It is difficult to imagine the 21st century without technology. This is the time of the heyday of the most daring ideas from electric cars to flights to Mars, the production and implementation of which became possible only through the use of modern computer technology.
What are these technologies?
These technologies are a set of scientific achievements in the field of electronics and programming, which allows realizing tasks that seemed fantastic in previous centuries.
Modern computer technology greatly simplifies any activity from calculating mathematical equations to the production of televisions in the technological field and planting cereals in the agricultural industry.
Vividly demonstrate the impact of new technologies on human life changes in the educational sphere. The scope of knowledge is also one of the most important for humanity in general. The more efficiently it functions, the further civilization advances not only in technical, but also in cultural and moral development.
Technology and Education
Maybe in the process of teacher education not so long ago, but the innovative technologies of computer networks are quite actively being introduced. Although the very fact of their introduction, the search for new teaching aids causes heated debate among specialists in this field.
Change in student activity using technology
The nuance of learning is that it requires a certain degree of activity from the student, without which the educational process is impossible. Naturally, the degree of this activity is different for everyone. Some students are interested in this subject, others are not.
Active are those teaching methods with which subjects can most easily and quickly learn the necessary material or master the skills. At the same time, it is important that the process of consciously educating the necessary abilities in students takes place.
Usually, two methods of increasing activity are distinguished:
- The introduction of new and more effective learning tools.
- Increasing the intensity of mental work due to the rationalization of time allocated for the development of knowledge and skills.
According to many experts, it is the technology of computer networks (therefore, the first method of increasing activity) that are the most effective and have no analogues so far.
Technology software database and its effectiveness
Computer training programs are regularly published that greatly simplify and at the same time optimize the process of studying information, increasing its effectiveness. They are of great help not only for teachers, but also for pupils, students.
This effect is achieved by performing quick automatic calculations, a convenient format for storing and sorting information and visualizing the educational process. Now, gaining knowledge is not just writing numbers and letters in a notebook, but visual activity that is interesting to follow.
Thus, it is the means of computer technology that have been introduced into the educational process that have a great influence on the control and evaluation factors of educational activity and facilitate the involvement of students in this process.
It does not matter whether we are talking about schoolchildren, students of technical schools and colleges, or students of higher educational institutions.
Problems of technology application in education
It is important to note that, despite the high efficiency of these technologies in the educational sphere, they do not change the traditions established over the years of the industry's functioning. Computer technology only complements them. Over time, they will have to become part of them, because technology will necessarily be the basis of the educational process.
At the same time, it does not become easier for developers of computer programs aimed at teaching schoolchildren and students, because they face many problems, ranging from the impossibility of the absolute use of computer technology in the lesson to the complexity of compiling educational tasks.
With all the pursuit of excellence, computers still remain machines that perform stereotyped work, and learning is a creative process. This component is precisely what the teacher provides. In addition, an individual approach to students decides a lot, because all people are different and there is no specific pattern of behavior for everyone.
Thus, computer technology for a long time will not become a universal means of obtaining education for millions of people, the role of a teacher is still decisive, and that of computers is an auxiliary one. For better or worse, everyone decides for himself, but it is a fact.
How to solve these problems?
It’s worth immediately understanding that it will not be possible to completely replace the teacher with computer educational technology, so the problems described above can only be partially eliminated. What exactly needs to be done at least for this?
First, to identify priority areas in education, where computers can simplify the work of teachers, optimizing their time. For example, filling out magazines, compiling and checking tests - at least these types of activities can be assigned to computers.
Secondly, during optimization it is strictly forbidden to forget about the quality of the educational process. For example, you can make tests to test your knowledge and from year to year give students the same options for which answers will be known after a while, and no one will learn anything, or you can at least generate these tests randomly, interchanging questions and changing numerical data .
It is especially important to pay considerable attention to the training of teachers in working with modern computer technologies.
Teacher training
In order for teachers to work comfortably with new technologies that are being introduced into the educational process, training should be carried out for them, namely:
- issue paper manuals;
- organize seminars and trainings;
- shoot training videos with visual examples, etc.
In addition, centers for professional training of specialists in various fields have been operating in the country for a long time. You can contact one of them.
Types of educational systems in education
The main means of computer technology in education include the following educational systems (hereinafter OS):
- Automated OS. It is a man-machine system that is used to manage cognitive activity. Automated operating systems, for example, include electronic textbooks in various disciplines.
- Expert training OS. The peculiarity of this OS is that it is able to adapt to the level of knowledge of the student or student in the learning process, evaluating his cognitive potential and the amount of knowledge that he learned as a result of the lesson.
All software tools aimed at the implementation of educational activities are created using authoring tool environments. These include various programs in which you can simulate physical processes, manage objects, or compose decision algorithms.
Examples of such media are:
- NI Multisim;
- AutoCAD
- MATLAB.
In fact, there are a huge number of such programs.
Management Technologies
Of course, computer technology in educational activities is not the only area of use of this scientific achievement. As mentioned above, they are used everywhere. In particular, they are widely used in the managerial environment and in work with personnel.
Why in technology management?
The use of modern computer technology in this industry is due to an increase in the efficiency of the work of managing personnel. What is meant by increased efficiency? For instance:
- optimization of time allocated to work with specialists;
- workflow simplification (work with each employee implies the design of a significant document base specially for him);
- improving the efficiency of information transfer (timely and clear reporting of any data is one of the factors for the successful functioning of any organization).
True, the introduction of these technologies requires major changes to the entire industry. In particular, this applies to:
- management structures;
- regulations and documents on the basis of which personnel management is carried out;
- specialist capacity;
- document accounting systems;
This also applies to the information transfer system. All of them are connected by computer control technology.
Information Resource and Technology
Particular attention in the implementation of modern technologies in the field of management should be given to working with information. To understand why this is really so important, it is better to give an example.
First, consider the situation in a context where the role of technology in management is negligible. The owner of a huge company with a large number of branches in different regions of the country or even the world ordered the introduction of a new principle of production.
After a fairly long time (even if the Internet doesn’t exist) this information will reach the heads of the branches, they will pass it on to the local managers after some time, and only then the implementation process will start. Who knows how much time will be spent on communicating information alone? Day? A week?
What if the same data needs to be conveyed with modern technology? Then the time to alert staff will be reduced significantly. Using the Internet and other means of communication, information from Moscow to Berlin, and from Berlin to Singapore, is transmitted not even in hours, but in minutes, seconds.
The faster subordinates know their new task, the faster it will begin to be realized. Time is money. This is the obvious plus of introducing new technologies into the system of transferring information between employees.
Technology Case Studies
The most obvious example of improving the efficiency of managerial activity is its automation. For example, the appointment of those responsible for the performance of a particular task, based on specific parameters of the employee’s effectiveness, the automatic generation of tasks necessary for the implementation, etc.
True, in this case, the situation is similar to that described in the educational field. The machine can not yet completely replace a person. Of course, somewhere a fully automated approach may take place, but in a large number of situations the direct participation of the leader is still required, because only a competent manager knows the positive and negative sides of his subordinates, their patterns of behavior in various situations. So computers have not yet learned how to analyze people.
Personnel management and organization of work of objects still remains a creative and individual process intended for a person who technology can facilitate, but they are not able to completely replace people in it.
Computers can, of course, perform routine operations (sorting documents, for example), but they cannot do strategic management.
The role of technology in other areas
The following are examples of the use of computer technology in various areas of life:
- Agriculture. Thanks to computer modeling of the terrain and satellite monitoring of objects, agricultural producers can not only choose the most profitable places for planting, but also produce it with high accuracy (even hogs, for example), which greatly simplifies the maintenance of the territory (processing with special solutions or hilling).
- Economy. With the help of modern technologies and the capacities that they provide, economists can make complex calculations, simulating, for example, the “behavior” of economies for years to come with great accuracy, and build the correct development model based on these data.
- Sport. Achievements of science, impossible without computer technology, make it possible to draw up the most effective training programs for athletes, so that the latter achieve high results.
- Energy Reading signals from specially programmed sensors allows specialists to find out in time which object requires repair, replacement or modernization. This not only improves the economic performance of energy enterprises, but also significantly reduces the risk of an emergency, which is undoubtedly very important in this area.
Such examples can be given in literally every area of human life, because the 21st century is the century of technology.
Total
What conclusion can be drawn from the above information on the use of computer technology?
Information technology, of course, over time will become an integral part of people's lives. They are already applied in all areas: from agriculture to the economy. The process of technologicalization of society has begun.
True, the use of computer technology is still possible to a limited extent, since no, even the most modern machines, software, and artificial intelligence are able to replace a professional in their field. Although routine tasks can already be automated and save people from doing them.
This applies to the use of computer technology in management, in education, in the manufacturing sector, etc.