Emerging Technology: The Smartboard Technology for Schools:
The days of chalkboard and white board are becoming obsolete in most schools because of the introduction of smartboard technology.
Use of the SMART Board technology offers several advantages within the classroom setting by helping to address the diverse range of students that are visual, auditory or even tactile learners. Through experience the interactive whiteboard provided multiple ways to represent information in a science laboratory setting. Interactive text, images, sound and video flies helped engage all learners. The tactile approach to learning by using the touch-sensitive board included using the finger or pen tool to increase student engagement with instant tactile access to digital resources for each laboratory when the interactive whiteboard was used. In addition, whiteboard sessions capture audio and video files for future use for distance education, or even for students who were absent. Using the interactive whiteboard creates the opportunity for students to do pair and share learning activities by using the SMART airliners. The airliners link to the main whiteboard through Bluetooth technology, therefore students can work within groups without leaving their work stations or even coming to the whiteboard. One of the greatest advantages of using this technology is that it motivates teachers to incorporate and develop more digital resources and include them in class lessons. Overall, the interactive whiteboards engage a wide variety of students in the learning process.
There are however some problems relating to the use of this technology in schools. One area and probably the most important is the cost. Most inner school districts cannot afford to provide this technology to their schools. The training that is available does not address the vast need of some of the older teachers who are not comfortable adapting to new technology in teaching. The cost of operating a successful smartboard involves additional energy cost and special classroom fixtures to accommodate the equipments. On the technical aspect, I think there is need to simplify the operational procedure in order to ease adaptation.
References:
Smartboard Interactive Technology: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_Board_interactive_whiteboard
Smart- Educator Resources:
http://education.smarttech.com/ste/en-US/ed+Resource/
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Emerging Technology
Obsolete Technology: Floppy Disk
Emerging or Emerged Technology: Flash Drive
Innovation and technology advancement renders eguipments and tools obsolete very frequently. New and improved developments displace what we may, at one time regard as great and a must have redundant. This is the case with floppy disk and flash drive.
Floppy disks are small, removable, media storage devices. They record data onto a thin, circular magnetic film encased in a flat, square plastic jacket. Floppy disks are somewhat antiquated, having been replaced by Flash drive, sometimes, called memory sticks and re-writable CD storage devices. Original floppy disks were 8-inch floppies used in 1971-1975, but the first floppy disks that were widely used commercially were 5.25-inch disks. These floppy disks were quite flexible and required a 5.25-inch floppy drive. The disks could store up to 360 kilobytes (KB) of data, or about one third of a single megabyte. Later, high-density floppy disks held 1.2 megabytes (MB) of data. These floppy disks were widely used until about 1987.
As the technology of floppy disks improved, the next generation was smaller and eventually held more data. The newer 3.5-inch floppy disks also had hard shell cases for protection, making them less floppy. Some 3.5-inch floppy disks only utilized one side of the internal magnetic film for recording data, with a capacity of 744 KB. High-density 3.5-inch floppy disks doubled the capacity to 1.44 MB. In fact there were several configurations, including single or double sided (SS or DS), and single or double density (SD or DD).
Recently, manufacturers have stopped producing floppy disks. PC World, a major British computer supplies retailer, announced that it will stop selling floppy disks as soon as the ones it has on hand run out. Other retailers have made similar announcements too.
It's not like anyone is really using floppies anymore. Since 1998, computer companies have been phasing out floppy disk readers in favor of CD drives and then USB ports, both of which read information at much higher volume, speed, and accuracy. The magnetic technology of floppies has gone the way of bronze shields.
But there is still a bit of nostalgia about the floppy disk era. The floppy disk was probably the last relic of the first computers. It's much more similar to cardboard punch cards than to your new flash drive. Vacuum tubes that could fill up a decent-sized lecture hall were high tech back when floppies were considered the Next Big Thing.
Today, the use of floppy drives has diminished. This happened because they became obsolete. A new and better way to store and transfer data was created in a flash drive. These flash drives are more convenient in transferring data because they can hold a greater amount of data and are more durable than the floppy disk. The flash drive was not the first improvement to floppy disks. The first improvement came with the Zip disks. These disks may have looked like a regular floppy disk but could store more memory and was a little more durable. These disks didn't catch on because almost all computers had to have a zip disk drive installed onto it. This is where the flash drive came in. It could hold the amount of memory a zip disk could if not more and was also a fraction of the size, it was more durable, and most importantly, it is easy to use with all computers, with quick and easy installation through the USB ports.
USB flash drives are a convenient medium for storing and transporting files. They are quite durable when compared to floppy disks. Their large capacity is very convenient for storing files.
Emerging or Emerged Technology: Flash Drive
Innovation and technology advancement renders eguipments and tools obsolete very frequently. New and improved developments displace what we may, at one time regard as great and a must have redundant. This is the case with floppy disk and flash drive.
Floppy disks are small, removable, media storage devices. They record data onto a thin, circular magnetic film encased in a flat, square plastic jacket. Floppy disks are somewhat antiquated, having been replaced by Flash drive, sometimes, called memory sticks and re-writable CD storage devices. Original floppy disks were 8-inch floppies used in 1971-1975, but the first floppy disks that were widely used commercially were 5.25-inch disks. These floppy disks were quite flexible and required a 5.25-inch floppy drive. The disks could store up to 360 kilobytes (KB) of data, or about one third of a single megabyte. Later, high-density floppy disks held 1.2 megabytes (MB) of data. These floppy disks were widely used until about 1987.
As the technology of floppy disks improved, the next generation was smaller and eventually held more data. The newer 3.5-inch floppy disks also had hard shell cases for protection, making them less floppy. Some 3.5-inch floppy disks only utilized one side of the internal magnetic film for recording data, with a capacity of 744 KB. High-density 3.5-inch floppy disks doubled the capacity to 1.44 MB. In fact there were several configurations, including single or double sided (SS or DS), and single or double density (SD or DD).
Recently, manufacturers have stopped producing floppy disks. PC World, a major British computer supplies retailer, announced that it will stop selling floppy disks as soon as the ones it has on hand run out. Other retailers have made similar announcements too.
It's not like anyone is really using floppies anymore. Since 1998, computer companies have been phasing out floppy disk readers in favor of CD drives and then USB ports, both of which read information at much higher volume, speed, and accuracy. The magnetic technology of floppies has gone the way of bronze shields.
But there is still a bit of nostalgia about the floppy disk era. The floppy disk was probably the last relic of the first computers. It's much more similar to cardboard punch cards than to your new flash drive. Vacuum tubes that could fill up a decent-sized lecture hall were high tech back when floppies were considered the Next Big Thing.
Today, the use of floppy drives has diminished. This happened because they became obsolete. A new and better way to store and transfer data was created in a flash drive. These flash drives are more convenient in transferring data because they can hold a greater amount of data and are more durable than the floppy disk. The flash drive was not the first improvement to floppy disks. The first improvement came with the Zip disks. These disks may have looked like a regular floppy disk but could store more memory and was a little more durable. These disks didn't catch on because almost all computers had to have a zip disk drive installed onto it. This is where the flash drive came in. It could hold the amount of memory a zip disk could if not more and was also a fraction of the size, it was more durable, and most importantly, it is easy to use with all computers, with quick and easy installation through the USB ports.
USB flash drives are a convenient medium for storing and transporting files. They are quite durable when compared to floppy disks. Their large capacity is very convenient for storing files.
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