With all the technology changes, this is easy. The problem is not describe a situation but which situation is worthy of discussion. For this discussion I will use the case of flip chart vs. smartboard.
When I was relocated to Washington as a military instructor. The instructor that I was sent to assist was using flip charts. This was ten years ago, and I wasn’t about to use paper flip charts. So I spoke with my supervisor, the training director and express my issues. One of my arguments was that this was out dated, unprofessional, and limiting ones teaching skills. The problem with flip charts are that they don’t allow for flexibility. The general construction of a flipchart resembles a big isosceles triangle box that usually sits on a table of the floor. The paper is flipped from one side of the top of the triangle box to the other. During his early training sessions, in the ’80s, flip charts and marking pens were ubiquitous teaching aids. A great advantage of these tools, of course, is that they require no electricity. This was a powerful advantage since there often was no electricity when he taught in the field and the. But for live training and presentations in modern offices and schools of today the flip chart was being replaced by smartboards, projectors, and computers
I performed some research and for our application we started using smartboards. SMART education solutions had a profound effects on students and instructors thru out our building. This new technology allow the to present a more visual stimulation, student interacting equipment. The instructors were allowed to adapt their lesson plan to equate the smartboard. The students found it more interesting. It allowed the student to inter act and for the section that wasn’t clear back tracking was easy. Then the instructor could continue the lesson plan without loosing the rest of the class. The smartboard training and professional development programs help ensure the technology products are used often and used effectively. By the end of my five year period, we went from flip charts to Smartboard and finishing up with Microsoft net meeting.
The director realized that for us to be effective at our job training these young troops, we would have to become current and stay abreast of the changes. Changes that will effect training became his major concern. Technology can be a excellent tool to enhanced learning. We realized it and capitalize on the risk.
