Simulator Technology Advances Student Learning

I found it interesting. I Just want to share it!

ESSAY 1

                               Effect of Using Technology in Classroom

As we know  in our society technology is everywhere. It touches almost every aspect of our lives even at school and in classroom.  Many people afraid of the  bad effects of using technology  in the classroom. Are students Going to become too dependent on technology?  Is it going to affect their ability to think? Are  they going to  lose the ability to communicate with other people?These were probably some of the same concerns when the phone, television and radio were invented. Most schools seem to lag far behind when it comes to using technology into classrooms. However many school  have recently begun exploring the true potential of integrating technology into the learning environment

As I watched in ‘Digital Nation’ movie ,the teachers were talking about how technology must be used in class to teach students. According to the principle of  NY school “technology is an oxygen, we should not take oxygen from children”. In my opinion, we must keep  students in schools educated and updated with technology . Incorporating technology into classrooms is an  effective way to be able to model and visualize what is occurring. For me, using technology like video projector  in science based subject such as  biology let me to view animations of the inside of the human body and the chemistry that takes place within it, such as digestion and exhalation. Digital projectors are so exciting classroom tool . A picture  is worth a hundred words. It can  enhance my understanding of  the materials. Technology establishes a connection between  me  and  material  that I  can ‘t always get alone from the teacher. It opens the door for curiosity and exploration for me.

In addition using technology like computers in class room has a positive effect on my education. It allows me  to use many sources. There are many websites or programs that help me in lab. For example, in classes like biology lab , if there are some lecture or experiments that needs to measure oxygen consumption as a measure of metabolic rate to learn about cellular respiration with a mouse, computers in lab  becomes very helpful for me  search for a program to figure out the concepts of oxygen consumption with cellular respiration when I do not really get the concepts in lecture or before I  start the experiment. Using computers for class gives students variety and unique sources to help their education in class.

Furthermore, Using technology like computer  or laptop in classroom make students or professor’s time much more efficient. For example, I  have slow hand writing and can slow down the whole class, or when there is a lecture with long notes, it definitely takes lots of times away from class. Especially, 75  minutes like in college, writing notes for twenty or thirty minutes take almost half hours of the class. Using laptops and typing will able students and teachers to do more activities or discussions in class.  It helps me more because I cannot listen what professor says while I take notes. By using Computer,  tools like spell checker and grammar checker in word processing programs can also help students to improve their spelling and grammar skills. In ESL classes , A teacher would have trouble teaching each individual student these little details, but a spell checker or grammar checker will catch them and provide corrections quickly and easily for improvements in learning and make student and professor’s time more efficient.

In my opinion,  using technology  not only can affect  students’ learning process  but also affect  teachers in better teaching  methods. Content on a computer can be more attractive than in textbooks by pictures, colors and animations, also the different font styles, colors and sizes ,   provided by the computer software is easy way in understanding and reading.  Almost all of my professors at queens college prefer to present lectures with power point software.Presentation software like PowerPoint and animation software like Flash and others can provide great help to the teachers while delivering information. I think, Computer teaching is thus much more than just making students read from the screen. It is about providing them with a learning system where they can view pictures, watch videos and listen to speeches or lectures. It is about making the process of teaching and learning, interesting and interactive.

  Despite previous positive effects of using laptops in classroom, it also has some negative effects. Using technology like laptops in classroom can also worsen education Richtel, Matt  “In Classroom of Future, Stagnant Scores In this technology” states  “ in centric classroom, students are bent over laptops, some blogging or building Facebook pages from the perspective of Shakespeare’s characters” .I’m agree with this statement. In my classes I have seen Many students who have laptops use in class to keep up their website correspondence such as Facebook comments, statues, or even do homework for other courses. Although they type notes, students get easily template to open internet explorer or messengers. It is hard to avoid these temptations when  there are  computers right in front of  them. I think not only the student who use laptop for themselves, it also distract others by typing noise or by attracting the eyes of nearby non-users who find themselves trying to peek at the screen to see what notes are being taken!

According to using technology to cheat,  “students are extremely mischievous and creative when it comes to finding ways to get ahead without doing hard work”.!  It is true.  I think student is not as innocent as they once were.  In my physics lab, all students have an access to the internet, we have to submit assignment online during the lab. Most of the students Google the questions and find the answer right away.  They also Email  or  text  the answers to classmate! Technology can make students lazy if they don’t know  how to use the technology in best way.

In addition,  Most of the high schools  have recently begun using  the  technology like computer and internet into the learning environment .Jonah Lehrer’s “Our Cluttered Minds”, mentions how using the internet destroys a person’s concentration habits. I’m agree with his idea since I see How using interenet has destroyed my nephew’s concentration in classroom. He is attending high school at Toronto, and everything  in his classroom is computer base.When he is in classroom he does not pay attention to his teacher,. He  spend more time on the computer playing with video game,  searching on different websites,  than he  spend doing his homework  and learning the materials . Such a pattern has  affected his grades.He does not  leave the computer even when he is at home.He has been addicted to it.
Spending too much time on the internet isn’t the only problem that he has  encountered . The content which he access on the internet can be harmful as well. Since there is no regulation of the content on the internet, he can access information about pornography, racism, anarchy, and  etc.  As we have heard a lot , Many criminals have been noted to commonly  use the internet to access deleterious information, which can  easily be viewed by children.

In conclusion, Everything always has both a positive and negative side to it. Technology may seem to have many drawbacks. However at the end of the day its benefits far outweigh its harms. It is very important that a student learn how to take from what is good of the technology and learn to disregard that which contains no benefit or may essentially be harmful for them.As can be seen through the above argument, technology can be extremely beneficial if used appropriately. It has a host of services it can offer in terms of  information databases, fast and instant communication. According to what we can observe in today’s era, it seems that technology will play a very dynamic role in helping change the education system for the better. Education has evolved greatly thanks to technological advancements.!

This picture is funny!!!

What is good about the internet?

The Internet  has made an enormous impact on the daily lives of people worldwide. It has changed the way many people communicate, learn and play. The Internet has allowed people to send and receive information in seconds rather than days or weeks using E-mail.Instant messengers such as MSN, Skype and many others allow text, sound and video to be transferred worldwide instantly as well as sharing images and other data. For me internet has really changed my life.for instance , My parents don’t live with me, I can keep in contact with them by using skype, email,etc.As a research and learning tool, the Worldwide Web offers a vast library of data. Finding information is as simple as entering words into a search engine. Knowledge can be gained in minutes rather than hours and days.!!!It is the new telephone, as I can video chat with an integrated microphone. It is the new iPod, as any music can be downloaded instead of stored into a device. It is the wallet, as shopping is a click away.!!!
I think  internet has a great influence in society. It is not online how society adapts to the internet, but how the internet adapts to the society. For example, laws to stop hackers were made, and laws for online shopping were introduced. Now people spend more time searching for those extra discounts on what they want to buy.

Four keywords for Technology

F is for ” FORGETTING”
Can we remember what we were doing exactly six months ago today?Probably not. But it’s likely we left a digital trail to help us refresh our memory.we probably have e-mails from that day. Maybe, we posted a tweet on our Twitter account, updated our Facebook status or uploaded a few digital photos.E-Z Pass may have a record of where we drove that day. Google also has a log of what searches our computer did that day and the links us clicked on.Thus, the internet will not let us to forget.

M is for MYSPACE
 popular social networking website offering an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music and videos internationally.  I think a great advantage of my space is to be able to keep in contact with my friends, and my families who are living in my country; and I can easily send them a message and keep in contact with them.
on the other hand From experience I know theres a lot of drama on myspace. Things are said that arent meant to be said, words are thrown around, some things are taken differently than what they are supposed to mean, etc.
Its also easy to be stalked by a predator, especially since a lot of people like giving every bit of info out about themselves.

S is for “SPELLING AND GRAMMER”
“A generation of students has developed spelling skills largely dependent on abbreviating words and phrases“.For me English is one of the hardest thing to learn to write correctly since English is not my native language.There are so many words that have same sounds but write differently . It is totally different with my language. so I need sometimes in correct spelling of words. Thus,  here my free spell checker and Grammer chacker becomes life saver!! I just copy and paste my text into spell checker and it will help me fix my English spelling. It makes me lazy and I always have a problem in class when I have to write on paper and I don’t have any access to my spell checker!

P is for “plagiarism”
Using the internet can cause plagiarism. Students can plagiarize for example for their research paper.   I think it is the result of lacking of time or they don’t know how to manage their time or they put their work off until last minute.This can decrease the abilities of students and cause them to deny themselves the opportunity to even learn and practice  their skills.

WELCOME TO MY BLOG

Hello world!!! My name is sima.The name “Sima” is a female name which originates in Iran. I’ve never had a blog before now. I’ve always wanted  to document all the thoughts that come to my mind  and share it with others..on this blog I will put my thought about Technology and Freedom in to words….
Welcome to my blog!!