IMPACT OF ICT ON EDUCATION


Classroom computers in the past

In the very beginning computers were introduced to classrooms around 1986. Manor Gardens Primary School bought 4 Commodore computers for learners. A few parents had the responsibility for giving the learners computer lessons, because none of the teachers were trained to do this. Over time, the parents also trained some of the teachers, now it was the teacher’s responsibility to train learners. However one of the teachers involved in this computer teaching found it a complete waste of time.

The parents urged the school to obtain new technology, as the stuff they had was outdated, but there was not teaching programme to make this new technology useful. This equipment was expensive to maintain and broke down regularly. Computer lessons were not steady due to the amount of downtime. By the late eighties this equipment was no longer functional.

The introduction of PC’s in the early nineties was a HUGE success. Teachers used them for administrative purposes, and word processing made work much easier for teachers. The reason this launch was successful was because teachers got full training on how to use the applications effectively.

I discussed this matter with my teacher and ask him, how computers were different in the past in this school to how they are now;

He replied,

“There was no network connecting all of the computers together meaning that we could not share information easily. There was limited storage space on the computers, however they were not used much so I suppose it wasn’t really an issue. There were no teachers specifically trained on how to use these computers, so that’s why the time spent on them was very small.”


Classroom computers as they are now

Most schools now will be equipped with a network of computers because they have become a vital part of education. Without these computers, work for both teachers and pupils would be unimaginable as we depend on these machines. This network allows information to be shared easily between computers therefore making life a lot easier! If we did not have a network then it would time consuming transferring a single document from one user to the next. Some schools also have wireless networks, which is basically the same as a normal network just without the mess of the wires.

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Computers these days are completely different than in the past. The most obvious thing would be the size; they are a lot smaller and more compact than they once were, you can fit many in one classroom because they are now that compact. Another obvious thing would be the speed of these computers and the vast amount of programs that are available today compared to when they were first introduced to classrooms

Computers now have a huge amount of hard drive capacity compared to earlier years. This means that a lot more work can be done on computers rather ...

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