Computers in Schools

Critical Educational Issues

The continuous reform or innovation in the pedagogical context is not possible if there are no constraints available in the literature of the education. Sadly, there are emerging issues that were recognized before. And because of the changes and evolution, the issues concerns on education are continuously growing into numbers. It is hard to address all the educational challenges but with regards to the communication and information, there are some critical issues that can be briefly addressed.

First is the learner-centers education which focuses on the role of he teachers as facilitators of education. Through the collaboration and participation of the students, their questions, inquiries, empowerment of construction of the knowledge, the teachers admittedly cannot accommodate it all. In addition, there are also recognized students that have problems in learning and understanding.

The second issue is related to the first one which is the higher-order of cognitive skills that regards to the new curricula, teaching practices, and other educational development that are needed by the students to achieve the refine critical thinking skills.

Third issue is the learning and creativity expression of the students. If the educators can provide learning, they should also provide a room for creativity and this can be only satisfy if there are available information outside the educational institution that can be utilized and shared by the students. This will help them understand the world in different concept and allows them to generate new brighter ideas.

There are other issues that allow the changes in educational settings to happen and the students are always the customer that needs to satisfy their needs. In the never-ending inquiry, research, and analysis for improvement in education, the educators accepted the idea that through the collaboration or interaction with the technologies, learning is not impossible.

The technological literacy already penetrated in the working environments that proved its quality in improving the skills of the people. The computers as well as the Internet have a relevant connection in the education because it provides the information, skills, and experiences that are not yet printed in the books. Ideally, through the search engines and the right application of the words, the students can find themselves learning even without the aid of the teacher.

Can Computers Improve the Learning?

Criticisms had been followed in the concept of computers as an educational tool and some of them are very serious such as determining the security of the young students about the pornographic sites, the reliability of information, capabilities of learning since there are social networking sites that can affect the study of the students, and so on. These issues are other challenges that slowly giving bright answers by the search engines by providing the security or internet fillers that can gauge the risk in every websites available in the Internet.

In the appearance of the computer in the school, the educators first considered the advantages that it can bring to them. Part of the advantages are the acceleration of learning, improve teaching conditions, and enhancement of the school and classroom management. Furthermore, there is a more positive outlook in the changes in the pedagogy by enriching the individualized learning. Of course, there are various failures in the bandwagon of changes but there is also exceeding number of success in the integration of the computers in schools.

Three Valuable Reasons

Broadly, the first reason of the effectiveness of the computers in school is the aim to improve the learning, not only in the students but as well as the teachers. The learning that the students and teachers can gain from the computer services can be applied in their future careers and having a good foundation is a great advantage in their personal perspectives. The second reason is to satisfy the requirements of another educational innovation. The simple approach in learning such as reading, listening, writing, computing, and drawing can be applied to the computers in the most desirable way as much as possible. And the third reason is the changes that are emerging every time the call for the technological innovation calls. If the students did not follow the rapid changes in the society, there is a possibility that the technology did not affect their interactive development. There is an implication that there is a narrow understanding on the capabilities of a computer in their lives and most of the studies show that there are improvements in the learning outcomes of the students.

Outcomes

It is proven that students can achieve the quality education in the collaboration of the educational settings in the computers. Part of it is the impact it can bring in exploration and representation of the information whenever the students are asked to prepare a report in different forms. Moreover, students became more socially aware and confident, and can able to communicate effectively about the complex processes of one particular method because there are available case studies in the Internet that shows comprehensive explanations. Through their use of the computers, the students can understand the appropriate usage and became self-motivated as an independent learner. If the students are willing to go extra mile, they can master the certain topic and shared it to their classmates. In this action, the students can open the ability to work collaboratively and can prepare themselves towards the future.

Works Cited:

Kibbi, I., 1995. “The Status of the Use of Computers in Education in the Beirut, Lebanon Private Schools”. Education, Vol. 116, No. 1.

Lomicka, L., 2003. “Oversold and Underused: Computers in the Classroom”. Language, Learning & Technology, Vol. 7, No. 3.

Rusten, E., 2004. Using Computers in Schools. [Online] Available at: http://learnlink.aed.org/Publications/Sourcebook/chapter4/Computers_in_Schools_modelofuse.pdf. [Accessed 28 Jan 2010].