Technology Applied in Higher Education

Technology in Higher Education is hugely becoming popular. Has branched into all aspects of education. As instructors became more knowledgeable about technology and saw the benefits of its prior use it became integrated into traditional classrooms. With the integration into traditional classrooms learning became distant and the development of distance learning or education. This was a new era in higher education and other areas that have taken off. Research into learning and how the learner acquires knowledge changed to include learning with technology. Learning with technology is a drastic change, but an improvement some would say for the betterment of the learner in most cases. It was also important that in creating a strategy to use the technology that the approach, the rules and processes would be introduced within a social system made up of skeptical students and faculty, in which needed to show some form of approval. Lauren Oswald stated that “classrooms are no longer the only learning spaces on campus. Learning now takes place wherever the learner is inspired” (Hayson, 2009). The Association for Educational Communication and Technology (AECT) is an organization which primarily advocates fundamental changes in educational practice to improve learning and to enable technology to achieve its potential for supporting this improvement. This is one of many organizations dedicated to making the use of technology in classrooms and other areas work to the satisfactions of those in which they will serve.
Applying and using the technology in higher education has become an everyday part of classrooms. No matter what the educational discipline, technology is used. In classrooms technology is used in the presentation of data using PowerPoint’s or Word documents. Communicating is mainly technology, such as email, cell phones, or PDA’s. In distance education students interact with each other and the instructor via an online classroom (WebCT, Blackboard) application. Applications to help student’s complete assignments are also technology based and which application used depends on the course taken, but there are a number of applications that are available and many are in some way compatible to the other. Use of a particular application for the most part depends on the knowledge of the instructor about the application and what it will be used for during the course. Virtual laboratory solutions and simulations engage students using hands-on training and exercises. In courses where the student is producing an efolio Dreamweaver can be used to help in creating their website . Animations and interactive media are other ways to engage students learning in a distance education courses. Flash movie files (.swf files) can be used to add animations, video, and fully-functional free-standing interactive media.