Traditional and Emerging Technology

Teachers have a wide variety of different technologies that can be used in class. There are many traditional, and new technologies in classrooms today that make teaching and learning new material stress-free.

Traditional Technologies:

-Overhead projectors
-VCRs
-MP3 Players
-Computers/Laptops
-CD-ROM/DVD drives

Emerging Technology:

-Tablets
-Wifi
-Web 2.0
-Wikis
-Social Networking Technologies

Educators are able to evaluate technologies using two methods, formative, and summative evaluation.

Formative Evaluation: An evaluation done towards the beginning of the use of the technology. It’s somewhat of a test to see how effective the emerging technology would be in a classroom setting. It improves instruction and provides feedback to the students. This evaluation may ask questions such as, “Was the new technology incorporated into the classroom?” or, ”What skills are needed to use the technology?”

 

Summative Evaluation: This is done after the whole process of using the emerging technology. At this point evaluators are able to tell if the technology is worth using in classrooms. A summative evaluation may ask questions such as, “Did the technology improve the student’s performance?” or, “Did the technology improve the teacher’s method of delivering the lesson?”