Students in Canada have access to all the latest learning technology tools and programs as students in all industrialized countries of the world. This access can be especially rewarding for students who live in remote locations in the northern region of the country as well as those in the enormous prairielands of central Canada.
Perhaps the most advantageous learning technology available to students, in Canada as well as elsewhere, is computers. The use of computers in the classroom has truly revolutionized the education system, allowing students access to data and information they might not otherwise be able to find.
Beginning at the very earliest stage possible, computers as learning technology allow students to learn valuable skills that will enhance their educations throughout their school years and carry forward into their adult lives and their careers. When computers were first introduced in the workplace, they were accompanied by reluctance and intimidation but these fears have vanished, partly with familiarity but, perhaps more importantly, because many of the people entering today’s Canadian job force grew up with computers at hand and their use has become second nature to so many young Canadian workers.
Computers are excellent learning technology tools where languages are concerned. Most Canadian students learn English as a first language but some provinces are predominantly French speaking. Regardless of province, all Canadian students are encouraged to become fluent in both languages.
Using computers as learning technology, each student can work on an individual, self-paced basis without the worry of keeping up with the rest of the class. They can use a computer’s audio headsets to hear the proper pronunciation of words they’re unfamiliar with and get feedback on their own pronunciation by speaking into the computer with microphones.
The feedback each student gets when using computers as a learning technology for a new language is personal, private, and geared to individual levels of expertise. Learning becomes much easier and more effective when competition with other students is removed.
Where language is concerned, computers as learning technology can seem almost like a game, a situation that takes a great deal of intimidation out of learning something as important as a new language. Plus, they add fun to the classroom. And, really now, what student would rather work than play, even in school?