Current trends and patterns of technology use in higher education

Abstract

Education can be identified as one of the fast growing sociological subsector in any country in the world. Many developing countries have picked this as the key for the success and any sort of development in education has a direct impact to the development of the country. Knowledge and the information play a vital role in individual level or at university level. Technological improvements such as printing machines, postal services, telephone, radio, television, and the Internet, have been a driving forces yielding to new delivery methods and platforms. The purpose of this study was to determine how the education system has grown and identify the current trends and patterns in higher education teaching and learning. Journal articles were referred to identify the trends and patterns, which have evolved in the higher education. Educational technologies are used in most educational systems for a variety of purposes; such as delivering knowledge and managing teaching/ learning process, as well a media for communication between learners and instructors and between learners and their peers. There are dozens of technologies used in e-learning. Out of the variety of online resources available students are more focused towards ideas and concepts related to their content such as simulations, animations, models, videos, or audio clips, etc. There are websites, which contain educational videos such as YouTube, TeacherTube, Google Video, and other online video repositories, with the usage becoming increasingly common. Therefore, it is important to perform an analysis on technological trends and current usage of IT related characteristics in the higher education teaching and learning in Sri Lankan context.