Most Appropriate Applications Used to support My Teaching

There are a number of applications which have been appropriate to support my teaching, such as Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Outlook, Moodle, and Sage Accounting.

Microsoft Word:  “Perhaps no other technology resource has had as great an impact on education as word processing” (Roblyer and Doering, 2014).  Well, the majority of my lesson planning is done using Word where I can use it to prepare a draft lesson plan and then finalise it without using or wasting paper.  This is the same for any lesson worksheets where I can tailor them to the specific lesson.  The learners get eligible typed lesson documentation which is easy to read, understand and use.  Answer sheets including workings are also provided, again typed to avoid any ambiguity.

Microsoft Excel: Excel has been the most appropriate application when teaching the learners about Forecasting and Cash Budgets.  Petty (2014) states that accountants and other professionals make use of spreadsheets and teachers in the subject area should be as well. I have used spreadsheets to demonstrate how to construct a cash budget and what formulas need to be entered at relevant cells.  The demonstration which was projected on the Smartboard allowed all learners to learn through the cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains of learning (Adams 2015 p.152-153).

I also use Excel as an attendance tracker in my volunteering role.  At the University attendance is recorded by a paper register and by the electronic swipecard reader.

Microsoft PowerPoint: So far, my use Powerpoint is to prepare lecture content has consisted of slides which consist of text, pictures, graphs and the format of the layout of financial statements.  This has enabled me to differentiate in the delivery of the topic to different learning styles.  The slides hold key points and I lecture and discuss these points to develop the topic and learning.  The slides are printed, three per page, and handed out at the start so learners can make notes.  Whilst I have focussed on PowerPoint, I will be looking at using Nearpod in a lesson in the future.

Microsoft Outlook: I use Outlook at University to correspond with my lecturers and keep up to date with events.  Outside of University, I use Outlook to correspond within the Air Training Corps. The University account is also set up on my mobile.

Moodle: Moodle is used to check on course documents and upload assignments at present.  I am familiar with Moodle and it is a very useful portal.

Sage Accounting: I taught myself how to use Sage after being given a course exercise booklet.  What an excellent application to use and teach learners with. After completing a couple of exercises it was straight forward what menus and options to use.  I have been involved in teaching learners to successfully use Sage and again it is related to accounting theory and practice.  Again, as with the Excel spreadsheet exercise, all three of Bloom’s domains of learning are used by learners (Adams 2015 p.152-153).

References:

Adams, NE 2015, 'Bloom's taxonomy of cognitive learning objectives', Journal Of The Medical Library Association, 103, 3, pp. 152-153 2p, CINAHL Plus with Full Text, EBSCOhost, viewed 5 January 2016.

Petty, G. (2014) Teaching Today: A Practical Guide 5^th edn. Glasgow: Oxford University Press.

Roblyer, M.D, and Doering, A.H. (2014).  Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching 6^th edn. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.

Barriers to the effective use of technology in education

Ertmer (1999) stated that whilst teachers know the significance of incorporating technology in their syllabuses, they “are often limited by both external (first-order) and internal (second-order) barriers”.  Barriers such as lack of time, adequate training and support of the management.  Second-order barriers include established beliefs about learning, teaching, and also their inclination to change.

In a study at Illinois State University the findings identified three factors.  These were deficiency of support from the University, lack of financial backing and not having enough time to get to learn the technology (Butler and Sellbom, 2002. p.23).

Whilst the faculty members had a wide range of technological proficiency, an assertion was that they themselves believed that they had many of the skills in respect to “technologies for teaching and learning” (Butler and Sellbom, 2002. p.23).   When asked to rate themselves, most rated themselves as “proficient or very proficient” with the OHP, VCR, and the Chalkboard which are considered dated technologies, but also with more modern tech such as computers, email, the internet, and whiteboards. 

The lack of reliability related to the use of the technology in teaching but also other issues such as  hardware (OHP light bulbs burning out), outdated software, and poor internet connection were highlighted as barriers.

However, the study also found that time was a big issue amongst the faculty, the time to learn how to use the new technologies (Butler and Sellbom, 2002. p.23).

Bingimlas (2009) states what teachers have identified as barriers, ranging from “lack of confidence, lack of competence and lack of access to resources”.  Becta (2004) carried out a survey and the lack of confidence had the highest response and this correlated with the lack of teacher competence in the integrating ICT into the learning programme.  It was also argued that teachers were resistant to change and this was a critical barrier to the use of new technologies in education.

Tsai and Chai (2012) propose that if the first and second order barriers are removed, such that all the conditions affecting them are satisfied, will be see technology integration in education.  They argue that teachers will be faced with a third-order barrier, being design thinking. 

If the teacher is able to have or learn to develop design thinking skills to create relevant teaching and learning materials then reduce the third-order barrier.  Whilst Tsai and Chai (2012) state that there will be barriers of some shape or form, the design capacity is usually refined in a forced situation, and increasing the design capacity of the teacher is fundamental for integration of technology in education.

The point here is that if the teacher is supported by the institute, the teacher is open minded to new technologies and pedagogy, becomes competent in its use, then the barriers are removed from the teacher standpoint and they can focus on delivering learning in a rich technological learning environment for the modern day.

References:

BECTA, 2004. A review of the research literature on barriers to the uptake of ICT by teachers.

Bingimlas, K.A., 2009. Barriers to the successful integration of ICT in teaching and learning environments: A review of the literature. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education, 5(3), pp.235-245.

Butler, D.L. and Sellbom, M., 2002. Barriers to adopting technology. Educause Quarterly, 2, pp.22-28.

Chin-Chung Tsai, and Ching Sing Chai, (2012), 'The "third"-order barrier for technology-integration instruction: Implications for teacher education', Australasian Journal Of Educational Technology, 28, 6, pp. 1057-1060, Education Source, EBSCOhost, viewed 14 January 2016.

Ertmer, PA 1999, 'Addressing first- and second-order barriers to change: strategies for technology integration', Educational Technology Research & Development, 47, 4, pp. 47-61, Education Source, EBSCOhost, viewed 14 January 2016.

How technology has changed the way we learn

Traditionally, learning takes place in the classroom where you have a teacher and there are books and a chalkboard, an OHP and in essence you are in a lecture type situation.

But, learning and the learning environment has changed in the main due to technology.  We now have Smartboards which allows the teacher prepare the lesson and upload the file, allowing them to  write, draw, insert tables, graphs and much more, and to be able to come back to a previous page to revisit a concept or calculation to aid learning.   Compare that to having to use even a chalkboard or whiteboard, having to write or draw and then due to lack of space having to wipe the board clean.  What if you have to revisit that drawing?

With increasing access to learning via technology, courses are delivered via e-learning where the learner has autonomy and can progress at their own pace, MOOCs (Massive open online courses) which are a result of Web 2.0 (Dumitrescu, 2015).  The increase of online learning courses, including online degrees offered by the Open University, Cornell University, New York University, Michigan University, as well as others listed on topuniversities.com show another path for learners to access education.

The use of mobile technology computers, tablets, ipads, smartphones, iphones, laptops, can all help to personalise the learning experience.  Technology has enabled learners to have the freedom to learn ‘anytime and anywhere’ in a global setting.  Learners can access the internet for learning materials, learn through discussion groups, forums, learners can ‘self-differentiate’ their learning material by searching for other material which is suitable for them instead of waiting to see the class teacher.

Technology has enable learners to experience interactive learning, including by trial and error in carrying out experiments and complex calculations which otherwise might take a considerable period of time, in terms of years or decades.

References:

Dumitrescu, V. 2015. 'One step ahead: From Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 technologies in higher education', Elearning & Software For Education, 2, pp. 143-150, Education Source, EBSCOhost, viewed 15 January 2016.

http://www.topuniversities.com/courses/business-management-studies/top-universities-offering-online-degrees-business (Accessed on: 15 January 2016)