Reflection (week 1) - Reigeluth & Joseph 2002; and Postman 1993.

REFLECTION

Week 1

After reading both articles, "Beyond Technology Integration: The Case for Technology Transformation" and "Of Luddites, Learning, and Life" I can say that technology has a lot to offer in pro of education. Because of the quick development of life that leads man to optimize his capabilities, we are forced to potentiate the most of our knowledge and for that, is vital the integration of tools to develop our daily activities and at the same time to obtain a better quality of the results and greater range of them.

New technologies applied to education, are teaching aids that become technological resources that are used within the educational system with an instructional purpose. That's why these technologies, when being applied to education intended to train future teachers as users of multimedia resources, that give students the techniques they need to become an active being in their own learning experience. As a new element in the field of education, directly challenges the role of the teacher as instructor of teaching, because he must be properly trained to accept and face the challenge of using technology in his class and become the tutor of an interactive classroom.

Definitely the use of technology in education challenge teacher’s communication strategies, as he should manage them to actively engage the student in the classroom, providing innovative ways to work within the lesson. Thus, the competition that the school system is subjected to the use of the new technology is more and constant. Educators and learners with just seconds have the ability to access information from all over the world and thus compare and contrast ideas and knowledge. The incorporation of technology in the classroom allows new ways of accessing, generating and transmitting information and knowledge, while allowing flexibility in the time and space in which educational action unfolds.

The application of technological media in education modifies the role of the professor, being now the virtual tutor in some cases, and being considered as developer, manager and coordinator of learning processes with interactive media, information transmitting and promoter of the exercise of knowledge, procedures and attitudes, as motivating and connecting link between the objectives to be achieved and the participant.

We are facing knowledge technologies that affect how we feel and think and that’s why we have created a new communications environment that influences the way we perceive the world. For that reason, students are being affected about the way technological tools are used during class, since they are the ones who ultimately have to build their own concepts from a primary idea provided by the teacher. From the time that classroom goes from a traditional to a multimedia method, the classroom becomes the keeper and promotes the ideal 21^st Century learning experience.