Education technology

Technology is an increasingly influential factor in education. Computers and mobile phones are being widely used in developed countries both to complement established education practices and develop new ways of learning such as online education (a type of distance education). This gives students the opportunity to choose what they are interested in learning. The proliferation of computers also means the increase of programming and blogging. Technology offers powerful learning tools that demand new skills and understandings of students, including Multimedia, and provides new ways to engage students, such as Virtual learning environments. Technology is being used more not only in administrative duties in education but also in the instruction of students. The use of technologies such as PowerPoint and interactive whiteboard is capturing the attention of students in the classroom. Technology is also being used in the assessment of students. One example is the Audience Response System (ARS), which allows immediate feedback tests and classroom discussions.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are a “diverse set of tools and resources used to communicate, create, disseminate, store, and manage information.”^[14] These technologies include computers, the Internet, broadcasting technologies (radio and television), and telephony. There is increasing interest in how computers and the Internet can improve education at all levels, in both formal and non-formal settings.^[15] Older ICT technologies, such as radio and television, have for over forty years been used for open and distance learning, although print remains the cheapest, most accessible and therefore most dominant delivery mechanism in both developed and developing countries.^[16]

The use of computers and the Internet is still in its infancy in developing countries, if these are used at all, due to limited infrastructure and the attendant high costs of access. Usually, various technologies are used in combination rather than as the sole delivery mechanism. For example, the Kothmale Community Radio Internet uses both radio broadcasts and computer and Internet technologies to facilitate the sharing of information and provide educational opportunities in a rural community in Sri Lanka.^[17] The Open University of the United Kingdom (UKOU), established in 1969 as the first educational institution in the world wholly dedicated to open and distance learning, still relies heavily on print-based materials supplemented by radio, television and, in recent years, online programming.^[18] Similarly, the Indira Gandhi National Open University in India combines the use of print, recorded audio and video, broadcast radio and television, and audio conferencing technologies.^[19]

The term "computer-assisted learning" (CAL) has been increasingly used to describe the use of technology in teaching.

Teaching

Teachers need the ability to understand a subject well enough to convey its essence to a new generation of students.^{[citation needed]} The goal is to establish a sound knowledge base on which students will be able to build as they are exposed to different life experiences.^{[citation needed]} The passing of knowledge from generation to generation allows students to grow into useful members of society.^{[citation needed]} Good teachers can translate information, good judgment, experience and wisdom into relevant knowledge that a student can understand and retain.^{[citation needed]} As a profession, teaching has very high levels of Work-Related Stress (WRS)^[12] which are listed as amongst the highest of any profession in some countries, such as the United Kingdom. The degree of this problem is becoming increasingly recognized and support systems are put into place.^[13]

Education process

Learning modalities

There has been a great deal of work on learning styles over the last two decades. Dunn and Dunn^[3] focused on identifying relevant stimuli that may influence learning and manipulating the school environment, at about the same time as Joseph Renzulli^[4] recommended varying teaching strategies. Howard Gardner^[5] identified individual talents or aptitudes in his Multiple Intelligences theories. Based on the works of Jung, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and Keirsey Temperament Sorter^[6] focused on understanding how people's personality affects the way they interact personally, and how this affects the way individuals respond to each other within the learning environment. The work of David Kolb and Anthony Gregorc's Type Delineator^[7] follows a similar but more simplified approach.

It is currently fashionable to divide education into different learning "modes". The learning modalities^[8] are probably the most common:^[9]

• Kinesthetic: learning based on hands-on work and engaging in activities.
• Visual: learning based on observation and seeing what is being learned.
• Auditory: learning based on listening to instructions/information.

It is claimed that, depending on their preferred learning modality, different teaching techniques have different levels of effectiveness.^[10] A consequence of this theory is that effective teaching should present a variety of teaching methods which cover all three learning modalities so that different students have equal opportunities to learn in a way that is effective for them.^[11]

Education curriculum

An academic discipline is a branch of knowledge which is formally taught, either at the university, or via some other such method. Functionally, disciplines are usually defined and recognized by the academic journals in which research is published, and by the learned societies to which their practitioners belong.^{[citation needed]} Professors say schooling is 80% psychological, 20% physical effort.^{[citation needed]}

Each discipline usually has several sub-disciplines or branches, and distinguishing lines are often both arbitrary and ambiguous. Examples of broad areas of academic disciplines include the natural sciences, mathematics, computer science, social sciences, humanities and applied sciences.^[2]

Alternative education

Alternative education, also known as non-traditional education or educational alternative, is a broad term which may be used to refer to all forms of education outside of traditional education (for all age groups and levels of education). This may include both forms of education designed for students with special needs (ranging from teenage pregnancy to intellectual disability) and forms of education designed for a general audience which employ alternative educational philosophies and/or methods.

Alternatives of the latter type are often the result of education reform and are rooted in various philosophies that are commonly fundamentally different from those of traditional compulsory education. While some have strong political, scholarly, or philosophical orientations, others are more informal associations of teachers and students dissatisfied with certain aspects of traditional education^{[citation needed]}. These alternatives, which include charter schools, alternative schools, independent schools, and home-based learning vary widely, but often emphasize the value of small class size, close relationships between students and teachers, and a sense of community^{[citation needed]}.

In certain places, especially in the United States, the term alternative may largely refer to forms of education catering to "at risk" students, as it is, for example, in this definition drafted by the Massachusetts Department of Education. ^[1]

Education systems

Education systems

Schooling simply occurs when society or a group or class or an individual designs a curriculum to educate people, usually the young.^{[citation needed]} Schooling can become systematic and thorough. Sometimes education systems can be used to promote doctrines or ideals as well as knowledge, which is known as social engineering. This can lead to political abuse of the system, particularly in totalitarian states and government.

[edit] Primary education

Primary or elementary education consists of the first years of formal, structured education that occur during childhood. In most countries, it is compulsory for children to receive primary education^{[citation needed]} (though in many jurisdictions it is permissible for parents to provide it). Primary education generally begins when children are four to eight years of age^{[citation needed]}. The division between primary and secondary education is somewhat arbitrary, but it generally occurs at about eleven or twelve years of age (adolescence); some educational systems have separate middle schools with the transition to the final stage of secondary education taking place at around the age of fourteen. Mostly schools which provide primary education are referred to as primary schools. Primary schools in these countries are often subdivided into infant schools and junior schools.

[edit] Secondary education

Main article: Secondary education

In most contemporary educational systems of the world, secondary education consists of the second years of formal education that occur during adolescence.^{[citation needed]} It is characterised by transition from the typically compulsory, comprehensive primary education for minors to the optional, selective tertiary, "post-secondary", or "higher" education (e.g., university, vocational school) for adults.^{[citation needed]} Depending on the system, schools for this period or a part of it may be called secondary or high schools, gymnasiums, lyceums, middle schools, colleges, or vocational schools. The exact meaning of any of these varies between the systems. The exact boundary between primary and secondary education varies from country to country and even within them, but is generally around the seventh to the tenth year of schooling. Secondary education occurs mainly during the teenage years. In the United Kingdom and Canada primary and secondary education together are sometimes referred to as K-12 education, and in New Zealand Year 1-13 is used. The purpose of secondary education can be to give common knowledge, to prepare for either higher education or sex education, or to train directly to a profession.

Higher education, also called tertiary, third stage or post secondary education, often known as academia, is the non-compulsory educational level following the completion of a school providing a secondary education, such as a high school, secondary school, or gymnasium^{[citation needed]}. Tertiary education is normally taken to include undergraduate and postgraduate education, as well as vocational education and training. Colleges and universities are the main institutions that provide tertiary education. Collectively, these are sometimes known as tertiary institutions.Tertiary education generally results in the receipt of certificates, diplomas, or academic degrees.

Higher education includes teaching, research and social services activities of universities, and within the realm of teaching, it includes both the undergraduate level (sometimes referred to as tertiary education) and the graduate (or postgraduate) level (sometimes referred to as graduate school). Higher education in that country generally involves work towards a degree-level or foundation degree qualification. In most developed countries a high proportion of the population (up to 50%) now enter higher education at some time in their lives. Higher education is therefore very important to national economies, both as a significant industry in its own right, and as a source of trained and educated personnel for the rest of the economy.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Adult education

Lifelong, or adult, education has become widespread in many countries.^{[citation needed]} However, education is still seen by many as something aimed at children, and adult education is often branded as adult learning or lifelong learning. Adult education takes on many forms, from formal class-based learning to self-directed learning.

Lending libraries provide inexpensive informal access to books and other self-instructional materials. The rise in computer ownership and internet access has given both adults and children greater access to both formal and informal education. In Scandinavia a unique^{[citation needed]} approach to learning termed folkbildning has long been recognised as contributing to adult education through the use of learning circles. Mode of Education. 1-formal education, 2-informal education , 3-Non formal education.

Formal Education:- the hierarchically structured, chronologically graded education system, running from primary school through the university and including, in addition to general academic studies, a variety of specialized programs and institutions for full time technical and professional training.

Informal Education:- The truly lifelong process whereby every individual acquires attitude, values, skills and knowledge form daily experience and the educative influences and resources in his or her environment from family and neighbors, from work and play, from the market place the library and the mass media.

Non-Formal Education

any organized educational activity outside the established formal system- whether operating separately or as an important feature of some broader activity that is intended to serve identifiable learning clienteles and learning objectives.

Education for all

Education encompasses teaching and learning specific skills, and also something less tangible but more profound: the imparting of knowledge, positive judgment and well-developed wisdom. Education has as one of its fundamental aspects the imparting of culture from generation to generation (see socialization). Education means 'to draw out', facilitating realisation of self-potential and latent talents of an individual. It is an application of pedagogy, a body of theoretical and applied research relating to teaching and learning and draws on many disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, computer science, linguistics, neuroscience, sociology —often more profound than they realize—though family teaching may function very informally.