5.+Other+issues+that+may+be+associated+with+the+use+of+new+technologies

A variety of other issues can be associated with the use of new technologies to support teaching and learning at school levels. These include learning disadvantages to students and teachers.

There are many learning disadvantages that can occur when new technologies are involved. These include innappropriate uses of the internet, breakdowns and broken hardware and the impacts this has on students, as well as the varying levels amongst the students. Let's set a scene: Its a hot summer day and the children are tired and restless. Mrs Gilchrist is also tired and is looking forward to the end of the day. She decides to send the students to the computer pods to work on their research projects. A variety of outcomes will occur. > http://davidakin.blogware.com/logo_facebook-rgb-7inch.jpg There are also many other alternatives however, these are common practices and show that the students are not being active learners and are wasting their time and often the time of others around them. As teachers we need to ensure we engage the students as much as possible.
 * 1) A small group of students start their research and follow the teachers instructions
 * 2) Some start to look for information, get bored or too interested in what is going on around them and then leave their work unfinished while managing to disrupt surrounding students
 * 3) Students completely ignore the set task and start using websites such as Myspace, Facebook and chat sites including MSN. [[image:MSN%20Developer%20Center_MSN.jpg width="99" height="80" align="center"]]

Breakdowns and broken hardware also commonly occur and can cause students to waste time or miss out on hours of classtime. This can intimidate some students and make them feel as though they are well behind on their studies. At this point some students get motivated and will go home to complete their work while others can feel defeated and will give up all together. This can turn into a dangerous trend and end up occurring in all stages of learning.

Teachers also face the problem of the varying levels of ability amongst their students. It is difficult to set online tasks as most are at one level. Another factor that affects this is the introduction time. Not all students will understand the new technologies and need more time to go through the principles and properties of the educational programs, and at the same token other will know too much and be bored senseless. This large spectrum is a very difficulty problem to deal with.