The Impact Of New Technologies On The Instructive- Educational Process

Abstract

I have taken into account the current requirements for student-centered education, based on direct and indirect activities. Contemporary society is a permanent and unique challenge to education. The new technologies have produced changes in all areas, and it was expected that at some point this progress would influence the teaching-learning process, with pupils having to learn to manage an impressive number of information, analyze it, make decisions, and develop their knowledge to meet the challenges of today's technology. The existence of each individual as well as of the entire society as a whole, hence, is becoming more and more alert, becoming increasingly marked by the need for immediate knowledge, complete and correct knowledge of the surrounding reality, so that decision-making can be made firmly and competently. The use of ICT means supports the development of critical thinking and creativity and develops a critical and reflective attitude towards information. The interdisciplinary approach is replaced by innovative ideas from everyday life, where the personal footprint will be an integrated approach to learning. I consider it necessary and I am going to assume that it is necessary to apply modern technology in teaching content to classes because the pupil has to take advantage of his / her abilities to interact with them and to have the necessary educational needs for the society we live in.

Keywords: MultimediaICTteaching modelinformationsciencecomputer

Introduction

The interdisciplinary approach is replaced by innovative ideas from everyday life, where the personal footprint will be an integrated approach to learning. I consider it necessary and I am going to assume that it is necessary to apply modern technology in teaching content to classes because the pupil has to take advantage of his / her abilities to interact with them and to have the necessary educational needs for the society we live in. Modern technologies applied in the classroom can influence an up-to-date education of our century, broadening the student's horizon in the digital era, making it possible for an innovative education, this way of learning being both an individual direction for the student and a social one for school as a whole, gathering knowledge, skills, socio-cultural compliance. These should not be a mere addition to the curriculum, they must be fully integrated into the education process at all levels of the school system. Teachers must be formed to cope with change and innovation. The use of these methods in the classroom is part of the natural evolution of learning and suggests an elegant solution to the modern challenges to learning and student needs. The increased complexity of schools and learning environments suggests the need to carry out in a manner of educational activities.

The digital era, also known as the programmed world, the knowledge society, the information era, is governed by information, which, according to Webster, ”has a vital importance in our day's world not only because there is a greater amount of information than has ever existed before, but also because this particular information plays a specific strategic role that runs through the core of each action we take”. <own translation> ( Webster, 2002).

The elaborate processes of production, of usage and of processing the information are subject to continuous change and they have major implications on the processes of socializing and inevitably on education. First of all , as far as the world is considered, the act of socializing refers to the transmission of social culture to the individual who is in the process of life learning process. this particular idea can be easily verified if a curriculum analysis, alongside with an analysis of the pupil's books in school and of the resources and methods used in the process of teaching and learning is being made. Second of all, as far as the person is concerned, socializing is a part of him becoming complete, of his developing as human in the social background. Socializing defines the way in which a person interacts with the world in which he lives in and therefore, the emergence of this programmed world represents an inbred stage of society evolution, even though it hides or masks powerful, economic interests and at the same time it promotes a rule and domination of technology and "cybernetic order" <own translation> (Robins &Webster, 1989).

Problem Statement

Research Questions

Robins and Webster are convinced that even the concept of "computer literacy" is meant to hide real problems of nowadays world, defined as work literacy, thus changing the balance of power and relationship between strength and knowledge. As a consequence, there are a series of questions whose answers are still looked for in order to give a proper definition of education in this modern world we live in: "What is being taught in school?", "Why do we teach what we teach?" , " Who is this teaching for?" and more than this, "What is omitted in the process of teaching and why?" <own translation> (Robins &Webster, 1989).

Purpose of the Study

Research Methods

Findings

Questionnaire

To realize an analysis of the effectiveness of the use of ICT in the instructive-educational process I interviewed 235 students of which 130 girls and 105 boys. The results are presented below:

1.Do you have a personal computer?

a.Yes 72.98% 100 students

b.No 27,02% 94 students

2.Do you know how to use the computer (tablets, phones)?

Answers given by students who have a personal computer (tablet, phone)

a.Very good 50.27% 54 students

b.Good 40,34% 40 students

c.Little 8.56% 9 students

d.Not at all 3.95% 4 students

Answers given by students who do not have a personal computer (tablet, phone)

a.Very good 1.14% 1 student

b.Good 13.79% 12 students

c.Little 36.78% 32 students

d.Not at all 48.29% 42 students

3.Where did you learn to use your computer?

a.At school 18.90% 38 students

b.At home, relatives, friends 80% 140 students

c.Other courses 13,12% 26 students

4.What is the computer good for?

a.To learn something new, to do research 71.06% 167 students

b.For entertainment 28.94% 68 students

5.Do you use Internet services?

a.Yes 99.00% 232 students

b.No 1.00% 3 students

6.How often do you use the computer?

a.Every day 83.80% 88 boys

60,76% 79 girls

b.Weekly 9.52% 10 boys

30% 29 girls

c.Several times a month 6.68% 7 boys

6.94%9 girls

d.Several times a year 0% 0 boys

2.30% 3 girls

7.Do you think the computer is useful in the school?

a.Yes 100% 235 students

b.No 0% 0 students

8.Enumerate at least three reasons why you consider it is useful using the computer in class.

The most common reasons were:

a. It shortens the time spent for learning, for understanding the concepts shown, for performing calculations, graphs and tables, etc.

b. Lessons become more attractive.

c. Laboratory experiments difficult to perform can be made on the computer.

d. Checking knowledge becomes more objective.

e. It develops creativity, thinking, the spirit of competitiveness etc.

9.Enumerate at least three reasons why you consider it is not useful using the computer in class.

The most common reasons were:

a. Insufficient endowment of computers in schools.

b. Lack of high quality software.

c. Teachers’ and students’ lack of experience in using computers

d. Students’ attention gets distracted from the teacher’s explanations due to the students’ tendency to play

e. Affects health and relationships between humans.

10.Do you thinks that by using the computer you will record a breakthrough, a stagnation or a regression in learning?

a. A breakthrough 70% 162 students

b. A stagnation 26% 60 students

c. A regression 6% 14 students

11.Which one of the ECDL modules is most useful for you at school?

a. Basic concepts of information technology 1.70% 4 students

b. Use of the computer and organizing files 3.40% 8 students

c. Word Processing 25.96% 61 students

d. Calculation of Excel sheets 22.55% 53 students

e. Access databases 1.28% 3 students

f. PowerPoint Presentations 33.61% 79 students

g. Internet and mail 11.50% 27 students

Conclusion

One could say that the integration of ICT resources in education is beneficial and leads to an increase in the students’ results, if students possess knowledge related to the use of the computer. This involves the introduction of computer classes and ICT to all profiles and at all levels of learning. Also, teachers should work with small groups and classes should be equipped with modern computers connected to the Internet, there should be made libraries of programmes and expert systems in accordance with the curriculum from school that is being reformed, and promoting the spirit of using the computer should be enhanced. Teachers should possess the theoretical and practical knowledge related to the discipline they teach and also the abilities of using ICT. So, focus on the use of information technologies and communication by the teachers and by those who learn becomes a priority. More methodical researches on ICT implementation in education should also be made.

The computer "builds" contexts for application of concepts, providing for those who study the language through which they can describe their own activity. The use of computers is necessary in the training sequences that the teacher can’t organize and achieve with satisfactory results in ordinary traditional didactic activities.

Students are more likely to remember new information because they associate it with images. The student only needs to be careful and the brain stores the information from the first or second view.

Both the student and the teacher develop complementary skills such as computer use and new information technologies, presenting, creating projects for the lessons and collaborating with colleagues. The more practical the classes are, the more they use images and sound, the more the student is put to practice, the more he adds his attention to what the teacher teaches.

ICT must not be only a tool to present existing contents in another manner, it must lead to changing the way of thinking and teacher’ style of teaching in class, a style crystallized in centuries with a traditional learning, when the student’s personality and his possibilities mattered too little.

References

1. Lyotard, J.-F. (1979). La Condition Postmoderne: Rapport sur le Savoir. Paris: Minuit.
2. Robins, K., Webster, F. (1989).The Technical Fix:Education, Computers and Industry. Houndmills and London: Macmillan
3. Tapscott, D. (1998). Growing up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation. New York: McGraw-Hill.
4. Warschauer, M. (1999). Electronic Literacies: Language, Culture, and Power in Online Education. Mahwah, New Jersey and London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
5. Webster, F. (2002). Theories of the Information Society. London and New York: Routledge.