Education

EDUCATION, WHAT IS IT?
Education is the only way that people in this day and age need to obtain a well paid job. In order for our society to thrive, we must offer an up to date and advanced form of education so that students can do as well as possible. ICT has affected education in many ways, very positively. Therefore, it has allowed us to offer advanced and well rounded educational tools to help students of all ages and genders, achieve the best of their potential. The four influences that I will examine are; the use of Smart boards (Whiteboards); websites such as Fronter; websites such as Mymaths and the newest innovation, a Smart Pen.






Firstly, Smart boards have innovated classroom interaction for both student and Teachers. From a personal point of view i have found that my concentration level has increased and level of interaction in lessons and has also allowed me to keep up my concentration levels at all times.  Smart boards allow the users to link their computers or laptops to them and then this allows the the tutors to show and involve the class in discussions and and also enables them to interact with the resources as well as find information together. This has affected our lives today as it has allowed us to become more involved in learning and has allowed for a broader choice of learning tools. Another great feature of Smart boards are that they have completely eradicated the need for chalkboards and the demand for chalk. This has affected businesses as there is a new market which they can invest in . Also, it has allowed schools and our overall society to become more eco-friendly as it has resulted in a reduction of the use of chalk.

Therefore, schools are able to save this money and reinvest it into more useful products as well as school trips. The interaction of students has been improved as the teachers are able to produce presentations and  allow the students to view them and also answer questions on them. This results in more alert students which are achieving the highest in potential which then relates in our societies statistics. This also saves time in getting the students to write done everything that would have been dictated via a chalk board which would have 'had not interaction at all' (quote from my dad). Also, another great advantage is that the whiteboards can be controlled via a mouse, key board or a remote. This versatility allows the users to adapt to their own preference and means that the teachers can interact in the lessons much better. This then results in students understanding more from the lesson. This is also a positive or businesses who make these navigational products as well as the whiteboards themselves as there is a new demand for them. Therefore, this also builds on the economic outlook as there is more products being sold. Teachers and students can also write on the board with a smart board pen which is also a new innovation; This means that the students are able to answer questions on the board, which means that there is more movement and interaction in the classroom. This is also used in lectures as there are always a lot of people in a lecture room. This then results in more interactions in lectures as well. 

Secondly, websites such as Fronter has innovated The technical side of education as it has resulted in an increase in efficiency and accessibility. The first thing that comes to mind is my personal experience of Fronter. I have found Fronter to be extremely easy to operate and therefore it has been very easy to hand in all my work on time and get the latest information to do with the school. It has also allowed me to have effective contact with my tutor. In broader terms, this has resulted in an increase in help given by tutors to students and therefore, has affected education very effectively and positively. I am also able to use Fronter from any computer or internet enable device so it is really flexible to do all my work and hand it all in at different points in time.

 This has allowed for more flexibility in the time taken to hand in work and this has also become a less daunting experience for students; Therefore, encouraging them to do better and hand in work that they feel they have put all of their effort into. Fronter has also allowed for students to also ask tutors questions without feeling scared. This also results to a boost in confidence which also influences the students education as they are getting into what they are learning about. Fronter has also allowed Tutor to have extra free time to then develop there lesson plans further as they can do all of their marking online without the hassle of using paper. This also means that Fronter has also made education more eco- friendly as we are using and consuming less paper unnecessary. This is also a positive for the creators as it they can sell their service Fronter as an eco-friendly service which will there fore bring them more business and also result in a positive economic outlook. Handing in work is not the only property of Fronter; as it also enables users to pas on resources as well as communicate and ask questions. The ability for tutors to put up extra resources as well as set homework on Fronter allows them to encourage their students to do better and push themselves further in their education without having to ask them to look in several places for information; That would result in slacking and confusion. Finally, Fronter can also be adapted to store information about the school which is incredibly efficient and also very eco-friendly as there is less paper used and more information given out. This all not only reflects in the students education, but also the schools reputation as they will be seen as an incredibly good asset to the ever growing technological society. I HAVE ALSO DONE A SURVEY ON THE USE OF FRONTER.

The innovation of educational websites such as Mymaths not only have proven to be very popular but have also been very successful in providing excellent resources and services to students and institutes. It has allowed the users to have educational access to the internet and some argue that it may be better than actually highering a tutor. This site is designed to help students with their maths work which is seen as one of the hardest subjects in the National curriculum. Firstly, Mymaths allows students to login via there school user and then there own user; This is a very good system of login and results in students putting their trust in the site as they have reassurance that their work will not be tampered with. 

This therefore increases the number of users using this service and has also benefited the creators as they are getting more business and a increasingly better reputation. The expansive educational level resources allow a expansive audience to use the website as they are willing to look at resources which their tutors have possibly recommended for them. The resources themselves are very useful as they allow the students to revise the topics of their choice and then do the homework set on the topic by the tutors who have the ability to do so. This has resulted in extra teaching and then results to the students being more interested in the topics as well as being more prepared or their exams. The students are able to pick from the grade boundaries of their choice which makes the site extra flexible and also reassures the students that they can work at their own pace without feeling pressured into doing too much. This also results in more schools using the websites like this one as they have known in to result in achievement. In my own experience, I can safely say that Mymaths is an excellent online revision tool that is being used by many of my friends even today to help them with their A level revision.

The final innovation that has allowed ICT to innovate our learning in education is the all new Pulse Smart pen which is being sold for less than £200. The pricing is an incredible lure for everyone involved in education as it has allowed us to record lectures. Firstly, students find it more productive to just listen to their lecture over and over again as it allows them to remember the lecture more. They also find it easier than going to the lecturer for more help; this then results in the students taking in more of what has been said as it allows them to to understand more of what is being said. This then results in a good word being passed around by students and anyone else using the pen; therefore leading to a new innovation and new market for businesses selling the pens and they can also find that they will have a very increased demand for the product. 
While students are recording what the tutor or speaker is saying, they can also find that they are able to write down any key point with the pen and also refer back to any key points while playing back the recordings. This is because the pen can also remember what is being written and it has a USB attached to it so that the written notes as well as the speech can be translated straight onto the laptop, computer or android device for later reference. It can then be customised using the computer applications for the users own preferences.

THE GENERAL DRAWBACKS OF THE INTERNET AS A SOURCE OF INFORMATION-

Some students copy large chunks from the world wide web without quoting their source of information. this opens them up to charges of plagiarism, which is one of the greatest academic sins. The universities have seen this as such a large problem that they have invested in a great deal of devicing programs that spot such copying. 

As it is so easy to publish on the internet, almost anyone can do it. therefore, it is easy to publish inaccurate, biassed or plain incorrect material as it is to publish properly edited and refereed material. the reason for doing this may be completely innocent, humorous or wicked, but either way the the material is basically misinformation rather than information. 

Another growing problem is that many providers are finding ways to charge for the information that had previously been free. It is now commonplace to have to join a site.

This section of information has been sources from the edexcel GCE in Applied ICT AS single award by Trevor Heathcote and Steve Farrell.

Health 

Article

Curse of the screen: PCs 'dull children's brains and should be banned until nine

By LAURA CLARK, EDUCATION CORRESPONDENT All By This Author - 12/06/2010 11:11:41

Early exposure to computer screens in schools and nurseries is threatening the development of a generation of young children, a top psychologist warns today.

Toddlers 'at risk' from curriculum that forces them to usecomputers

06/02/2008 23:31:44

Toddlers will be taught to turn on and operate televisions and computers under a mandatory new curriculum. The so-called 'nappy curriculum' which covers children from birth to five states that from the age of 22 months children should 'show an interest in ICT (information and communications technology)'

• I think that these stories are very relevant to this topic as they are focusing on the disadvantages of the use of ICT in education.