Modern Instructional Technology

Picture an ordinary school day. The teacher explains a lesson aloud, stops now and then to ask questions, draws a diagram on the board and sometimes plays a short video from a computer or phone. Every one of these actions has the same purpose: helping students learn well. All the methods and skills used in teaching and learning activities are together called instructional technology.

The range of instructional technology is very wide. It covers traditional methods that teachers have used for generations, and it also covers the newest tools, such as information and communication technology. So the word technology should not make you think only of computers and machines. Telling a story to explain an idea is technology, and so is asking students to search for information on the internet. Closely linked to it are technology friendly education, techniques of self-development, instructional materials, and the problems of teaching and learning together with ways of solving them.

The different means and methods a teacher adopts during teaching and learning are called instructional technology, also known as teaching technique. The English word technology is a changed form of the Greek word teknologia.

People understand the word technology in many ways. Some think of machines, others of large factories. In teaching, its meaning is plainer: the method or procedure adopted to get a task done. So the method or procedure used in teaching and learning is itself technology.

To present a set topic and make it clear, a teacher uses many routes: different methods, ways of explaining, question-and-answer sessions and learning activities. Every step taken to explain a lesson in an easy and simple way counts as instructional technology.

Three things work to make teaching effective, and their names are close enough to confuse people:

• instructional technology (teaching technique)
• teaching method
• teaching skill

The three are used as complements of one another, which means each fills a gap the others leave. They are not identical, though. There are small differences between them, so they should be treated as three related ideas and not as one.

While teaching, a teacher can arrange the content in a planned order using a few well-known ways:

• From simple to complex: the easy idea first, the harder one after it. For example, multiplication is taught only once addition is secure.
• From abstract to concrete: an idea that cannot be touched or seen is brought down to a real example. For example, honesty is explained through a true incident.
• From whole to part: the complete thing is shown first, then its parts are picked out. For example, a whole plant is shown before its root, stem and leaves are named.

To do this, a teacher may use any method: a talk, a lecture, or questions and answers. To motivate students and make teaching effective, teachers also use teaching materials or the latest technology. A map, a chart, a model or a video on a computer all serve this purpose.

Teaching is a technical task. It is regarded as a combined form of science and art. It is a science because it follows carefully planned methods and rules. It is an art because the same lesson has to be made interesting for very different students, and that takes skill.

Every child carries some ability hidden inside, waiting to come out. One child may sing well, another may draw, another may be quick with numbers. Bringing that hidden ability out and helping the child use it in real life is a demanding job for a teacher. To meet this challenge, the teacher has to use a variety of technologies that let each student's talent show.

As information and technology have developed, new technologies have been developed for teaching too. Two main forms of these modern technologies can be used in teaching and learning: information and communication technology, and technology friendly education.

The present age of the twenty-first century is also called the age of information and technology. Information and communication play a major role in learning about any place in the world. Today a student in a remote village can learn about an event on another continent within minutes.

This is a modern and scientific technology. It does not keep students confined to their textbooks. It is effective for keeping them informed about new happenings at the level of the village, the society, the nation and the world. Through television, radio, newspapers, computers and the internet, students can be taught in a way that makes them active. They stop being only listeners and start finding things out for themselves.

The main media that come under information and communication technology are these:

• (a) Newspapers and magazines
• (b) Computers and the internet
• (c) Film and television
• (d) Radio and tape recorder

Newspapers and magazines carry news of events at home and abroad, along with a great deal of other useful knowledge. New developments in science and learning, changes and progress in villages and communities, and the problems society faces can all be learnt from them. Information about sports, education, politics, society and culture reaches readers this way too.

Newspapers and magazines come out daily, weekly, monthly or yearly, and they hold many kinds of writing. Science and technology magazines, education magazines and children's literature are only some of the kinds a student can learn from. Suppose each student in a class picks one news story from the same day's paper and the class discusses it. Reading, speaking and thinking all grow together.

Computers and the internet are considered the most modern form of information and communication technology. They have become an inseparable part of human life today, so much that life without them is hard to imagine. As information and technology developed, the internet came to work as a network spread across the whole world.

Information from every field is placed on websites, YouTube, Twitter and similar platforms. Useful, knowledge-building information can be spread through social networks, and this makes teaching and learning even more effective. For instance, while studying volcanoes, students can search websites for photographs and videos of real eruptions.

Film and television can also be counted as modern electronic materials. Through them, a set topic can be made clear to students. Beyond the news and information television broadcasts, the films it shows can help students understand real events in society.

Films based on true events inspire students to follow the right path. Films about science, the environment, sports, education, society, culture, politics and other subjects are good and effective tools of teaching in today's world of education. When students see with their own eyes what they have read on paper, they remember it for a long time. A lesson on floods is not easily forgotten once students have watched real footage of a flood.

Radio and the tape recorder are treated as audio materials, because students learn from them by listening. During class, useful information for daily life and educational programmes broadcast on the radio can be played for students. A tape recorder lets the teacher record an important programme and play it again later.

When a teacher gives nothing but a one-way lecture, the class becomes dull. What is heard only once is also hard for students to remember. These tools can be used whenever they are needed, and they make classroom teaching easier and simpler. A tape recorder can also be used to give students feedback:

• Ask a student to speak on a topic.
• Record what the student says.
• Play the recording back to the student.
• Find together where the weak points were, and give feedback for improvement.

This is an age of science and technology. In such an age it is not right to keep students limited to lectures and question-and-answer sessions inside the classroom. Using these materials alongside the textbook brings many benefits:

• An environment is created in which students become creative and imaginative.
• Students get the chance to learn what they need to know by hearing it or by doing it themselves.
• Teachers can teach many topics in a short time.
• Not every student in a class is at the same level. Those who need to hear something again can easily be given a repeat.
• Students also get the chance to learn on their own.

Technology friendly education should be provided so that, by using modern technology, a school's teaching produces real achievement: students should visibly learn. Technology can be used in a school in these ways:

• Multimedia and smart boards: classes run with these are more effective, and time is used well.
• CCTV cameras: fitted in classrooms or on the playground, they allow students' activities to be monitored and help keep students from doing wrong.
• Apps, dictionaries and videos: useful educational apps, dictionaries and subject-related YouTube videos can be downloaded and used.
• Digital attendance: it builds a system in which teachers arrive on time and leave on time, and it helps teachers stay regular. A regular teacher is a steady support to the students.

The present time is seen as the age of science and technology. Keeping this in mind, today's education system needs to become technology friendly.

Globalisation is having a growing influence in this age. To link education with employment, production and labour, education has to be equipped with technology. This also lets a school become known from the local level all the way to the international level. Whether in a village or a city, education everywhere needs to be technology friendly.

Useful materials, apps and videos are placed on websites to help teaching move forward easily and simply, following the content set by the curriculum. Using them, students can be taught a great deal. Some topics are hard to understand, or to explain, by memorising a book alone. In such cases a technology friendly class can have students search for and view related websites as part of their study. How the planets move around the Sun, for example, is grasped far faster from a moving video than from memorised lines.