What this blog is all about

(Note: Apologies for the third introduction post. I hope to post the first content next week.)

The aim of this blog is to introduce you to technologies available to enhance your students' learning experience. I intended for this book to give you as practical and useful information as my experience as an information officer in UP Manila, and as a trainer before that, would allow. Because of this, I thought I would like to give you particular steps as much as possible, but creativity and application can be as varied as there are unique situations.

It also aims to introduce to you issues and trends related to the use of technology for teaching, research and extra-curricular activities. It is my hope that knowledge of these issues and trends would allow you to use technology for teaching while being aware of critical behavioral and social issues related to it.

This blog assumes you have working knowledge on desktop and Internet applications. If you need basic training on these applications, such as how to use word processors or spreadsheet software, I suggest you consult other websites that specialize on said subjects.

It is not the intent of this blog to promote any particular brand or software, but applications will be mentioned based on my experience in using these programs. Most applications have unique ways of doing the same thing, so I only have limited examples.

eLearning, blended learning (Blearning) and the like, are not technologies. These are approaches to learning. So, this book, while it supports these approaches, is not the approach. Effectiveness of use of these technologies is based on a systematic study of your lesson, your style of teaching, style of learning of your students, and learning outcomes, among others. Nonetheless, I hope to discuss this topic in the future, as well as how to administer elearning solutions or use elearning as your approach to teaching.

Like information—or like any new technology, for that matter—educational technology is void of many social and ethical issues, so I personally hope that your use of these technologies is within the bounds of social norms.