westec-itec.org

It seems that the whole world, whether it is interested or not, is being caught up in the 3D revolution.
First, it was just 3D cinemas, where we all put on silly glasses and had a treat off the parents. Now with top Hollywood films coming out in 3D, we still need glasses but we get nice-ish looking ones.
Second, the 3D viewing experience is coming into our living rooms with more and more TV’s being released with 3D displays. Even mobile phones are getting in on the action, with them having had the screens updated to allow the choice of boring old and past it 2D (can you tell I’m a 3D fan?!) displays, or the exciting new 3D displays (without the need of glasses).
These phones are a great way to show off with, although one can look a bit silly when one tries to pick up the 3D image, rather than touching it to make an action happen!
3D has now spread from the computer console (that we lovingly place beside our TV’s and devote too much time too), to being on the handheld console we carry around. That’s right, Nintendo has announce the 3DS, so all those mini games can now really stand out – no need for glasses, just pure brilliance.

Read Users' Comments (0)

It seems that the “fun” between Google and Google.cn is getting “funner”! Google are getting increasingly annoyed at China censoring its website; and the situation just seems to be getting bigger and bigger.

First, it started out with little quips about Google delaying, and then stopping, the import of some of its much loved Android phones to China (have to wonder how many parts of their phones are actually made in China… despite the phones not allowed to be sold there!), and now it seems that the internet giant Google has taken another step in this escalating war – by joining forces with the US to bring in some international trade rules to make censorship of the internet illegal.

This is good news (as I think knowledge should be available to all, and so will make no difference to most of the world), however, I bet China wished it had left Google alone now!

Read Users' Comments (0)

The old traditional method of learning to read is to take a book and learn the individual words before being able to form a sentence. Many children like to learn through interactive methods and simply holding, and reading from a book is not enough to aid with this. Instead some schools, have utilised digital tools and methods to help children to learn to read. So far these new methods have proven to have a positive effect with many children enhancing their literacy acquisition faster than other children who have used the traditional methods. Learning methods are all about the individual child and which technique they prefer, but surely having the the digital methods available could help those children who otherwise might have fallen behind.

Read Users' Comments (0)

As classroom sizes become bigger and pupils fight for places in good schools, could distance learning be the solution. Online distance learning is not a new concept but the idea of a whole online distance school is. The technology is there but whether children will benefit from the experience is another. Online schools would mean children could study at home while gaining access to some of the best instructors. Some early research even suggests that distance education can have the same level of academic achievement as traditional methods. If this later proves to be the case then potentially a lot of money could be saved by moving away from traditional teaching methods in teh future.

Read Users' Comments (0)

Facebook just keeps on expanding and today most children have their own account and spend a lot of their time on it. It’s true that it’s a big influence on young people lives, but studies have suggested that Facebook has a much bigger influence on girls than boys. This is because 40% of girls aged from 8 to 15 said that Facebook was one of the most important things in their lives.

Although Facebook is very popular, the amount of time spent on this social networking site could be hindering not only a child’s family life but also their education as they spend less time on home work and more time networking with friends. Only time will tell if it a true hindrance as Facebook is set to be around for a long time to come.

Read Users' Comments (0)

Technology in schools can help the staff just as much as it can help the children with their learning. One of the ways in which it is doing this is through an automatic attendance system. Once the attendance of the pupils has been entered into the system it is set up so that it will automatically send an automated phone message to the parent or guardian of any child that is not in school without a reason. Some systems are also set up so that they will send out a text message. This makes the school office‘s life much easier and also makes it much harder for pupils to play truant, which can only be a good thing.

Read Users' Comments (0)

The government has spent a lot over the past few years on improving technology in schools as they feel it will help children to learn much better than the traditional chalk and blackboard. It seems now that the government were right in their efforts as a study in technology and academic achievement has proven that there is a strong link between the two.

Technology such as whiteboards encourages more interactive learning rather than just reading from a text book and for many students this appears to be a beneficial approach.

Now that these studies support the governments thinking, technology is only set to grow in the classroom, but as plans grow for some schools to be new learning academy’s it seems that some schools will be better off than others and will be able to afford the new technology on offer. So does this mean that those students living in lower privileged areas will suffer?

Read Users' Comments (0)

It has long been thought that technology in the classroom can help a child’s education aiding them with learning. A school in San Diego however is taking a new approach by teaching its students how to build the technology. Students at High-Tech school are learning how to build robots. One of the projects was Daisy May. Daisy May is a robot designed by RJ Shephard, a senior year student. It moves around picking up balls and throwing them into a bin.

This school is very different with many students building boats, writing video games, and of course creating robots. It’s the students at this type of school which will be creating the machines of the future.

Read Users' Comments (0)

Nearly all classrooms in the UK are now installed with interactive white boards, but for children in poorer countries, this kind of technology in schools is still a long way off. A campaign was launched back in 2005 which aimed to provide one laptop per child for students living in some of the world’s poorest places.

Although the project never quite reached its target in all places it was well received in many countries, Brazil being one, which purchased 150,000 laptops for the scheme. Some countries, such as Uruguay even pursued the project whole heartedly and managed to purchase a laptop for every child. Hopefully with the aid of these laptops the children living in deprived areas can get a worth while education.

Read Users' Comments (0)

Earlier this year at the BETT Conference Professor Stephen Heppell suggested that schools must break away from the current learning modules and instead embrace technology such as games, social networking and podcasts. He also argued that there were big gaps between schools in the county, ie, those embracing technology and those falling behind, continuing to use traditional teaching techniques.

There were some children at the conference who were demonstrating how games consoles such as the Wii can be used in the classroom, as an interactive teaching method. Some other schools even utilise Skype in order to allow their students to work with pupils from other schools on projects. Professor Heppell states “Turned off devices equals turned off children”.

Read Users' Comments (0)