In this 21st century, education has become very compulsory for many people who wish to gain more money or the work place which they wish to work in requires them to have some sort of certification of their qualification. since these kind of rules apply to everyone, there have been various ways in which IT has helped develop people's academic qualification, as well as make education a lot more interesting compared to the way it was in the past, when there is a certain period of time when people are suppose to be in education. That has now changed thanks to the development of IT, it has enabled many people of all ages to access any type of qualification at any time, there is no boundary for anyone of any age, gender, etc.
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Back in the times of when there were chalk boards, it was the only way teachers could makes notes on the boards for the students to copy. Although this method for the time was very good, is will sometimes build costs up because they will constantly be needing to buy chalk to write on the board, and if the board rubbers get worn down they will constantly need replacing. In addition to that we need to bear in mind that if all schools taught in this way, all classes will need the same thing, therefore a lot of money from the schools fund will be going towards buying these stationeries. This example shows how IT has changed the way people in this informational age teach as well as interact with their students. One of the ways that they have done this is the use if the Whiteboard interaction. This is basically when the laptop is connected to the projector, this then enables the teachers to show documents or presentations that they teacher may have done on advance. This saves time from having to write it all on a board when it has already been done, and all the students have to do is copy what has been typed. The next feature that the whiteboard has is being able to control what is on the board via on screen keyboard and mouse; this is a very easy way to navigate through pages without the use of the laptop. This makes the life of many teachers easier because they can interact better with the students, they can ask them to write the answer on the screen to involve them more, and it creates a different way of learning for students. This type of interaction is also used in lectures because since there are almost hundreds of people in one lecture room, having an interactive Whiteboard means that the university can have a bigger screen for the many students to see, and the lecturer can talk through very presentation. This feature is also in seminars, when students make a lot of presentations to report back to the class, this essentially can be done using different devices such as the Ipad, which is good for doing presentations in front of small groups of people.
Video of the Ipad on Education
Due to IT there are new way that kids, teenagers as well as adults can access information, as well as handing in the work online which can make it a lot more convenient for a lot f the users and teachers.
In this informational age, using IT is one of the fundamentals of education in the 21st century. It has helped make a lot of people's lives a lot more efficient and practical. There is a website called Fronter, which has been made especially for a number of reasons. Firstly students and teachers can communicate to each other at any time very easily thanks to Fronter because it has built in email service which allows this to happen, so it s very easy to ask the teacher a question and they can reply back in confidence. The next feature about Fronter the students are able to hand in work via Fronter, or they can easily send it. In this new age this is one of the features that will take over from written work as well as printed. It makes it easy for the teacher to mark the work online instead of having to flick through papers. In addition to that when the marking is over, the teacher can post it onto the students Fronter without having to say it in person, and the only people who will know the marks is between the teacher and the students, so there is a lot of confidentiality involved. a good thing about this is the student does not need to worry about being able to read the teachers handwriting and the marks will always be in their area if they choose to come back to it. Moreover the students can also check what the next topic they are doing, this makes it easy for the students to know what they need to revise for as well as checking their progress, and seeing if they need to redo a few topics based on the marks that have been given to them. Fronter is just about handing in work, but also for finding any resources that their teacher has put for them, there are many exam past papers that the students can look it, as well as blogs which help inform the user about what they may need to know. IT has helped a lot in this category because the students do not need to search for any resources when everything they need is one are on Fronter. Lastly Fronter has a test option which enables the students to try out what they're tests are like (multiple choice), the system on Fronter will then mark the test automatically. I feel that this kind of software will make other tests be done online due to the efficiency.
There are various reasons why a lot of universities especially have decided to have lectures online. Many students find it easier, and much more productive to just listen to their lecturer wherever they are instead of having to come to the lecture room. The good thing about this is when the students are listening to their teacher they can easily record what they are saying or they can jot down a few pints since they can easily come back to the video. another method of doing this would be using the Livescribe Digital Smartpen, this is kind of pen records any speech, and it also remembers what the user is writing using its special paper which come with the pen, all they need to do is plug it into the computer and whatever they wrote, or what the pen recorded will be saved in the user’s PC or laptop etc. Another good thing about video conferencing is that it is a different way of learning and it’s a lot more productive. Another reason would be if the teacher chooses to they can also publish what their lecture has been about on the Internet, this allows many people from around the world to access this kind of information, and can make a greater understanding of the subject than what they already knew. So the use in IT does not only benefit people within their school, college or university, it also has a global effect on many people who want the same kind of information. The next reason for video conferencing is that the students can work at their own pace almost, because they have all the information that they need online, and it creates a lot of independence amongst the students.
The next way which IT has changed education is the way teaching can be done online, all sorts of information about courses or about education can be found on the Internet. In terms of tutoring, some sites may charge the users but some may not, so in some cases it is worth paying for tutoring because the users may be interested in the subject or they they want to further their education.
One of the newest ways that IT has introduced education is via virtual learning, which includes sites such as Mymaths which helps a lot of students with their maths. This service provides various ways to help students from all ages learn different topics of maths, because of the way the Internet has revolutionised, many students can do free tutorials and questions, the only thing is that the students need to do is be registered with their school in order to log onto the site. It has changed the way students work as well as the way teachers teach within their lessons. Firstly there are numerous topics that the site offers, and it also shows the levels which they students are, whether it be GCSE or A Level, so there is a variety of choice for the user. There are some aspects of the site that allows the students to choose what grade boundary they want to work from, so the site shows what type of questions are for that particular grade. How this has affected education is that it allows the students to investigate for themselves what kind of questions they need to know in advance, so that they don't need to rely on the teacher so much. Mymaths is also a revision site so it’s a great way for the students to study and gain knowledge in their subject area. This isn't only for the students benefit but for teachers as well. Teachers are able to give better presentations because on Mymaths the presentations are already made, therefore it saves time for making presentations, and Mymaths is a very easy site to understand. As for students, teachers are able to set homework online, if the students get stuck on the topic they can always revisit the topic online rather than having to read a book. It also makes it more convenient for the students to do their work online because Mymaths automatically marks the paper so the students are able to see if they understand the topic and see if they are progressing, and the pass rate. The teacher also has access to see how their students are getting on in the subject, so in a way the teacher can use Mymaths as a way of assessing the way the students understand the certain subject. one good thing about Mymaths is that the students can cheat, if they get the a low mark on the online test, they are not going to get the same questions the second time round, so it does make it a lot better for them to study using different questions, at the same time it makes online tutoring a better source of finding different questions to answer.
Advantages of education
The good thing about education is that anyone at any age can have an education, there is no to limitation to what age any one can have a degree. There are various ways of education, which the student can pick from. One of the advantages of education is the many resources that they students have, such as finding information in libraries; the internet has thousands if not millions of recourses that the students can look at which makes it easier for many students to access information. The second reason is that to get education there is no need to be in a classroom, there are different companies that offer home learning, and companies such as ICS offer this kind of service. Home learning basically allows students to learn how to learn about themselves, and they can study in their own time which means that they can take as long as they want and they do not need to keep up with deadlines. it can also be a lot more efficient for a lot of people because they do not need to leave their house in order to have the education that they want. And some people may live far from the schools so it makes it more convenient for the students. In some cases having online education is a good way of saving money because going to university can cost a lot of money, but doing it online, may save costs for many people, and it might be more comfortable for them. And at the end of it all, they can get a higher job title because of the new qualification that they have achieved.
Disadvantages of education
There are several disadvantages of education that an affect numerous people. One of the first reasons is that because of the way IT has evolved through the years there is too much information that has been distributed over the Internet has made it easy for students to copy some of their work. In addition to that there are sites that actually have essays based on particular subjects or topics; all they have to do is pay a certain amount of money to have the essay worth quite a high grade. Secondly for students who are learning online it is very hard to work on their own, if they do not understand something. There is no class interaction therefore the only points that they will be making will be there's and they won't know how to get higher without any teaching. Sometimes it may not be because they don't understand it, but maybe because of they have family commitments and it will be too difficult for them to look after the family as well as learn at the same time. Another reason why some aspects of education are bad is because of the reliance of technology such as the smart white boards. in some cases, some school cannot afford to get the latest equipment so they end up missing out on a different learning style as well as making it easier for students and teachers to learn better. in addition to that for the schools that have the money to buy this equipment, it is possible for the system to crash, therefore the computers are not all that trustworthy, and it is possible to spend more money on fixing the equipment than what the price was originally when it was bought. another issue with education is that if the learning is being done online, it is not very easy for the teachers to track if they are making progress or not, maybe the students may be asking someone do it for them or cheating in some way, so sometimes learning online can prove quite difficult for teachers to keep track of progress. Lastly it is very difficult to study online if here isn't some kind of interaction between people, take for example if someone has ICS learning, how they can learn if they are the only ones they are dependent on, when it comes to teaching themselves. They have no teacher to give them guidance to what they need to do, or any other ideas from peers to get different opinions, so although online learning is good in some respect, the student may not get the full fundamentals of the course because they are doing it by themselves.
News stories relating to online eduction
This is a news story about how some countries insist on keeping their mobile phones on during classroom times. the way technology has changed the way we learn in some countries have changed dramatically, in Bangladesh, thanks to the Janala service, anyone who has a mobile phone has the chance to learn English simply by calling the number and listening to it. Mobile telecommunication is the fastest growing industry in Bangladesh, and the Janala service has already logged over 400,000 calls."We can't carry a dictionary everywhere," said one Bangladeshi student."But now we can carry a mobile phone which helps us learn."
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