Group 3: "Team Rouge" (Emily Mitchell, Vivian Ho, Harrison Yeung, Carling Barnes, Justin Fentie): Learning and Technology

Group Members

 * Emily Mitchell
 * Vivian Ho
 * Harrison Yeung
 * Carling Barnes
 * Justin Fentie

Topic
Technology: Computers Issue: Education Technology

Introduction/Initial Statement
Since the dawn of time, humans have always been learning. Learning to live, to feed and clothe themselves. In order to do so humans have had to rely on their five senses, touch, taste, sight, hearing and scent. However, in this modern age and Western world, most learning is done within classrooms in which sight and hearing are relied upon. And now, with the advent of technology literally at the fingertips of many, has learning taken on a new definition, a new approach? The aim of this project is to assess the impact that technology has had on learning. We seek to find the advantages and disadvantages of having technology within a teaching and learning environment.

Evolution of History of Learning

 * The abacus was one of the first counting machines. The abacus was an early aid for mathematical computations. Contrary to the popular belief that abacus’s originated from China; the oldest surviving abacus was dated back to 300 B.C. by the Babylonians. A modern abacus consists of rings that slide over rods, but the original styled abacus dates from the time when pebbles were used for counting. The abacus is a representation many human fingers: the 5 lower beads on each rod represent the 5 fingers and the 2 upper beads represent the 2 hands. As time progressed other rudimentary technologies were created to make math problems more efficient. One such example is Napier’s bones. When first created in 1617 by a Scotsman, John Napier, this table contained logarithms carved into ivory bones. Napier’s bones took on a new look in 1632 when the first slide rule was constructed. The slide rule can still be seen in use to this day.




 * The first calculating machine was constructed in as early as 1623 by a German professor by the name of Wilhelm Schickard. This gear-driven calculating machine was named the Calculating Clock, but never received its due credit. In 1642, at the age of nineteen, Blaise Pascal invented the Pascaline. The Pascaline was a gear-driven, adding calculator. Although this device was ahead of its time, the Pascaline lacked consistent accuracy as at the time it was not possible to fabricate gears with the required precision. Several years after Pascal, a German by the name of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz built a four-function calculator. He named this technology the stepped Reckoner. This device employed the use of ten flutes arranged in a stair-step fashion. Leibniz’s stepped Reckoner served as an essential contribution to the operation of modern computers. Charles Babbage in 1834, designed a device named the Analytic Engine, consisting of a store and a mill. The store held the numbers and the mill “wove” the numbers into new results. Both the mill and store exist in modern day computers, and are now called the memory unit and the central processing unit. Babbage’s machine was never constructed, but his blueprints for the design were recorded, earning him some recognition for the design. In 1890, Herman Hollerith created the Hollerith desk which consisted of a card reader (sensed holes), a gear driven mechanism which could count, and a large wall of dial indicators which displayed the desk’s calculations.




 * In 1944 the first electro-mechanical computer was created. Named the Harvard Mark I, this was the first programmable digital computer ever to be introduced in the United States. In 1965, Konrad Zuse’s work was first introduced to the English speaking community. Zuse had been constructing general use computers in Nazi Germany for the past two decades. It is assumed that Zuse’s third machine was likely the first digital, programmable, general-purpose computer made. ENIAC is most commonly referred to as the forefather of today’s all-electronic digital computer. ENIAC was built at the University of Pennsylvania between 1943 and 1945 by two professors, John Mauchly and J. Presper Eckert. ENIAC proved to have several problems; its design incorporated 18 000 vacuum tubes, which were notoriously unreliable, and all of which were needed to work simultaneously. Also, ENIAC was only able to hold 20 numbers at a time.


 * ENIAC was the beginning of the computer age. In 1971, Intel invented the microprocessor which was a way of getting all of the information of a single computer on to one chip.  After that in 1975, the world’s first PC was released to the public.  The MITS ALTAIR was the first PC and its rough value at the time was around $500.  The Altair had no outputs and the results of the program were displayed by flashing lights on the front of the model.   Since then technology has flowed in to improved PC’s, the Internet, Laptops, and SMARTboards.

Advantages to Technology within Education and Classrooms
Throughout history, and still in the modern world today, different technologies are still being invented to aid students in their learning process. For instance, the usage of computers, online learning, and SMARTboards has gradually gained popularity as we, humans adapted to technology, as it is now an important part of our lives.

Education technology is beneficial to society because it substantially improves learning in various different ways. Some of these outcomes include creating higher grades, and helping students understand the course material more in depth, while getting them more involved in their learning environment. Also, a multi-tooled environment arouse various learning methods and learning styles, which allows students to learn using the techniques that are most helpful to them. It is an ideal method of teaching because it makes abstract concepts clearly visible to students, through auditory learning, visual learning, and kinesthetic learning, which involves carrying out physical activities.

Online Learning with Computers
The students’ motivation to participate is a very important learning process. Compared to classroom lectures, where some students are afraid of expressing their opinions in the class, computer based instruction allows each and every one of them to contribute more willingly. Also, with courses having their material posted online, students are able to access lecture notes easily with a click of a button. Thus, online learning is convenient and valuable for students who do not live within city limits.

The Internet, the most effective feature of the computer, allows students to access all types of information, which progressively expands their knowledge over time. In addition, there are many problem solving and instructional games that are created to help students get active with their minds.

Laptops and Computers
Computers make learning easier for students to comprehend the course material. It has been proven that by using computers to learn, there were significant gains in the students’ knowledge and academic pursuit. Not only do computers help students understand the material by enriching concepts in lectures, but they also assist teachers, who are able to prepare the lecture notes more efficiently by creating PowerPoint’s and word documents.

Furthermore, students’ writings are enhanced when they use word processors to edit their work. This is because they are not required to rewrite their written work in order to revise it, so the students are able to spend more time improving their piece.

SMARTboards
SMARTboards is a recent technology that was introduced in 1991, and it is being used today to help students connect with the learning material. SMARTboards work like computers, but they look like whiteboards and come with LCD projectors. Students are able to touch the screen with their hands or a stylus, which increases participation in the classroom in a more fun and exciting way.

Case Study
Recently, the Florida legislature has passed a new law, which comes to effect starting next fall for the Department of Education (DOE). This law requires school districts in Florida to provide fulltime or part-time virtual instruction to students in grades 9-12. This was intended to give parents more alternatives to decide how they want their children to be educated.

“These virtual schools offer additional flexibility and personalization for students who learn best outside of the traditional classroom. It allows parents to be directly involved in their child’s education while receiving support from certified teachers. Further, it is held accountable for student and school performance.” – Florida DOE

Online Learning with Computers
The quality of information found online isn’t always accurate and can lead students in the wrong direction. Cheating and plagiarism is easy for lazy students who haven’t put the time into proper research. It becomes a distraction and makes it difficult for teachers to gain the attention of students who are on computers and may or may not be actually doing the required tasks. Students have access to online sites where predators have a way to lure children. Much is lost in face to face interaction and many students lose a need to go to classes when the notes are posted online. If students do go to class and have access to computers it poses a threat as a distraction for the students to play games and not pay attention to the material the teacher is trying to get across to them. There are cost issues along with unfair expectations that all students have high internet connections and access to sites or programs to do homework. At home students can again be distracted by games by doing homework on computers.

Disadvantages for Teachers and Students
Because of the teacher- student relationship that occurs within learning situations, whatever may disadvantage the teacher will most likely disadvantage the student as well.

Factors to consider:

Cost and available equipment One of the problems that may arise with a switch to using technology within classrooms could be that certain course material won't be available for low income students. This will then hurt academically because they are essentially missing a part of their education because their families or they themselves cannot pay for a computer. This barrier exists at the institution level as well. Especially when dealing with schools that deal with learning disabilities. Information technology can definitely give a much needed edge to students with disabilities, but what if the school does not have enough funding to purchase it? Now the disabled children are at a disadvantage perpetuating the vicious cycle controlled by education funding.

Knowledge Another factor to consider is the knowledge of how to operate computer systems. With an aging teaching generation, new technology may be difficult to learn. Thus, with a teacher unsure of how to use a particular computer program or software, it becomes very difficult for him or her to teach students who also don't know how to use the software. 

Conclusion
The use of educational technology has many advantages and disadvantages. The main advantages would be improving learning through different techniques, convenience and less work. The main disadvantages would be cost, malfunctions, accuracy, pilgrims, cheating, and distractions. So in conclusion the use of educational technology has many disadvantages and advantages. Whether it be providing students with the opportunity to learn at home or go on facebook in class, educational technology has its many ups and downs.

Note
Our group was set up differently than most other groups in the fact that we split our group into researchers and tech people. That is why our references are listed the way they are, as well as, there being only 3 names in the history of the page.