By Kiran Younas
YouTube have collection of many video related to education on every topic by experts.TED which is non-profit website of online courses is utilizing all that videos for the teaching purpose. People from all around the world are getting benefit from this website. They offer courses from all the disciplines including basic to advance level .They used YouTube videos for flipped classrooms and professors use them to enhance their lessons.TED also allows to professors edit videos according to their wish. They can add titles or subtitles, images and whatever they want to do with the videos for making better. I think it is the best way of improving the process of teaching. When professors recorded videos, they can watch them anytime and can make changes.
Since the PC (personal computer) was first introduced in the 1970s, processing power of technology and processing power has progressed by leaps and bounds. Multimedia has become effective tool of learning. Multimedia can stimulate more than one sense at a time, and in doing so, may be more attention getting and attention holding. With multimedia, the communication of the information can be done in a more effective manner and it can be an effective instructional medium for delivering information. With this advancement, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT), particularly the multimedia technology, has rapidly permeated and increasingly altered the landscape in the educational arena. The use of media to enhance teaching and learning complements traditional approaches to learning. Effective instruction builds bridges between students’ knowledge and the learning objectives of the course. Using media engages students, aids student retention of knowledge, motivates interest in the subject matter, and illustrates the relevance of many concepts. Students can also create their own media. For example, student video projects can be a powerful learning experience, as EDUC 240 class did.
In the article entitled ‘Collaborative Learning for the Digital Age’, Davidson is focusing on very important thing which mostly lacks in our institutions especially in K-12 teaching which is collaborative learning for the digital age like in our institutions teachers mostly promotes direct instructional model no one focus towards these type of interactive learning approach for the digital age so Davidson says that that a group of individuals can accomplish more than what any one individual (even an expert) can do because of the diversity of perspectives they collectively hold.
Online programs are the best way to know the world in a better way i.e., what do people do and think in other parts of the world? Students exchange programs also does the same thing but a big problem in that is; they are really expensive and also a very few students are privileged to get a chance to go and study abroad. But through internet a lot of students can connect to the world and it is less time consuming and obviously less expensive too. Students can access their course at any time, from anywhere they can log on, in most cases. This means that parents, working students, and professionals on the move have the option of attending classes no matter their work schedule. Students only need a computer and Internet access to take online program. By allowing everyone to have a voice, shared ideas grow diverse as well. Students can also think longer about what they want to say and add their comments when ready. In a traditional classroom, the conversation could have moved past the point where the student may be willing to comment. By doing web based discussions a student sitting in one country is able to know the perspective of a student sitting in some other country. For example, a student of America knows about a Pakistani student as submissive, having an all time threat of terrorism who cannot go out his home, or an Indian and a Pakistani student thinks about each other in a very typical way, but when they talk to each other online, they will be knowing about each other in a better way and then they can analyze what is what. Through online exchange programs, the goals of multicultural education can also be achieved such as creating a safe, accepting and successful learning environment for all, increasing awareness of global issues, strengthening cultural consciousness, strengthening intercultural awareness, teaching students that there are multiple historical perspectives, encouraging critical thinking, preventing prejudice and discrimination.
Your parents might remember that whenever they had something to research on or to understand some topic they would have to go to a library and open up, old huge textbooks, or more likely an encyclopedia to obtain all the facts they needed. Nowadays that is definitely not the case! Why open a textbook when you can easily use the internet and find out whatever you need in just a few minutes by using the specific terminology in the search engine? Usually the first website with the information you’re looking for that pops up on your search result is Wikipedia.
In some researches it was seen that students learn better online compared to textbooks that are provided in the classroom, it has also been seen the use of technological resources in introductory classes have helped in enhancing students performance in later higher level professional courses and has facilitated them. In the western educational sector the majority of students indicated that Wikibook did a better job compared to traditional textbooks.
Wikipedia is one of the most useful source of information .But why Wikipedia? Most students first prefer Wikipedia source because it gives complete information while they doing their research paper. Wikipedia provides students a summary of a topic, the meaning of related terms, and also get students started on their research and offers a usable interface. Students who are majoring in architecture, engineering or the science are more likely to use Wikipedia than other majors. According to research, students from these majors are almost three times more likely to be Wikipedia users, compared to social science majors. College and universities students although use Wikipedia extensively, but they do so knowing its limitations. They use Wikipedia just as most of us do because it is a quick way to get started.
Wikipedia is a great source of information and now a day’s people gets lots of information from this source. Wikipedia provide huge collection of any article that has been search by user. Wikipedia can help a person to find and discover many ideas about a topic that he needs to write about. In our education system we still focus on text books. No doubt the text books are very effective for us but there are some weaknesses in it like, the text book has lengthy publication and thus will certainly include outdated information as part of the final product. Books never use to update by anyone but on the information on the Wikipedia updates regularly. Today the students don’t like to read text book because if they need information on any topic they go through lots of material. Sometimes they found information about their topic but sometime not while Wikipedia provide exact information about our need. Now, the educators are moving towards supplement text book with other information from the internet.
Think, Analyze & Share 