Running Head: Breaking the Technology Barrier

Breaking the Technology Barrier: Using Technology in Education

Patrick Wellert

ETC 558

Northern Arizona University

Abstract

It has long been difficult for teachers to effectively communicate the objectives and goals in a fun and exciting way that reaches the students.  In the changing times teachers need to find ways to include students into the lesson using the technology made available to them. It has long been believed that teachers need to get over their fear and use technology openly with students in order to meet their educational needs. By including students into the lessons teachers will experience a more positive classroom experience.

Technology and the knowledge of it are becoming more and more important every single day. As home-schooling parents, you may or may not be well versed in new technology and expanding uses of the internet. However, as home-schooling parents, you are in the unique and enviable position to use your dual role as a parent and teacher to learn technology skills along with your child. Build upon those skills to make your home-schooling experience that much better. Technology is, in short, important to incorporate in your home-schooling curriculum and design.

The first step for home-schooling parents to incorporate appropriate technology into their lesson plans is to buy a computer and read the instructions carefully. You may even consider signing up for a class or seminar at you local university or community college. It is important to get the basics down if you don’t already know them before introducing the technology to your children. Although you may need to learn the basics from someone else, you and your home-schooled children can do a lot of exploring and learning together. Recent research shows that 97% of teachers learned something new about technology and computers while they were teaching their own students how to use them. You too can use the teaching experience to learn something about technology yourself.

E-learning technology has been evolving for quite some time now; it certainly has evolved through its slow but steady start. It is now growing in use and acceptance. The adaptation of e-learning in normal business training operations is increasing and more companies are experiencing the advantages of the technology.

An ideal e-learning technology should start with these three basic components - Learning Management System (LMS), Learning Content Management System (LCMS) and Talent Management System (TMS). LMS technology is designed to manage the learners: from determining what one needs to learn to perform in a particular position or task, to what the employee needs to learn next to be more competent. On the other hand, LCMS technology manages the learning content, which works on how to create content to be delivered on different platforms. Lastly, the TMS technology manages the workforce: from finding the right candidates to how much an employee should be compensated. The interplay of these technologies is the key to a working and efficient e-learning system.