Technologies Role Today

Technology is a key element in the world today. It plays an important role in almost everything. Education is no exception to this; technology has been present in education for many years now. The purpose of this paper is to discuss why education is better with the addition of technology. More importantly, I am talking about this so that my audience will become more aware of how technology supports what is being done in education.

Technology in schools has made drastic improvements within the last five years. Computers have gone from being in every school, to being in every classroom. Access to computers specifically has become very easy for students to obtain. Technology isn't restricted to computers; there are also projectors, DVD players, VCR's, and video screens that are used today. These wide varieties of useful classroom tools have become very common in schools today. Heartland Community College supports the growth of technology in education very well. HCC has stepped up to the highest demands of technology by offering computers in every classroom. Also, the school provides each classroom with overhead projectors, which are run by touch screens placed near computer systems in every classroom. The overhead light show presents the pictures onto the pull-down screen in the front of every classroom, via DVD, VCR, or computer screen. These are many of the options available for students and teachers to use at HCC. This available technology helps advance the learning process and saves time.

Furthermore, the learning process is easily enhanced when technology is used. First, with Internet access in each classroom, it allows the teacher to access massive amounts of information in just a few seconds. This information can be given to the students in a clear, easy to read format as it is projected onto the screen. With such easy access to information, students are able to learn more in a smaller time span, while teachers are able to be more efficient in how they teach. This makes the education a person gets from their school more valuable for their money; and money is important as college costs continue to rise.

Most of these new technological advances aren't cheap. Technology has brought the price of schools to higher levels, forcing the budget of schools and students to be changed. These plans are very well thought out and work in accordance to many of the programs the government has already set-up for schools. In Drafting a Customized Tech Plan: An Up-to-the-Minute Design, Gwen Solomon says, "As technology has gotten better, it has become less expensive, allowing for a $3.5 million cut in each state on average"(Solomon 1). One of the government programs the technology budget works with is the "No Child Left Behind Act". In Part D it says "to promote initiatives that provide teachers, principals, and administrators with the capacity to effectively integrate technology into instruction aligned with challenging state standards"(Solomon 1). As mentioned before, HCC has effectively done exactly that for its students and teachers. In the budget plan for technology, the legislation has shown its effectiveness to improve the curriculum, assessment, and teaching in all subject areas.

Can education be fun and educational? Of course, and not just the illegitimate games like hangman, the teachers make students play. The education Department's Office of Educational Technology director, John Bailey, has helped bring education to video games. He helped create an educational game to be played on the Sony Playstation, for younger people, called LeapFrog and also Lightspan's(Bailey 1). Video games are becoming a huge part of many children's and adult's lives, what a better place for education to expand to than the world of video game entertainment. This is going to be "a key focus" in the future for the U.S. Education Department and the U.S. Commerce Department for advances in technology according to the Electronic Education Report, on Lexis-Nexis, in Heartland Community College Library. There are other games to play on computers also, which may not be as educational. As Nate Stulman says in The Great Campus Goof-Off Machine, "they are playing Tomb Raider instead of going to chemistry class......I have friends who have spent whole weekends doing nothing but playing Quake or Warcraft or other interactive computer games." He tells us how students use video games and computers negatively. If one was to use video games as a teaching reference, it is important to realize the difference between educational games and games with little importance and to manage time accordingly between the two.

With technology growing so fast, it has changed many aspects of people's lives. Education happens to be one of the main aspects affected by the expansion of technology throughout the world. The advanced computer systems and Internet of today, have allowed learning to be made more accessible in the home. Colleges across the nation have made online classes available to their students. This feature makes college more convenient for a student with a family and a full time job by being able to "go to class" whenever they have time is a big advantage for these students. I have taken online courses at two different schools. One of my courses was a hybrid course, and the other was an online course. Hybrid classes allow students from different locations to listen to the same lecture a teacher is giving in one place, all at the same time. Typically at Heartland Community College the lecture would be given in Normal, where the main campus is, expanding through networks to their other two campus's, one in Pontiac, and also Lincoln. This way a teacher gives a speech one time and is heard by three different classrooms! The way HCC presents its online classes to students are through HCC's web based WebCT. WebCT is a system for teachers to set-up their classes with assignment pages, discussion boards, email, and any other necessary documents for their class. Each student is given a username and password to allow them to enter into the WebCT program. Once the student has entered into the program, their classes will be listed with bullet points telling each student if there is a new homework assignment, email, or discussion posting listed for each class. From there, it is as easy as clicking buttons to enter the area they are in search of. This easy way of taking classes has allowed numerous people to gain degree's that otherwise would not have had the opportunity to do so. Internet and computers for home use has allowed for individuals to advance their education to the next level, that wasn't possible before the advancement of technology.

Technology of the future is growing quickly. There