Computer in Elementary School - Essay Example

This essay approves that digital technology systems allow people to connect with one another and with information resources. More specifically, these systems can be designed to facilitate and support information. Then the systems can allow access, exchange, communication, and collaboration among individuals and groups. This in turn helps people in accomplishing their tasks activities. These technologies are often referred to as computer-mediated communication and groupware. Currently, the Internet is the network of choice.

The Internet allows educators to connect instructors, learners, and information on a global basis. The popularity of the Internet permits this information to be hypermediated, highly unstructured, and readily available. Consequently, we are currently experiencing an explosion of Internet based instructional systems. The Internet has suddenly become the de facto global technology platform for instruction and learning. Although Internet based instruction is the fastest growing area of educational technology research, we know little about how to effectively design and implement these systems for educational applications.

This report makes a conclusion that a review of educational technology literature over the past three decades reveals a proliferation of research articles and national reports detailing the effects of computer technology in the classroom. Recent reports advocate the need to "establish a definition of conditions for effective use of technology; create new measures of progress and indicators of effective use; and design new approaches to assessment and more sensitive evaluation tools".