With a highly competitive job market that is likely to be the norm for years to come, students may well need a broad range of technology-based skills in order to be prepared for the workforce.

By honing those skills in K-12 settings, youngsters should be better equipped for college and beyond.

What does this mean for educators? Technology has the capability to improve how teachers run their classrooms. Learning Management Systems, Tablets, SMART Boards and the Internet are all examples of tools that can be used to improve the delivery of lessons and provide specific instructional plans based on individual student needs.

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HOW TECHNOLOGY IMPACTS TEACHERS, PARENTS AND STUDENTS

Being that many individuals maintain a busy schedule, technology makes life much easier plus less time consuming for all people, and in every occupational field. As the years progress, technology will be something that will impact everyone especially teachers, parents and students.

What I know:

Today, teachers spend a tremendous amount of time inside and outside the classroom whether grading papers, writing lesson plans, presenting lessons and dealing with discipline. The last thing teachers need on their plate is trying to contact parents over the phone or taking time out of their busy schedule to meet with students or their parents. With the aid of technology, time taken away from doing lessons plans or other activities will decrease. All a teacher has to do is simply turn on a switch and communicate with students or their parents. There are many websites that aid teachers in communicating with parents or students. One technique entails using email. Email makes the job of a teacher much easier because all a teacher has to do is simply type a message to an individual of their chose. Many times it's hard for teaches to track down parents to inform them of their child's behavior and or academics. I believe available software can help keep the line of communication open for all parties involved. Technology can also aid teachers in coming up with simple lessons plans or activities. It can also helps in communicating with students and updating parents as to what activities is coming up in their child's school. Not only does technology impacts teachers, but you as parents also.

There are many ways technology can be very effective to you as parents. Often parents are very busy and just don't have a lot of time to travel to their child's school, and talk with their child's teacher. Through the use of technology, parents can eliminate the time it takes to travel to their child's school and talk to their teachers. All a parent will have to do is simply turn on a switch and receive or transport an email to their child's teachers. If your child is one who seems to get into a lot of trouble and refuses to inform you of report card day, than technology will be beneficial to you. Having technology available for parents to communicate, helps parents to become more informed about their child's academics, behavior and stay updated on school events. Today, many students wish not to inform their parents as to what is going on at school or in their academics. This way, the parent is kept involved. It also helps keep the lines of communication open between parents and their child. Often students feel that their parents do not care. This way parents are active in their child's lives and are taken the steps to show their child they care. Technology not only benefits teachers and parents, but can make an impact on students as well.

Students can benefit from technology in many ways. It helps them to communicate with teachers in knowing what assignments they missed and what to look forward to in class. Technology reaches students from all ages. From elementary to junior high and high school. Students are able to explore a whole new world outside of textbooks. I also notice that some students take an interest in academics when they are exposed to technology. Many find it fascinating when they are in control as to what shows up on the screen by typing in a command. My Experience in interning in special education classrooms and wanting to teach special education, I noticed that these children who are at times are hard to motivate find learning fun when they are exposed to technology. I also believe it helps to improve their academics. Technology entails many programs that help to improve certain academic areas. Often I hear students asking if they can work on the computer, for math or reading. I've also seen many games and activity that helps students improve in an area they are weakest in. I believe technology is also useful in boosting self-esteem and building up a certain academic area. I think children tend to remember more by watching the screens and some of the programs are very colorful with many characters that catches many young people's attention.

Technology also helps older students (junior and high school) in the same way mentioned above, but it can be a way for older students to look up information on the college they are interested in, sites that are in the field of occupation they are looking for and sites that are of interest to them. I believe most of all technology comes in handy and is very useful for students who are in college. I know many college students, like me, work full time plus go to school. Technology comes in handy when trying to stay informed as to what assignments you missed or if you have any questions for your professor. Technology also helps to look up personal information for those who are too busy to phone a certain department or office. For example at California State University, Northridge has what is called student's records. Students records allow you to see what classes, you've taken or enrolled in, how much you owe the, print out official transcript etc. Technology makes student's life much easier. It can also be helpful in keeping in contact with other classmates as to what took place in class, setting up study groups and receiving notes you missed. By discussing some of the ways technology can be very beneficial to teachers, parents and students. I found and researched 5 sites that are very useful for teachers, parents, and students.

The Search

My search began by clicking on the search button from netscape. I typed in the command " computers in education" and came up with a whole list of sites pertaining to my topic.

The first site I came across was called "Technology & Young People". This site provides ways of making technology very useful to younger children. They provide ways of finding funding for technology, the best educational practices and research. The site hold conferences for teachers in coming up with effective activities and ways of providing technology to children. It also entails discussions, share research and information that benefits children birth to eight years. They believe technology can provide children activities that makes it fun for them to learn. They also believe that children can improve in their academics and that software helps children catch on in areas that are in need of improving. After reviewing this site I clicked back to the list of sites I found and decided to click on "21st Century Business and Education."

The second site is called, "21st Century Business and Education". The purpose if this site is to enhance communication between schools and parents. They achieve this by giving parents who are busy access to websites that offer school specific and everyday information on their child or children's school life and education. They work with K-12 educational organizations, both in public and private schools. Their job is to construct and host websites for schools and parents on the world wide web. They even enhance existing school websites to include practical contents that parents require. They also help school in coming up with sponsors through local businesses and help school in fundraising. Individuals who benefit from these sites are parents who the B.E.C offers convenient access which allows parents to stay informed in spite of long days and busy schedules. Lastly, the school site sponsorship offers local business one-on-one marketing opportunities along with positive community recognition.

The third site is the ISTE, which stands for The Leading Organization for Educational Technology Professionals. The job of the ISTE is to promote appropriate uses of technology to support and improve learning, teaching and administration in K-12 education and teacher education. Their role is to provide leadership members with information, networking opportunities and guidance as they face the challenge of incorporating computers, the internet and other technologies into their schools. ISTE provides educational technology books and programs. They also provide professional development workshops, forums and research. This site is very helpful for teachers in coming up with resources that would be most effective in the classroom. They provide lesson plans, standards, types of funding and ways of researching related topics in educational technology.

The fourth site is called "Edulink Systems, Making a Difference in Education." The edulink discusses a link called Internet Student Information System (ISTE), which helps to maintain important information regarding students day to day progress in school. Much of the information is stored in a database on the schools computer. The purpose of the ISIS is to make this information available to those who wouldn't not have access to it. They can produce users with up-to-date student information and helps keep communication open among all users. It allows parents and students to look at school records over the internet. In addition, can provide teachers, community organizations and any other groups information about a student/s. Information is controlled by the school in which the student/s goes. The features of the ISIS provides parents access from home to check on attendance, grades, test scores, homework assignments and a host of other information. A parent can also send a message to any staff member of their chose. It provides teachers contact with parents or others within the school. From home or classroom the can post homework assignments which can be accessed by parents and student's alike. Students benefit from the ISIS by being assigned an account number. Their account number helps them to gain access to homework assignments, track their progress and stay informed on school activities. Administrators can access students information from any computer connected to the internet. They can post school-wide announcements on the ISIS message system. Individuals who also benefit is the employers who must be given access to receive a students transcripts. District personal and schools who can be given access to students records and transcripts as well.

The fifth and last site I found is "Teachers Web." The purpose of this site is to make the job of a teacher much easier. With the teachers web, you simply type in new homework assignments and special announcements while viewing your website. Than with the click of a button, your up dates will be instantly available to your students using any internet access. There is security built in and only the teacher will be able to make up dates to their website, using their password. The purpose of this site is to keep the lines of communication opened to teachers and students and keep students updated as to what is going on inside the classroom. After reviewing all of these sites, I started to realized the real impact that technology has on teachers, parents and students.

What I Discovered:

What I discovered is that there are many websites and software that helps to benefit teachers, parents and students. One of the sources I found most interesting was the International Student Information System also known as the ISIS. This site benefits teachers, parents and students by providing access to student's file and eliminating time taken to go see about a student's progress. Parents can access the ISIS from home or work in order to check up on their child. For example, attendance, grades, test scores, homework assignments etc. Teachers can contact parents or others within the school from home or the classroom and students are allowed access through the an account number, to check assignments, their progress and kept informed on school events. The whole research process was interesting. I discovered that technology can make an impact in teachers, parents and student's life. Technology helps individuals save time on traveling back and forth to a designation and keeps individuals updated on information and events. I find websites and databases which helps teachers, parents and students communicate. I discovered not only does the web or internet benefits teachers, parents and students, but allows employees, community organizations and administrators access to student's records plus communicate with individuals who knows the student personally. I think the internet is a good way to keep everyone updated and informed. When searching for information and sites in regards to teachers, parents and students on- line communication. I found the research very easy and discovered many sites that are out there, but maybe individuals are not informed or don't know how to get sites set up for them.

I think if many people decided to take advantage of the internet within the school system, they will realize the time saved in traveling and having to make phone calls. I think the internet benefits all individuals. I believe that if more individuals took advantage of the internet they will realize how effective it is and informative. By researching my topic I realized that with the aid of technology parents and students can stay informed as to school events that are occurring. I noticed while working in schools that a lot of times parents are not informed as to what is going on in their child's academics or school. I often hear students tell me that they don't inform their parents of report card day or back to school night. I think if parents, teachers and the school in which the child goes, set up programs like the ISIS system than parents wouldn't have to rely on their children for information. The only draw back I see from the ISIS system and providing internet access to the school system is lack of internet access. Today, many parents and students don't have access to a computer cant afford to buy one. Due to teachers having access in their classrooms and within the schools, makes their lives a little easier but because many students and parents not being able to access a computer outside of school or work probably will make it hard for them to stay informed.

I think technology is a good tool in keeping the lines of communication opened. I believe if schools and individuals take advantage of technology they will realize how effective it is. Not only does technology keeps the lines of communication open, but helps in learning. In researching, I discovered that technology can also be beneficial in teaching academics. For example, Technology & Young People and 21st Century Business and Education, which helps teachers teach academics through technology. In working with students who are below grade level. I noticed they tend to learn more when they are on the computer because it draws their attention, makes learning fun and even makes characters seem alive. I see students improve a lot when they are exposed to academics and material outside the textbooks or the typical teaching style with daily lessons plans or taking notes. I believe as the year progress technology will be something that everyone will benefit from, especially students. According to Todd Oppreheimer, The computer Delusion, he believes that having computers and technology in the classroom will not only have a tremendous impact on students, but can be effective in learning and teaching. He not only believes that technology would be effective in learning and teaching, but feels technology will be something that everyone has to learn in order to survive in the real world.

In closing as the years progress technology will be something that all individuals must know and learn even in the early school years. Technology benefits all individuals and helps to improve academics communication and provides information to all those in need. I think you as parents, teachers and students will benefit a lot from technology and I hope you realize how important it is to stay up-dated on information and keep the lines of communication opened. HOW TECHNOLOGY IMPACTS TEACHERS, PARENTS AND STUDENTS References

· Bliagojevic, Bonnic & Sanhueza, Christian , "Technology and Young Children. http://www.techanddyyoungchildren.org. (10/25/01). · 21st Century Business and Education Consortium."http://www.21bec.com/about.htm. (10/25/01). · Teacher Web http://www.teacherweb.com. (10/25/01). · The Leading Organization for education, Technology Professionals. http://www.iste.org/about/index.htm. (10/25/01). · Edulinks System, Making a Difference in Education.http://www.edulinksys.com/results.htm. (10/25/01).