Globalization of Technology and Educational Practicality, Essay Example

Globalization is an unavoidable fact of modern life. It does not fit neatly into any one category- but instead combines trends from political, social, economic, and cultural trends and expectations. An entire universe is in sync and online- creating educational opportunity where technology is present. However, globalization is also called “media imperialism” for good reason; the accessibility of information reduces the perceived value of learning and does not socially compete with the younger generations’ preoccupation with media scandal (Florea 192-194). The president of Open University of Catalonia pointed out that students under the age of twenty-five were accustomed to newer technology and said that online social networks “have become as normal as… French fries” (Florea 194).

Our discussion of this brave new world of education begins with generalized multimedia techniques that are commonly in use today as research and development responds to the demand of increasing numbers of distance and continuing education programs. BlackBoard is one of the most popular Learning Management Systems, the simplistic encoded frameworks for integration into the higher education website. This typically includes simple modifications in the basic form and can expand to include interactive software, such as SoftChalk (Florea 197-198).

Among these is the Table Interactive Smart Board. As one of the founding fathers leading the technological revolution, the Smart Board is already well-established and addresses the learning styles of a variety of students (Florea 194-195). An estimated seventy percent of software gurus’ time is spent in the maintenance of new systems; as such, the reasons for using established interactive boards is one of practicality as well (Boyle 2). In the research essay Investigating the use of interactive whiteboard technology in the English language classroom through the lens of a critical theory of technology,Schmid concluded that the differences in the efficacy of various interactive white boards had less to do with the minor variations of the software and more to do with pedagogical considerations, such as the teacher’s philosophy and activity utilization, student understanding, and the classroom receptivity to technology (52-53). Educational accessories, such as mimio technology, can also be added to the interactive board to increase the productivity of instruction (Florea 196).

The challenges of globalization are rapidly being addressed and produce a shifting in the balance of technological focus. Today’s classroom can be just as effective when it is located in the student’s place of residence as in a cold and crowded university building. However, this requires the professor to be knowledgeable about theories, advances, and research in technology as well as the inherent challenges of education itself.

Works Cited

Boyle, Tom. “Design Principles for Authoring Dynamic, Reusable Learning Objects.” Learning Technology Research Institute & London Metropolitan University. ASCILITE. (2002):Retrieved 9 Sept. 2010 from <http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:RzkT4gaa8MEJ:citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/vie     wdoc/download%3Fdoi%3D10.1.1.138.1429%26rep%3Drep1%26type%3Dpdf+making+reusable+learning+object&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgQ5_idwNvws54Nm8pd0qhcmtFq9BRntO76QEw_ZEW_vJx7PooWZOcdSSJiecpZnr9vljYCx4d3FVpX0LwI5EQkdGmXX75DxzodB_Ib8sPsO6VMYdqtYtsNaYI13V6Aerh9-iaN&sig=AHIEtbS-  PRexk7WtkS9rE8fOMGtZSzuHrg>.

Florea, Nadia Mirela. “Multimedia Based Teaching Techniques.” Petroleum – Gas University of Ploiesti Bulletin, Educational Sciences Series 62.1A (2010): 192-201. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 9 Sept. 2010.

Schmid, E. Cutrim. “Investigating the use of interactive whiteboard technology in the English   language classroom through the lens of a critical theory of technology.” Computer Assisted Language Learning 19.1 (2006): 47-62. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO.   Web. 7 Sept. 2010.