Journal 1:Technology Benefits and Challenges for Teachers

Journal 1: Technology Benefits and Challenges for Teachers

Media and technology can bring enormous benefits to the classroom. They allow to spice up lectures and help to make the material more accessible. But there are dangers too. In this talk, I want to share some my own experiences both as a teacher as well as a part of a team of a group involved in teacher training. The text will focus primarily on the special case of media and technology. It is an aspect of pedagogy, where the benefits and risks of teaching are accentuated well.

As a teacher I use technology to shake up old paradigms. I can illustrate real life applications in my lesson so that students can learn easily. With technology, I can use picture, sound and video to explain things better. The most powerful of technology I see it breaks the monotonicity of a lecture. Students will feel more interesting with the lesson if teachers use audio-visual channels. Because everything that students can see by their eyes, it makes them more understandable and exciting. When teachers know well how to apply technology in the lesson, they are no need to talk all the time like they used to do in the past. In addition, students will be more involved in the lesson. It means that teachers and students have more time to do other activities and exercises.

Although technology plays an important role in teaching and learning nowadays, it also have some challenges for teachers as well as students. Here are some more concrete examples. First of all, it is the problem with hardware failure. I myself got trouble with my computer or the projector when teaching with PowerPoint. It failed and I had to teach with another way that I did not prepare well. It made my lesson ineffective and made students get bored. Sometimes sound or video Cables can break when teaching listening. Or the Internet connection like blind spots for wireless. People cannot access to find the information or do exercises.

Secondly, even after having used a software for several years, I found it necessary to test things before class. Many things can go wrong. For computer algebra a systems, for examples, the software is keyed and needs internet access to work. This is one of the most challenges in teaching and learning through the internet. One of the most challenges for teachers when teaching using technology is that teachers work with others who are not as advanced with using technology. Especially, when teaching online, everything can be solved through the Internet. After the lesson, if students have some questions, they cannot talk with their teacher immediately. They have to wait for the next lesson.

The most important factor for a successful lecture remains the teacher. The interaction with the students and the clarity of the expositions can be far more important than any ideological parameters. A wide variety of teaching styles can work and can coexist in the same course: some used technology, others do not use it at all, some teachers are more formal, and others prefer to be more informal. It depends on a lot of factors to make a good lesson.

Nowadays, there are many free or cheap tools and services using technology available on the Internet. For example, Gimp, Movie Maker, Gmail, Blog, TeamViewer, zoom, etc.. It makes teaching and learning become more interesting and easier than ever before. With those who are resistant to using technology in the classroom will lag behind. I will show them the benefits of technology and show them how to use it to get the goals of teaching and learning.

The art of teaching in the classroom can be compared to the skill of preparing a meal in a restaurant, where the teacher is the cook and the students are the guests. The best efforts of teaching, the most skillful use of technology and the finest pedagogy can be ruined by a tiny mishap. Therefore, teachers have to use the suitable pedagogy and they have to refresh the lesson. The most important thing is that teachers have to know when and where to apply technology into the lesson.