This is the first topic that was discussed in our Educational Technology II subject which gave an insight about the era that we are having today known as the “Digital Age”. As the world changes because of different technologies and developments emerging, our skills and knowledge must also be increasing and adapts the challenges brought to us by the world. In this topic, we met different digital age literacies like the basic, scientific, economic, technological, visual, information, multicultural literacies, and global awareness. Another term that we tackled was the “Inventive thinking” which says that we must be flexible and have the ability to adapt to the changes that is brought by the technology especially in the way we think.
Histories of different phenomena happened in the world were always been a long journey for students like me. The discussion of historical development of ICT in our classroom starts in defining the term ICT which stands for Information and Communication Technology that includes any communication device or application, encompassing: radio, TV, cellphones, computer and network hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as video conferencing and distance learning. The discussion in the development of ICT started from the year 1604 when Blaise Pascal invented the first commercial calculator followed by other inventors of different machines, computers and its parts, the Internet, WWW, e-mail up to mobile internet access in the year 2007.
These emerging technologies in the 21st century may or may not be effective in the process of learning since not all schools, either public or private can easily adjust to the modernization of class rooms but the best way that we can do is to be an open-minded individual that we need to adjust and let these technologies be part of the teaching-learning process and continue to cultivate the abilities of our students in our own best ways.
During my observation in my field study subject, I noticed that there are changes in the facilities and the availability of computers in the school that I’m observing. The Administration of the school is doing their best to cope with the advancement brought by Digital Age by teaching students to be computer-literate. And I think this is just their first step towards adjusting to the said changes of Digital Age.
By: Katherine E. Bernabe
