ICT in Education

ICT has massively transformed the way in which education is now taught in school, with it not only focusing on the ICT and media subjects, but for all types ranging from maths to English. This transformation happens for both the teaching side of education, as well as the student experience with various tools being present for both. This integration into schools and students everyday environment will set them up for later life, and will allow them to learn basic skill and understanding that will prepare them for later business employment.

There are a number of products ranging from hardware and software that meet these demands, and allow students to interact with products that may come back to them in later life at a more detailed level.  A number of these can now be present in a general classroom, and from personal experience do make a healthy difference. These include;

·         Computers - These are the forefront of personal learning for a student with them providing each individual, with a login and password where they can access files for editing and enhancement, as well as be open to independent research on the internet.

·         Software – This is what runs the computer. A number of programs are available for education and revision purposes for both teacher and student. Being a student give you discounts on software at certain stores.

·         Smart board – These allows teachers to interact with a board through touch sensitivity, with the view of presentations and demonstrations being taught at the forefront of the class. From here students can make notes and enhance learning techniques.

·         Projector – This is the forefront of the smart board and is what presents the screen onto the board. This is hooked up to a general computer with it then being displayed. With the aid of a projector, presentations can be shown and paused, edited with, as well as fast forwarded.

·         Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) – A growing program in schools today is VLE. This provides students with the chance to access online files and documents from home, where they can edit them and securely save. As well as this, students can keep in touch with teachers though blogs, where they can ask questions and enquire about set work.

                         This shows an example of a student using a smart board.

With the enhancement of these products, different software’s and programs are now available, where students can produce pieces of work. An example would be PowerPoint presentations. With the aid of a computer, projector and smart board, a student can make a PowerPoint presentation where they can demonstrate their interactive knowledge, as well present the information at hand. This, like mentioned previously, is what businesses’ work with, and for many is what they use to function future employment opportunities. An example of it effecting employment life is a teacher, who would use these tools to make presentation at much greater detail than a student, to present to classes.

With many schools providing vast amount of computers to students, they do have the chance to do this whether it be at home or school, night or day. Like PowerPoint, word has continued to be a frontier of school education and now allows students to write the majority of their work on a general computer. From here they can transfer to home to edit or enhance and return to school at the required date.

There are benefits for student with regards to software like these. These include;

·         Give students the chance to do work wherever they have a computer, and allow it to be more independent.

·         Gives them the chance to experience exactly what it will be like in a work environment.

·         Allows them to develop communicational and computer skills integrating them into school work.

However, there are benefits for teachers as well. These include;

·         Can mark work on a computer with students sending it to them. This stops having to mark work pages manually.

As well as benefits, negatives do come from ICT in education.  One negative is how students have replaces computers and keyboards for general writing, from this decreasing quality of handwriting, which is what’s needed in exams.

Plagiarism has also come apparent in coursework and essays, where students have cut and paste others work and claimed it to be there’s.  However, software has now come apparent that cracks downs on this and can differentiate their work with work done previously by others.

In conclusion to ICT in education, there is a number of products that have changed the way in which education brought across today. As years go by and technology increases, so will it and will soon unearth even greater educational tools for a student and teachers needs.