ALTHOUGH technology has a dark side, we cannot deny the fact that it offers a wide array of benefits for its users. More than any point in history, education nowadays necessitates a wise facility of technology particularly computers. Therefore, it is a must now for every teacher to become adept at using the technology.
Education should be geared towards equipping the learners with competencies that they need to cope with the present times. Since the society of today is highly-technological, it is the teachers who should, first and foremost, be the ones to be acquainted with the existing technological advancements. The logic behind this is simple. How can a teacher train his pupils to be technologically competitive if he himself does not have the skills?
To probe deeper, what are the uses of computer technology in education? The list is endless but let me cite those that immediately crossed my mind.
In planning lessons, the internet is a rich reservoir of prototyped lesson plans which could be used as models (although writing your own is strongly encouraged since your LP should be based on the nature of your pupils). A magnitude of references for your lessons is also available online, thereby freeing the teacher from browsing over dusty books stacked in webby shelves.
If you are the kind of teacher who is dead bored in providing the same learning activities over and over again, the internet can surely help you in finding tested, more innovative, and more interesting pedagogical tasks.
With regards to lesson presentation, your computer and LCD projector can spare you from straining your back and staying up to the wee hours of the morning in making your charts which your pupils will need for them to easily learn the concepts.
Is computing grades a tedious task? Not anymore. Typing the formula in a cell and dragging it down can help the teacher in coming up faster with non-erroneous results. You can even play with the data and compute for the mean, standard deviation, and other statistical tools which will give you a total picture of your pupils' standings in just several clicks in the mouse.
For those teachers who still wish to further their competencies, they can avail the benefits of distance learning via enrolling in an open university --- an undertaking that is also facilitated by computer technology. Scholarships and seminars/trainings are also posted online so that interested teachers can avail them.
Do you want to conduct researches either for promotion or intellectual/personal satisfaction? The computer is there for you to search for related studies and other references. A variety of programs for statistical tools are also available to assist you in extracting the substance from your studies.
If you are a super conscientious mentor, perhaps you would like to know your IQ and EQ which both affect your profession. If you also would like to have an idea about the learning styles and dominant intelligences of your pupils, they are all available online.
As a teacher, it is also your responsibility to be updated with the policies and other memoranda issued by DepEd and CHED. This is easy to accomplish if a teacher will seek the help of the computer in navigating to the websites of the aforementioned agencies.
Are you tired of and fed up with issues such as overwork and underpay that you want to apply for a job abroad? Visit the website of POEA and you will be drowned with the listings that you can find there. You can even submit your resume and other credentials online.
The benefits of computer technology is endless. On the other hand, we should be particularly cautious with its effects to our sense of accountability and diligence. Let us not be slaves of technology. We should not entrust our pupils to computers. It can be recalled that there was once an issue regarding computers as substitutes for teachers. I personally believe that this shoud not happen since computers appeal only to the intellect of the pupils unlike teachers who have hearts who can understand the learners and can train them to become humans in the true sense of the word.
