Center for Innovation in Technology and Learning Build New Tech Classrooms

Lehigh University recently developed the Center for Innovation in Technology and Learning with the establishment of 4 new classrooms equipped with cutting edge technology. This will offer both teachers and students with an ideal learning environment that will encourage young minds to prosper and grow.

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New Classrooms For Better Learning

The new classrooms are developed specifically to enable learners to participate in group discussions and use technology efficiently while studying or working. These classrooms provide a lot of benefits to the students like, Lehigh Technology and Research and Communication writing fellows. These experts utilize the area to edit papers of students and interact with learners they are teaching. The fellows particularly utilise the CITL-TRAC programme house that consists of numerous tables and chairs which have been designed to support group communication. In this room, the TRAC 100 seminar is also conducted and the walls are adorned in whiteboard paint. This allows the learners to effectively express themselves and their ideas.

A Better Learning Experience

TRAC fellows and learners are able to make use of the CITL Commons, a room which has a more casual appearance and includes tables which can be utilised for studying by the learners. There is also an 80 inch laptop ready screen, a public printer and a digital bulletin board in the room. Students can easily access all these resources to complete their assignments and present their projects on the the large 80 inch screen or even utilise the digital bulletin board to build their ideas about various projects.

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17 year old Sanjana Chintalapudi has been a working as a TRAC fellow for the last 2 years. She claimed that prior to the establishment of a designated space, Sanjana barely met other TRAC fellow colleagues; except for when a writing conference was held in the same location. She said “It’s more concrete and a space designed for what we need”

Sanjana also focused on the fact that the new space helps to improve the program and make it more of a community. The area includes a specific section where everyone is allowed and may also be utilised for conferencing. The is also a space which meant to be used only by TRAC fellows. She added “Previously, TRAC fellows would have to find their own space in Lucy’s, Rauch or Saxby’s to conference with kids.”

Using Education Technology

There is another room in the CITL Classroom that is equipped with different technologies which may be used by educators to enhance their students' learning experience. There is a 98 inch ultra high definition touch screen display which may be used to display various types of images and videos. The screen may be used as a digital whiteboard as well and enables learners to video conference with other students and teachers from different parts of the world.

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Professor Ziad Munson, who teaches political sociology class, said “We use the technology room for a lab where students get hands-on experience applying the concepts they are learning in class and synthesizing class ideas to understand real world situations and issues.”

What do you think? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions with us by commenting below.

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Can Technology Actually Help To Improve Education?

As more and more schools across the globe are adopting various online learning strategies like Bring Your Own Device programs and one-to-one tablet initiatives, it seems what academic experts claimed years age was right. Globally, spending on tablets at the K-12 level has significantly risen by over 60 per cent between 2013 and 2014. However, it seems that there is a shortage of reliable proof that educational technology actually helps in improving the learning experience.

Education & Technology

If we wish to understand how all the technological advancement will affect us, then we need to start by taking a look at it's origins. It started back in 1997 during President Clinton's term when he accumulated a science and technology committee that suggested a technological embrace in a broad scope. Moreover, an early 2000s research by Duke University found a constant fall in reading and math scores. Academicians and experts believe that it is primarily due to the dearth of adult supervision at their homes. This has resulted in increased time spending on playing online games and accessing social media instead of doing coursework.

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Apart from homes, our schools are now also showing an inclination towards the increasing use of technology. Michael Rich, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School & executive director of the Center on Media and Child Health located in Boston, is concerned that our students' “brains are rewarded not for staying on task but for jumping to the next hing.” 

Education is a human experience

Probably the most glaring signal of EdTech resulting in more damage than benefits for our learners comes from the leading tech firms. The Waldorf School in Silicon Valley has around 75 per cent students whose parents work in the tech sector. Still the institute refuses to use a tablet or computer in the classrooms. Why? The administrators and educators of the school believe that teaching and learning is basically a human experience and they plan to keep it that way.

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Of course, the technology sector reacts rather negatively to this view of teaching. Lia De Cicco Remu, director of Partners in Learning at Microsoft Canada, has issued a warning for schools and teachers who still want to hold on to the traditional education methods- “Shift or get off the pot.” But is that what is necessary? Does the era of online education mean the end of traditional education? Not necessarily. Many educators and well as EdTech experts from across the globe believe that online learning is simply here to improve the way our students learn and not to replace the traditional mode of learning.

What we need to realise that using technology in education will not provide us a shortcut to better academic and student outcomes. Technology is not a magic wand or quick-fix solution.

The bottom line

As another school year begins, we need to understand that putting blind faith on EdTech tools or overemphasising the requirement for 21st century skills, might not only affect the education system in the long run, but it may also adversely affect our kids. It is very important that we maintain the right balance between technology and the traditional mode of learning to ensure your students get the training they need to prepare for the world of the future.

What do you think? Add to the discussion by sharing your views and opinions below.