Learning to Use Technology
Learning to Use Technology
How do you begin to use technology in education? What should you
be doing? While a complete answer to these questions would take a
long time here are some possible things to do now.
- Assess what is going on around you. What is happening in your
field? What kind of technology are people using? What is out-of-date and what are the new trends? Look for colleagues that are currently using technology in their courses.
Ask them to show you what they are doing and how they are doing
it.
- Get access to a computer, if necessary buy your own! Don't expect
that your employer can afford to keep your skills up to date by
providing you with the latest equipment or training. A rapidly
changing world requires individuals to take responsibility for
their own expertise.
- If working in an IBM environment, learn how to use Windows. Learn
about the Internet. Find out what is available on the Net and how
to find it. When ready, get an Internet account and begin to
explore the possibilities of using the Net for your students'
benefit.
- Replace your use of overheads and films/videos with presentation
software that can produce text, graphics, video, and animation.
Learn how to use Astound, WordPerfect Presenter, Power Point,
Persuasion or whatever is available to you. For clip-art
libraries try Corel Draw ver. 3 and up, Corel Gallery, Word
Perfect, or one of the many inexpensive clip-art packages. You
can obtain sounds, photos, and videos in the same way. You can
use the Internet to obtain graphics, and sound files as well. Be
aware of copyright issues!
- Learn how to design good clear presentations to make your
teaching more effective.
- As you become adept at creating class presentations begin
thinking about making standalone modules that students can access
in a lab setting. Packages like Astound, Express Author,
Toolbook, and Netscape/Mosaic (HTML documents) can be mastered to
provide hypermedia learning.
- As you become proficient in module authoring you may want to move
up to a full authoring package like Authorware Pro.
- Think about giving students the ability to access you by E-mail.
Is group work or are group assignments required in your course?
Would students gain by working collaboratively with each other
using E-mail or conferencing systems?
- Can you convert parts of your course into independent study where
you guide students to information rather than being the direct
provider?
- Seek the assistance of other people in your organization that are
using technology effectively.
- Keep at it. Learning to use technology requires lots of learning
time, especially at the beginning. Although initially time
consuming, you will eventually become extremely fast at producing
results. You can quickly convert old presentations into new ones
by changing the text and adjusting the graphics. Once created,
presentations become easy to update.
- For many people getting involved with multimedia, Internet, and
new ways to deliver education will be the most exciting and
rejuvenating experience of their professional lives.
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