Republic of the Philippines Philippine Normal University The National Center for Teacher Education Mindanao The Multicultural Education Hub Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur JUSTIN JOHN O. DIEGOR BSciePhy-III 10/10/21 Role of Technology in the Teaching and Learning Process 10 Educational Technologies Used by My Teachers: 1. Chalkboard 2. Books 3. School computers 4. Whiteboard 5. Laptop 6. Printer 7. Projector 8. Headphones with mic 9. Microsoft Office (Office, PowerPoint, Excel) 10. Calculator During the first few years of K-12 Curriculum implementation, the Department of Education issued new sets of sophisticated technologies and apparatus to some public schools, the purpose of which was to direct both the teachers and the learners towards more strategic goals. The Philippine education had started to decline so steeply that it was necessary to institutionalize a new curriculum that's at par with national standards, and to change the educational landscape. We were the second batch to have seen this change. Not only did the subjects we took sound utterly unfamiliar, the technologies with which these subjects were taught were high end and modern, the sort you see only in universities and private institutions. We were not used to it. It was a strange sight -- our teachers coming in the classroom, bringing their own laptops (not government-issued), ready for that day's presentation to be shown of the whiteboard. As someone who grew up in traditional classroom setting with teachers relying on no more than a blackboard and a few visual aids, the prospect of using these new technologies was daunting. I also did not have my own personal computer and was not adept in working with it. I preferred writing on cartolinas with felt-tipped pens to do my assigned reports. But over time, with an increasing demand to adapt, I realized how these technologies have revolutionized our methods of doing things at school. For me, the whiteboard and projector were a superior duo. This revolutionary pair of technologies has brought the teaching and learning processes to a whole new level. What was once a perfunctory chalk-and-talk was replaced by live and creative display of information. It's both a visual appeal and a mental complement, giving us a completely new sense of being engaged. The white board and projector have made presenting reports much efficient. It was easy to explain things away with pictures and videos assisting on the side. It seems that the need for handwritten texts has been completely eliminated because there are a lot of things we can do with internet at our fingertips, and a white square display that projects what we say and discuss. To achieve something like this before would have been a Herculean task, if not impossible; but now, it's the best choice within reach. I believe, however, that change as revolutionary as this is two-pronged. It's beneficial, but it also entails a decay of personal values to some extent. Our insatiable appeal for ease and quick fixes has cost us the invaluable act of being creative and in control. Due to the increasing sites and applications that let us download templates and use them for our presentation with relative ease, we have become more reliant on these and are slowly losing the capacity to do things ourselves. That's not to say, though, that there's no room for creativity with all of these technologies. If anything, these modem equipments have resolved what remained of our classroom problems which included the lack of materials necessary to carry out some educative tasks. But these new technologies, if misused and improperly handled, have the potential to swerve us away from the direction we're supposed to be headed. That's why the first chapter of our module explicitly details the importance of properly using these time-given technologies. The technical know-how and mere integration of them into the education sector can only go so far. What matters most is how we utilize these equipments to the maximum benefit of both the teachers and the learners, including the knowledge and information they intend to communicate. We can adapt to the changes at every corner and enhance the quality of day-to-day activities in the classroom, but this is no reason to leave behind the human motivations that drove us to these changes: effort and creativity. After all, we are living in an age where pushing the limits and overcoming the hurdles on the education road requires both effort and creativity from us and the stakeholders. These revolutionary technologies, instead of becoming the hurdle, should serve to emphasize the need for that.
