state_art

=**State of the Art Educational Technologies** =


 * What is the state-of-the Art**

According to Merriam Webster online dictionary, the word state-the-art is defined as  the level of development (as of a device, procedure, process, technique, or science) reached at any particular time usually as a result of modern methods.


 * What are State-of-the-art Educational Technologies**

The state-of-the-art educational technologies refer to technologies that are invented and used to enahance learning at current time.


 * State of the Art Educational Technologies**

this is a very wide topic to be cover in this assignment but I present in the following sections which I select the state of the art educational technologies.


 * 1. Open source Software**

The idea of free software movement was started in 1983 and the name was replaced by open source software in 1998[1]. The purpose of open source software is to distribute a software whose source code is readable by other party to make the product more understandable, modifiable, duplicatable, reliable or simply accessible, while it is still marketable [1]. It also allows any one to add new component to improve its functionality to specific user needs.

Many countries which don’t advanced in science and technology started lower grade schools by their local language and gradually introduced foreign languages like English. In the same way Ethiopia also uses Amharic as its official language and many other local languages in all lower grades.

Therefore systems in local language are important for teaching at lower grades. The availability of open source software opens opportunity to introduce educational technologies in lower grades. Besides Ethiopia is poor country can not afford to buy and introduce commercial software in its schools. Not only one time purchase but also license renewal is another repelling factor for penetration of educational technologies in lower grade schools.

Examples:

For example Slovakia is a small country and cannot get commercial software in its local language. They were forced to use English or Czeck. Linux is an open source application and offered a tool (GNU/GPL) to customize its system in local languages. The localization processes don’t need very high programmer skills. For example GCompris, thanks localization possibility, can be used in many states in 1st grades [2].

Open source software is recent development, just about one decade. Before some years, we don’t find such software. This software introduces new way of thinking and software team in software development. Any interested developer work on open source software to make it better for its own specific purpose and freely distribute to others in case they want to use it. //Open source// and //free software// (or //software libre//) both describe software which is free from onerous licensing restrictions. It may be used, copied, studied, modified and redistributed without restriction [1]. There open source software is ideal learning environment to support collaborative work and social learning. It also creates opportunities for students to be co-developers of the new release of the software.


 * 2. Web 2.0 technologies**

There is great advancement in web technologies. One of the recent developments in WWW technology is the development of Web 2.0 technologies (such as wiki and blogs). The purpose of this technology allows users to collaboratively exchange and construct their ideas without any geographical distance barrier. This technology can be also used in the classroom to implement student-centered learning so that students are engaged in active learning activities to create their meaning.

The main reason why we use web 2.0 technologies in education is for the following reasons: “ … they promise learners new opportunities to be independent in their study and research. They encourage a wider range of expressive capability. They facilitate more collaborative ways of working and they furnish a setting for learner achievements to attract an authentic audience” [2]. In general this technology creates a new platform where both students and teachers can construct knowledge collaboratively.

Examples:

I have used this technology to in my web and internet programming class. Renting a Web server space is not affordable for academic exercise. I let students to create their own website so that they develop a confidence developing a website is as simple as they did it. If they don’t practically do it, they will not have a real meaning. In addition, I used this system to post assignments for the students and submit their assignment online so that students can learn with other from their peer work.

The reason why this technology is the state of the art technology is that editable web sites are new phenomena. The older websites allowed you just to browse content posted by the developer. This one allows both learners and teachers to work collaboratively and implement real student-centered learning environment.


 * 3. Educational Games**

The purpose of educational games is to make learning entertaining and motivating at the same time teaching learners basic knowledge and skill they are expected to acquire as a learning goal. “Games really can make learning fun. Once learning becomes fun, there's no stopping it” [3].

The main problem in education is how to motivate learners and engage them in critical thinking through in the class. Learners have many things that distract their attention from attentively attending the class. This was really big challenge for educationalists. Researchers use different methods to motivate students such as making the lesson challenging, using variety of teaching styles and instructional media. Educational games are an additional support tools to motivate students in the class.

Examples: = Teaching body Anatomy = = A game by Aristoplay, the SomeBody Anatomy Game is developed teach anatomy of body for kids ages from 6 to 12. The game has matching games, identification games about the organs, muscles, and bones, and fun, fascinating experiments to perform. It's designed to stay fun and grow with a student's knowledge and interest. It has stick-on body parts, and cards with questions and experiments. One can free download the game from [|//http://math-and-reading-help-for-kids.org/articles/Five_Science_Games.html//] site. = Reading skill

Educational games can be also used to develop children’s reading skill. An important example includes programs that are geared towards developing reading skills. These games combine the use of phonics with word families, while using colors and music to enhance children's retention [4].

Why it is the state of the art?

Until recently the computer has reached its highest stage, the computer capacity was limited to develop and use memory and processor intensive games. Besides, software were not available to develop educational games. If one wants to develop, he/she has to write long sequence of program codes. Now there are a lot of opportunities we educationalists can choose and develop educational games with little effort of programming coding to make our class motivating and entertaining.


 * Reference**

= 1. Wikipedia. (2008). Open source software. Retrieved on November 14, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_software = = 2. Crook, C. Harrison, C. and Lewin, C. (2008). Web 2.0 technologies for learning: The current landscape – opportunities, challenges and tensions. Retrieved on November 14, 2008 from http://tinyurl.com/5gnabl = = 3. Math and Reading Help, (2003-2008). Five Science Games. Retrieved on November 14, 2008 from [|//http://math-and-reading-help-for-kids.org/articles/Five_Science_Games.html//] = [|-Games-For-Children&id=1522730] **
 * 4. ** Toulouse, F. (n.d. ). The Benefits of Educational Software Games For Children. Retrieved on November 14, 2008 from ** [|http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Benefits-of-Educational-Software]