The Role of Technology in Delivering the Curriculum

The Role of Technology in Curriculum Delivery

It can easily be observed that technological innovation in the multifarious fields of commerce, science and education, is fast developing such that it is difficult to foresee the technological revolution in the millennium, inclusive of educational changes.

For now, the primary roles of educational technology in delivering the school curriculum’s instructional program have been identified:

• Upgrading the quality of teaching-and-learning in schools

• Increasing the capability of the teacher to effectively inculcate learning, and for students to gain mastery of lessons and courses

• Broadening the delivery of education outside schools through non-traditional approaches to formal and informal learning, such as Open Universities and lifelong learning to adult learners

• Revolutionizing the use of technology to boost educational paradigm shifts that give importance to student-centered and holistic learning.

We can identify three current trends three current trends that could carry on to the nature of education in the future. The first trend is the paradigm shift from teacher-centered to student- centered approach to learning. The second is the broadening realization that education is not simply a delivery of facts and information, but an educative process of cultivating the cognitive, affective, psychomotor, and much more the contemplative intelligence of the learners of a new age. The third and possibly the more explosive trend is the increase in the use of new information and communication technology or ICT.

The Role of Technology in Delivering the Curriculum

Factors for Technology Selection

3. Activity/ suitability – will the chosen media fit the set instructional event, resulting in either information, motivation, or psychomotor display?

1. Practicality – is the equipment (hardware) or already prepared lesson material (software) available? If not, what would be the cost in acquiring the equipment or producing the lesson in audial or visual form?

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The role of technology finds its place at the onset of curriculum implementation, namely at the stage of instructional planning.

In a teaching-learning situation, there is the critical need to provide the learners information that forms a coherent whole.

Otherwise, learning may end up haphazard and in the end ineffective. A systematic approach to instructional planning is, therefore, necessary.

And in instructional planning, each lesson should have a clear idea of general specific goals, instructional objectives, content, activities, media, materials, assessment and evaluation on how objectives have been achieved.

4. Objective – matching – overall, does the medium help in achieving the learning objectives?

•Instructional media may also be referred to as media technology or learning technology, or simply technology. Technology plays a crucial role in delivering instruction to learners.

•Technology offers various tools of learning and these range from non-projected media from which the teacher can choose, depending on what he sees fit with the intended instructional setting.

2. Appropriateness in relation to the learners – is the medium suitable to the learners’ ability to comprehend? Will the medium be a source of plain amusement or entertainment, but not learning?