New Technologies for Education: A Beginner's Guide

Keeping up with technological change is a challenging task. The third edition of this well-received work offers an updated look at the technologies affecting education - including school LANs, the Internet and multimedia - and it demonstrates how those technologies can best be used in an educational setting. Separating substance from sales pitch, this book offers educators a practical, uncomplicated introduction to an often bewildering subject. The authors thoroughly examine the present uses of compact discs, interactive videodiscs, digital audios, digitized videos, hypermedia, local area networks, telecommunications and teleconferencing. For each technology they consider its advantages and disadvantages, educational applications and implementation techniques. The entire text has been updated and revised to reflect developments in the field. For example, there are new sections on the World Wide Web, Web publishing, Internet audioconferencing and videoconferencing, the latest developments in compact disc technology and more. A new chapter about using technology to assist students with special needs has been added.
This work may be used as a professional resource, as a guide for in-service education, or as a textbook for multimedia and technology courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels. It offers educators a wealth of information, including contact information about software and hardware vendors, lists of appropriate reference materials and a glossary of terminology. Barron and Orwig clearly demonstrate that technology not only offers increased access to information but it also gives students the opportunity to interact and create with the information. Educators interested in improving the instruction process and taking advantage of new technologies should benefit from this book. Those responsive for planning, curriculum design and purchasing should find it useful too.