society. We have telephone systems and television in our homes, and on our computers we have e-mail, instant messaging, blogs, discussion groups and chat rooms to mention just a few. Many people enjoy the instant communication capabilities this technology gives us. We can share ideas, information, data, design ideas, and like Peter Barrett, chief technology officer and general manager of engineering

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for the Microsoft's TV Division at Microsoft Corporation, said, “…baby pictures, pictures of my kids, and pictures of my friends and family.” (Barrett, P. & Rafer, S. 2008) Many people enjoy participating in instant messaging; discussion groups like those used in this course, and chat rooms. This writer has a particular fondness for chat rooms for that is the means by which he and his lovely wife met. As with everything else in our society, technology has its positive and negative impacts on society. Reliability of the technology is a major point of consideration. If the technology has a good record of reliability, it is then generally accepted as something good to have or use. On the other hand a record of poor reliability can be the downfall of that same technology. A case in point would be the copier at our school. It was purchased brand new, but saw so much use it soon fell into a state of needing constant repair. It was usually out of service more than in, so faculty started using other means to make copies. There were those that would go to the computer lab and use their small desktop copier for small quantities of copies. There were those of us that had scanners so we could simply copy right from our computer. It was not long before the copier saw no use, even when it was repaired and working fine. Now it has been replaced with a refurbished model and people are, after having it in place for approximately one month, beginning to trust it to hold up. Another positive impact of technology how it can help society. Imagine doctors here in the United States sending x-rays and patient information to doctors in another country for a consultation. The meeting is in real time so the doctors get the information they were seeking and the patient gets the treatment needed. Paramedics in ambulances speeding to a hospital can call ahead with vital information so a triage team can be waiting to render treatment thereby saving valuable, perhaps life saving, time. In education, teachers can use the technology to enhance their lectures. They can also use

it as a mind tool to let the students learn by doing, consulting, collaborating, and constructing while the teacher stands by as a facilitator to the acquisition of the intended knowledge. The negative impact this has is that if the teacher does not possess the necessary knowledge and experience with the technology, then all is lost as far as the effectiveness of this technology as a learning instrument.

Conclusion In this paper it was brought out that early on in the history of technology, psychologists saw a future where technology attentions would be drawn from the individual to a society as a whole. We saw the impact of technology on society and education. There was also discussion of the positive and negative impacts of technology on society and education. In the opinion of this writer there will always be the good and bad points, or positive and negative impacts of whatever technology comes along in the future. It matters not if it is energy efficient transportation, artificial intelligence, or improved appliances in the home, the good and the bad of those technologies is inherent in them. It is the suggestion of this writer that people push technology’s designers and manufactures by whatever means available to come up with more reliable technology. We must also drive our legislature to come up with legislation to make the technology we and our children use every time we log on to the internet and search the World Wide Web safer. There must be improved means to identify, prevent, and punish those that employ fraud, scams, and predatory tactics on the internet. If the technology available to our educators from elementary to higher education is to be effective, then we must ensure that our educators are properly trained in the use of the technology. We must therefore push our school district, superintendents, and local school administrators to ensure that all faculty members under their control are properly trained.

Educational Foundations

References Patina, S. (2002). Getting a purchase on "The School of Tomorrow" and its constituent commodities: Histories and historiographies of technologies. History of Education Quarterly, 42 (1), 75-111. Zhao, Y., & Frank, K. A. (2003a). Factors affecting technology uses in schools: An ecological perspective. American Educational Research Journal, 40 (4), 807-840. Barrett, P. & Rafer, S. (2008). Shrinking the planet. IT Conversations. Podcast retrieved from http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail715.html

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