Computers in Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Computers in Education - Essay Example This has been on the way different people in the world access the ICT facilities and the time at which they are introduced to ICT in their age. It has been one of the proposed ways of achieving equality through inclusive education. The age of introduction of ICT has been one of the most debatable issues in the world especially in the education sector. There are various legislation that have been proposed introduce to ensure that that is timely introduction of ICT education to children. It is expected that if there is the introduction of the ICT at the same age, it would help to deal with some of the challenge that have been faced by the use of ICT especially in the education sector. This report will review role of ICT in developing the early year's curriculum and the way in which it can help children in early childhood education. (Smith 2007, 409) The use of computers in educating young children has been one of the most critical issues that have been attracting a lot of public debate. There have been arrangements on the role that ICT can play in the education of the young children in school or at home. This has been attributed to the level effects that have been observed on children who start using computers early in life especially when it comes to the health effects. As such most of the debates have been grounded on the recommended age at which a child can be introduced to computers. Many of the researches that have been carried out do not recommend use of computer by children who are 3 years and below. It has been argued that computers do not match their learning style and therefore they are likely to be negatively impacted by the use of computers. According to the learning theories it has been show that children who are under three years learn using their bodies using different parts like eyes, mouth, hands, legs, and other body parts. Though they may be addicted to returning over and over an activity, there is usually a high level of body movement, which changes it focus frequently. Computers are therefore not good choice for the developmental skills that these children are mastering like crawling, talking, walking, and others like making friends. (Haugland 2002, p. 13) Therefore the age at which computer are introduced to the child is very imprint since it determines the effect that it will have on the child. From the age of three a child has been show to have an increased interest in the use of computers and seem to learn a lot form them. What need to be done is that there is need to come up with an appropriate computer activity that fit the learning and developmental needs of these children. It has been shown that computers have an impact on the children when they produce a concrete experiences, when children have free access and control the learning experience and when they are given the necessary help and support as regards the use of these devices. Therefore the way computers will be used for a 3-4 year child will be different from the way it will be used for a kindergarten and a child for the primary grades. This is due to difference in developmental and learning needs of the age groups. (Wetzel 1995, p. 12) Use of computer in the early year curriculum One of the things that we need to come in terms with is that children are surrounded by

Personal Understanding and Interpersonal Communication Essay

Personal Understanding and Interpersonal Communication - Essay Example Meanwhile, non-verbal communication (NVC) is something that we do not pay attention to during communication as well as to listeing as it performs functions of face-to-face interaction that do not rely primarily on the content of what we say. Here we are concerned with how we make ourselves known through, for example, a look, gesture, postural shift or trembling voice. At the very outset, however, it should be stressed that distinguishing between verbal and nonverbal communication is not as conceptually straightforward as it might at first seem. As for assertiveness, this quality is nowadays required from professionals and it is a skill that is of importance when dealing with family, friends, peers, superiors and subordinates. It is pertinent to interactions between different groups of professionals, especially where differences of power and status exist, and it is of relevance to interactions between professionals and clients. In a piece of early but still influential work, Laver and Hutcheson (1972) distinguished between verbal and nonverbal, and vocal and nonvocal communication. Vocal behaviour refers to all aspects of speech including language content and accompanying expressions such as tone of voice, rate of speech and accent, etc. Nonvocal behaviour, in contrast, refers to all other bodily activities that have a communicative function such as facial expressions, gestures and movements. These are sometimes referred to as body language. Verbal behaviour, on the other hand, is taken to mean the actual words and language used while nonverbal behaviour refers to all vocal and nonvocal behaviour that is not verbal in the sense defined above. This system seems therefore to insert a sharp and clearly recognisable dividing line between the verbal and the nonverbal, until it is realised that verbal communication has a nonvocal element. It encompasses types of gestural communication such as formal sign languag e that one may have expected to find listed as nonverbal. According to Richmond and McCroskey (2000) precise definitions that introduce hard and fast distinctions between verbal and nonverbal communication are illusory. Instead they suggested teasing the two forms apart by pointing up broad differences. As such, by comparison, verbal messages: - rely much more heavily on symbols (i.e. words) as part of an arbitrary code; - tend to be discretely packaged in separate words rather than represented in continuous behaviour, as in gaze; - carry more meaning explicitly rather than implicitly; - typically address cognitive/propositional rather than emotional/relational matters. Remland (2000) further noted that verbal interchanges must take place sequentially (i.e. participants must take turns) but interactors can communicate simultaneously using a nonverbal code. We tend to be less aware of the nonverbal accompaniment to much of what we say, than we are of the actual words spoken. While we often carefully monitor what is said to achieve the desired effect, how we are saying it may escape censor such that the reality of the situation is 'leaked' despite our best efforts. In other words, NVC can be thought of as a more 'truthful' form of communication through the insights that it affords