Educational Technology Improve Student Academic Achievement

"Through the use of advanced computing and telecommunications technology, learning can also be qualitatively different. The process of learning in the classroom can become significantly richer as students have access to new and different types of information, can manipulate it on the computer through graphic displays or controlled experiments in ways never before possible, and can communicate their results and conclusions in a variety of media to their teacher, students in the next classroom, or students around the world. For example, using technology, students can collect and graph real-time weather, environmental, and populations data from their community, use that data to create color maps and graphs, and then compare these maps to others created by students in other communities. Similarly, instead of reading about the human circulatory system and seeing textbook pictures depicting blood flow, students can use technology to see blood moving through veins and arteries, watch the process of oxygen entering the bloodstream, and experiment to understand the effects of increased pulse or cholesterol-filled arteries on blood flow."

"We know now - based on decades of use in schools, on findings of hundreds of research studies, and on the everyday experiences of educators, students, and their families - that, properly used, technology can enhance the achievement of all students, increase families’ involvement in their children’s schooling, improve teachers’ skills and knowledge, and improve school administration and management."

"Technology is making a significant, positive impact on education. Important findings From a Department of Education 1995 forum include:

·       Interactive video is especially effective when the skills and concepts to be learned have a visual component and when the software incorporates a research-based instructional design.

·        Students felt more successful in school, were more motivated to learn and have increased self-confidence and self-esteem when using computer-based instruction.

·        The level of effectiveness of educational technology is influenced by the specific student population, the software design, the teacher’s role, how the students are grouped, and the level of student access to the technology

·        Students trained in collaborative learning, had higher self esteem and student achievement.

·        Introducing technology into the learning environment has been shown to make learning more student-centered, to encourage cooperative learning, and to stimulate increased teacher/student interaction.

• Positive changes in the learning environment brought about by technology are more evolutionary than revolutionary. These changes occur over a period of years, as teachers become more experienced with technology.
• Courses for which computer-based networks were use increased student-student and student-teacher interaction, increased student-teacher interaction with lower-performing students, and did not decrease the traditional forms of communication used. Many student who seldom participate in face-to-face class discussion become more active participants online.
• Greater student cooperation and sharing and helping behaviors occurred when students used computer-based learning that had students compete against the computer rather than against each other.
• Small group collaboration on computer is especially effective when student have received training in the collaborative process.

Source: http://www.nsba.org/sbot/toolkit/tiol.html#Better