Integration technology into higher education

INTRODUCTION• The educational fields such research or teaching practices have been

changed so rapidly while technologies are able to offer effective assistances. Integrating technology into instruction not only supports the implementation of high-quality instruction but also explores new issues in higher education.

• The main issue aims to how to make integrating models successful. Indeed, integrating technologies into higher education are based on two fundamental criteria. One is whether technology enhances learning or not; and the other one is that different integration models are required to explore for fitting pedagogical practices across diverse disciplines

• “Integrating technology into higher education” is a collection of articles by different authors.

• Those chapters cover 4 themes:

• infrastructure,

• instructional design,

• integration, and

• interaction.

Fostering technology integration

• Universal student access

• Reliable networks

• Multiple opportunities for training and support

• Environment which values experimentation and tolerates failures

Current state of higher education technology integration

Never45%

Frequent (several times/week)

20%

Occasional (once a month)

35%

How are faculty currently using technology

0

20

40

60

80

100

Percentage of faculty (n = 33,785)

e-mail

work from home

scholarly writing

presentations

Internet research

data analysis

online course material

course instruction

Theory and practice of technology integration• “The education of the future, as I see it, will be conducted through the medium of the

motion picture, a visualized education, where it should be possible to obtain one hundred percent efficiency. ” … “In ten years, textbooks as the principal medium of teaching will be as obsolete as the horse and carriage are now.” Thomas Edison (~1910).

• Five Elements for effective Technology Incorporation

• Access, Connectivity, Resources, Integration, and Guidance • A New Era of Instructional Methodologies

• teacher-centered → active-interactive student-centered approach

• teacher becomes facilitator / leader providing guidance • Obstacles along the Path of Technology Incorporation

• limited teacher proficiency and lack of training → “inertia to change” • limited availability of hardware ↔ budget constraints ??!!

Securing Funding for Technology Integration

• Public school districts’ budgets not large enough to accommodate all requests for technology upgrade at all levels across the curriculum

• technology (hardware and software) becoming obsolete at a very fast rate Grant writing as a tool to secure of funds for technology integration

• Multimedia Technology Capabilities Enhancement at the Hightstown High School Science Department

• dedicated TV set equipped with a DVD/CD/VCR player • Science and Technology of the Industrial World within the Classroom Walls

• replace some of the laboratory activities of Chemistry/Physics courses with self contained virtual modules dealing with real problems from the perspective of a technician working in an industrial plant

• application of “Authentic learning” methodology and “Problem-based” instruction

Why technology bother in higher Edu? • Access to vast repositories of INFORMATION and

RESOURCES

• REFLECTION upon (and in some cases transformation of) the way we teach

• VISUALIZATION and CONCEPTUALIZATION

• Opportunities to create ENGAGED learners

• Ability to ACCOMODATE varied learning styles

Technology can support learning by facilitating

• EXPLORATION and ANALYSIS of information

• SIMULATION of events or processes

• VISUALIZATION of abstract concepts

• MANIPULATION of variables

• CONSTRUCTION of knowledge

• PRACTICE and drilling of skills

Some ideas… • Instead of writing comments in the margins of students’ papers, you can

have students can send papers via e-mail. Then, using a microphone attached to a PC, you can make audio comments on the papers. If you return the papers via e-mail, students can listen to your comments with headphones or speakers.

• Use the custom animation feature to animate charts, graphs, and images within PowerPoint to make your message come alive…

• As for the main concern, integrating technology in higher education is more than the presentation and delivery of teaching materials.

• The development and practice of leaning theory, where technology assists instructors to bring about more interaction and collaboration play a pivotal role. Instruction is a complicated system built in a real-life context while technology has been changing so fast that it is hard to provide any checklist to ensure the perfect model of teaching and learning.

THANK YOU