The Impact of Technology on a Home Schooled Education
The field of technology is constantly improving, expanding, and changing. Over the past decade, Internet use and web-based communication have sky rocketed, enabling businesses, families, schools, and students to communicate more efficiently. An abundance of information is now available, literally, at the “click of a button.” This decade-long expansion of technology has had a remarkable impact on the effectiveness of home schooling, making sources available in seconds and instilling valuable life skills in each student that are vital for a successful future in this world of technological growth. The purpose of this research paper is to illustrate the positive impact of emerging technologies on home-schooled children, to demonstrate how technology is improving the effectiveness of these learning environments, and to display the augmentation of educational possibilities for students.
The impact of the Internet and the great quantity of its use in public and home schools has grown tremendously over the past decade. Now, many children have the luxury of logging onto an instant messenger program to chat with friends instantaneously or sign into their personal email accounts to check new messages. Years ago, the idea of email was unheard of and unknown of to most. Suddenly it seemed that practically overnight, everyone had a personal email account. With this came the words “You’ve got mail,” and there began a new era.
Email gave home-schooled students the advantage of being able to connect with others students easily. It connected students who live next door to each other to students who live in a complete different country. Email has facilitated the process of ...
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Along with using the World Wide Web for researching purposes, e-mail has become a very commonly used feature. Students and teachers can communicate outside of the classroom any time of day. In addition, this also opens up the idea of an online community center.
This article discusses the use of the Internet in the classroom and how it can be used to personalize education. The effectiveness of the Internet in the classroom is evaluated at the Henry Hudson Regional School in Highlands, New Jersey. A faculty member at the school explains that the Internet was introduced to their classrooms to expand limited electives, advanced placement, and foreign language offerings. The use of the Internet allows small schools to provide an education that would not be economically possible without it.
With the wave of technology being a part of the main stream educational process, online learning is being considered as an option for most parents of a K-12 learner. Although it is a great way to learn it involves time and commitment from both students and their families. It is also making it easier for home schooled students to get their lessons, as well as for the resources parents need in teaching their child at home.
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Today, many parents are homeschooling their children. A U.S. Department of Education’s report shows that approximately 1.5 million children were being homeschooled in 2007 (Lips & Feinberg, 2008). This is almost 3 percent of all school age children (Lips & Feinberg, 2008). A private researcher, the National Home Education Research Institute, estimates 2.5 million children were being homeschooled in the 2007 – 2008 academic years (Lips & Feinberg, 2008). By either count, homeschooling is growing exponentially.
It is no surprise that technology is rapidly taking over the world, and defining the day to day lives we live. As humans we are constantly engaged in some form of technology. However, the role of technology in early childhood classroom is a growing and controversial topic. The bottom line question for most teachers is whether or not computer based technology is developmentally appropriate for early childhood students, and if they benefit from using computers as a primary learning tool. Technology is the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment (Webster Dictionary). Technology has been present in the world for centuries, from cave men to the industrial revolution which brought on a whole new era of technology to the United States. The Department of Education is granting schools with seven million dollars to help fund technology based learning just this year (Luebbe, 2011). Schools are now starting to be judged by the student to computer ratio, to determine the schools ability to provide a “quality” education. It’s no wonder everywhere we look and everything we do is a counterpart to technology.
Romanowski, M.H. (2001). Home school and the public school: Rethinking the relationship. Streamlined Seminar, 19(3), Spring 2001. Retrieved December 7, 2004 from EBSCO database.
The Impact of the Internet on Education A dusty, one-bedroom schoolhouse on the edge of a village. An overworked teacher trying to manage a room full of boisterous children. Students sharing schoolbooks that are in perpetual short supply, crammed in rows of battered desks. Children worn out after long treks to school, stomachs rumbling with hunger.
Technology has had a negative impact on education by causing distractions during class lectures and assignments. The over use of technology is leading to a loss in communication skills and troubles in reading. The use of technology causes many people to have the temptation for cheating in and out of classrooms, resulting in students not wanting to study. Not every student has the capability of connecting to the internet or have contact to technology. This creates difficulties for those students without connection to the internet to complete online assignments or have accesses to their school’s resources. Also, for online courses, students have to wait for an email response in order to get help or to understand a lecture that the professor is
As time goes by, advances in technology will provide more and more avenues for learning by way of the computer. The Internet has opened the doors of the world and unleashed limitless possibilities in research and education. It may be only a matter of time when the classroom is brought online to all children and attending a school classroom outside the home is a thing of the past. Looking back over the last 20 years, I never would have imagined that computers would come this far and impact our lives so much. Just imagine where they will be 20 years from now.
Throughout history we have many advancements. Technology has been one of the biggest. The top five advancements that have changed the face of education are Social Media, Online Classrooms, Tablets, Smartphones, and Free Online Resources. We can almost guarantee that in the future another advancement will be released that can help further our education or our children's education. This paper is going to introduce and further explore how digital learning will change education in the future. Listed below will be a few key subjects that will be discussed and further researched in the paper.
Technology affects every aspect of our lives. From romance to business, it has shown its presence everywhere. But technology has had a huge impact on education that cannot be denied, and has done nothing but improve the quality and quantity of education.
Andy Carvin states “ internet access in schools isn’t worth a hill of beans if teachers aren’t prepared to take full advantage of technology” (2000). Schools spend a lot of money on computer hardware and software as well as other technologies without realizing that many of their employees are unprepared to include them in their teaching and use them to their advantages. Educators often use technology as a classroom management tool rather than an educational one, allowing computer time as a reward for good behavior (Clark & Gorski, 2001). The problem with this is that students learn to use the computer for games and such because it is their reward instead of using it on their own time for educational purposes. This is teaching them the wrong idea. Margaret Honey, director of the Center for Children and Technology in NYC said it best, “The bottom line is, you don’t just put technology into schools or into homes and expect miracles to happen. The technology is only as good as the program that surrounds it” (Meyer, 2002, p.2).
Technology in education is a touchy subject in the United States. Many parents believe that technology will only hurt their child in future, while some believe that technology will help their child. Parents have to be open and must allow themselves, to see what is happening before they make their decision.