Education in the Information Age

Education has changed greatly since the information age. It is now used for both students and teachers and it changes the way in which we are taught and the way we learn. The use of ICT with education is very new and it has changed the actual curriculum that is learnt at schools. This has all lead to new opportunities because learning is now more interactive than it was as students are visually learning rather than consisting of huge amounts of written work.

Changes in Education in the Information Age

Programmes

There have been significant changes made in education during the information age. The development in ICT has now meant that teachers and students are able to use a variety of programmes such as PowerPoint and Spreadsheets. The access to spreadsheets has made people more computer literate and it makes you more employable as it demonstrates a variety of computing skills which now many jobs require.

Interactive Whiteboards

A very popular development of ICT in the classroom is the use of interactive whiteboards, also known as SMART boards. These whiteboards allow teachers to project their computer screens and visually show their students demonstrations such as a graph from a spreadsheet. This then makes it easier for the students to understand the work they are given by helping them create an image in their head. Also using interactive whiteboards can enhance group discussions instead of just writing a load of information down.

Virtual Learning Environment

Schools are now able to access their own VLE for teaching and learning, for example, Moodle and FROG. Having a VLE allows teachers to create various lesson plans as they can use existing resources and they can also monitor students’ work that they have set for them. Students are able to use the VLE to submit assignments for teachers and they can access their school work when out of school. Usually teachers provide their planned lessons on the VLE for students to look at for revision or to prepare for future lessons; this allows them to get strengthen the teaching and learning of both teachers and students.

SIMS

A new electronic way of registration that is now widely used is SIMS. SIMS is a very easy way to keep records of the students, stating whether they are present or absent in the lesson. SIMS is a more convenient way to use because it allows the school to know whether their students are attending lessons. They have also developed it so that parents can look at their children’s attendance to see whether they have been attending school and their compulsory lessons.

E-Readers and Tablets

Recently it has become common for schools to provide teachers and students with tablets and e-readers, such as iPads, to use in lessons to help with learning. However there have been many drawbacks to using these as there is a high risk concerning security and the danger of students accessing each other’s data and losing data if anything happens to their tablet. Also it can be very hard to monitor students work because a lot of the work is independent when using their tablets.

Scopes of Education in the Information Age

The scopes of education in the information age include that it is easy to be able to work at home and then bring it back into school. Teachers can show a variety of resources to students, making lessons more interactive and it can become easier for students to understand. This can eliminate the need for printing because they can store their lessons in files on the computer for easier access. Also it has become very convenient for teachers to contact students, creating communication with them when out of school.

Limitations of Education in the Information Age

The limitations of education in the information age consist of IT being a distraction for pupils on their education. Handwriting can become a problem as it is sometimes not legible because we practice more typing than we do writing. Also the use of computers makes it much easier to plagiarise, therefore these problems have to be addressed and it can become difficult. Likewise the cost of running all these computers is very expensive unless the computers are regularly upgraded and maintained properly otherwise they will become slow and cannot be used.

Personal Experience

My own experience I have had with education in the information age is using a range of software’s such as PowerPoint and Microsoft Word for my school work at school and at home. I use FROG which is a VLE to be able to access my school work at home and it is a very easy way to transfer my documents from home onto my school account.