CULTURE AND HERITAGE INFORMATICS

Culture and Heritage Informatics



Culture and Heritage Informatics

Executive Summary

For the purpose of this research we have chosen schools as our case study organization and on the basis of their nature of business we have discussed the technological impact that has taken place. Education is one major component to build an economy and a skilled workforce. This is the reason for special attention to be given to education. For this purpose, technology integration has placed an important role in grooming the educational structure and the environment.

Introduction

Educational reform has been the driving force behind ongoing change in schools and post-secondary learning environments since the 1957 Soviet Union launching of Sputnik, when teachers in the United States were charged to improve their preparation of students for future jobs with emphasis in the content areas of math, science, and technology.

Aside from having never reached a consensus of agreement on its definition, technology integration remains somewhat of an abstraction in institutions of higher learning charged with preparing teachers to meet the technology integration mandate (Liu, 2009) Should the focus be on instructing teachers in the use of specific hardware and software tools or primarily involving them in creatively exploring options on what to do with such tools within the classroom (Guzman, 2009). Perhaps a fresh focus is needed in teacher education and in-service teacher professional development in light of technology integration barriers that include high stakes testing needs lack of resources, and negative teacher beliefs (Özgün, 2011). Best practices endorse a most palatable direction: establish opportunities for pre- and in-service teachers to interact with and model the behavior of technology-using teachers (Chen, 2009).

Technology Integration

A definition of technology integration is necessary if teachers are to understand what the modeled behaviors of technology-using teachers look like. Gray (2010) offers an intriguing 21st century definition for consideration “the sustainable and persistent change in the social system of schools caused by the adoption of technology to help students construct knowledge.” Research continues to suggest that technologies, when appropriately used in the classroom, help to facilitate meaningful, student-centered learning. Teacher education faculty has been considering and/or piloting the inclusion of texting, blogging, and wikis as technology integration options with mixed results (Williams, 2011).

Even so, the possibility remains that inclusion of these and other tools into the classroom hold the potential of offering meaningful learning opportunities to students (Pellegrino, 2011). The appropriate use of technologies mandates that users stay abreast of new and rapidly emerging technologies. Therefore, technology integration promotes constant change - change in the way teachers teach and change in the way students learn - change that requires a constructivist perspective and solid commitment toward the use of emerging technologies that hold the potential to offer students meaningful, classroom, learning experiences (Williams, 2011)Understanding technology integration beckons a brief look backward into the previous century. Looking back, learning had its foundation in the three R's - reading, writing, and arithmetic.

Although the three R's still serve as the basis of learning, additions have been ...