Language learning is a complex and challenging endeavor. For students to achieve the desired proficiency in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) their institutions need to invest time, effort and huge resources in order to cater for different learning styles. To be cost effective, many language-teaching institutions strive to provide intensive foreign language (FL) instruction to reduce the time period needed to learn the target language. This explains the current interest in combining differe...
The development of technologies, education, and economy play an important role in modern society. Digital literacy is important for personal development and for the economic growth of society. Technological learning provides students with specific knowledge and capabilities for using new technologies in their everyday lives and in their careers. Examining the Roles of Teachers and Students in Mastering New Technologies is a critical scholarly resource that examines computer literacy knowledge levels in students and the perception of computer use in the classroom from various teacher perspectives. Featuring a wide range of topics such as higher education, special education, and blended learning, this book is ideal for teachers, instructional designers, curriculum developers, academicians, policymakers, administrators, researchers, and students.
Impelled by a demand for increasing American strength in the new global economy, many educators, public officials, business leaders, and parents argue that school computers and Internet access will improve academic learning and prepare students for an information-based workplace. But just how valid is this argument? In Oversold and Underused, one of the most respected voices in American education argues that when teachers are not given a say in how the technology might reshape schools, computers are merely souped-up typewriters and classrooms continue to run much as they did a generation ago. In his studies of early childhood, high school, and university classrooms in Silicon Valley, Larry Cuban found that students and teachers use the new technologies far less in the classroom than they do at home, and that teachers who use computers for instruction do so infrequently and unimaginatively. Cuban points out that historical and organizational economic contexts influence how teachers use technical innovations. Computers can be useful when teachers sufficiently understand the technology themselves, believe it will enhance learning, and have the power to shape their own curricula. But these conditions can't be met without a broader and deeper commitment to public education beyond preparing workers. More attention, Cuban says, needs to be paid to the civic and social goals of schooling, goals that make the question of how many computers are in classrooms trivial.
"This book offers a critical review of current research in technology-supported education, focusing on the development and design of successful education programs, student success factors, and the creation and use of online courses"--Provided by publisher.
Want to get boys excited about poetry? Try establishing a wiki-war on the use of form and structure. Or perhaps a podcast to develop close analysis of language. How about getting them blogging about their favourite characters? Based on established principles of the best ways to use ICT in English, this practical resource looks at when and how ICT can be used to engage and inspire students of English, but only when it enhances teaching and learning, never for its own sake. Beginning with an overview of what ICT can offer and how it is changing the way we teach and learn, the authors then give practical examples of activities and ideas to attain key English skills and learning goals in secondary schools. Throughout the book, there are tried-and-tested ideas for tackling the hard-to-teach topics, and there is also a dedicated website with links to useful websites, the authors' favourite tips and downloadable resources.
