Technology to Enhance the Affective Learning Outcomes of Teacher Trainees

Technology And Teacher Education

There is no denying that technology has advanced by leaps and bounds over the years. What was the awe of the 70s are now almost obsolete or have taken different forms in terms of production or delivery. An example would be the video. The analog era saw video production as tedious and time consuming but now children are able to produce videos of acceptable quality using hand held digital camera or mobile phones and editing them via simple video editing software. Computers evolve from being unique to being ubiquitous. The high tech wonders of the 80s which included the monitor with the flickering green text and other peripherals that essentially required a room to be housed in are now installed in lightweight tablet PCs or I Pods. Technology not only converges; it is more durable and affordable. We no longer see technology as the gadgets for the rich. In fact, people are fast becoming consumers of technology. We are also witnessing a diminishing affluence divide due to the all pervading technology. The emergence of the World Wide Web and the internet transform lives as the internet serves as a communicator, infotainer and service provider. People express themselves, work and learn on the move; with the internet, they connect and interact. Educators cannot deny the significance of the internet in the teaching-learning process since students are now “born and bred in the web era”

In this chapter, we will loosely refer to technology as the tool and techniques for learning and for the delivery of instruction. Hence, it may range from media such as videos and information and communication systems to process (soft) technologies. Table 1 illustrates some of the available hard and soft technology including hardware, categorized accordingly with reference to Sun Associates (2001). In terms of technology use, Davis (1997) also classifies them into the following areas: (1) enhancement of productivity, (2) technology literacy, (3) technology assisted learning, and (4) technology tools for learning (mind tools, etc).