Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are the set of tools used in the processing and transmission of information quickly and efficiently to a large number of people, regardless of the distance that separates them. Talking about Information Technologies is talking about telecommunications and especially the possibilities offered by the Internet. The question for educators is how to use ICT in Primary education and not get lost?
ICT in Education and its school application.
For many experts, ICT in education opens a door to new methodological models focused on the student and research learning, in addition, they highlight that technologies adapt to the interests of students, achieving greater motivation in the classrooms, due to to the dynamism of its services (video, audio and text come together to facilitate new tasks).
ICTs in education therefore have an impact on schools, by facilitating learning environments in which trial and error and learning analysis (self-assessment) are part of teaching. In this way, Information Technologies facilitate environments that are difficult and expensive to achieve by other means, promoting a playful pedagogy.
Teachers specializing in therapeutic pedagogy and hearing and language state that ICT in education are tools that facilitate the access of students with special educational needs to the curriculum, since they allow content to be quickly adapted and updated to the specific needs of the students. each student; allowing the exchange of materials between professionals.
ICT in education: drawbacks.
Neurology warns educators and parents that inappropriate use of ICT can lead to learning and socialization difficulties. Neurobiologists have investigated the influence of excessive consumption of virtual media during childhood and adolescence, going so far as to state that for neural connections to form in the brain, children must have bodily experiences external to those facilitated by Technology.
From the educational field, they support these studies and specify that ICT in education can lead to:
– An impoverishment of human relationships, when using technological means to satisfy basic needs.
– A waste of time and effort, on the part of teachers, by not having the appropriate means and knowledge to use the services they offer.
– Create conformist students, who do not look for causal relationships, nor hold critical opinions.
The right ICTs.
Considering the usefulness of ICT in education, enhancing its benefits and trying to reduce its disadvantages, specific services for educational intervention have emerged in the market. These services, created from pedagogical purposes and objectives, are very useful technological tools in learning and reinforcing content, both in the classroom and outside of it. Thus, it is worth highlighting among the set of options:
– Specific portals of official state or regional organizations.
– The E-learning material provided by textbook publishers. Or the centers’ own Intranet.
– Creation tools and terminals: interactive digital whiteboards, teacher and student e-notebooks, programs for course development or interactive learning analytics.
– The websites and portals of private entities, created to promote new educational models. Being an example by focusing on game-based learning environments.
These tools seek to unify ICT in education with a pedagogical line that addresses the aspects of the curriculum, contextualizing them and favoring creativity and a critical attitude.
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