Discussion on the Information Technology Ability of College English Teachers in the Information Age

周杨

Abstract：In order to meet the needs of the development of college education in the information age，as also to meet the needs of the reform of College English curriculum，College English teachers urgently need to improve their ability to apply educational information technology.In the process of teaching and research，College English teachers should have three abilities of educational information technology，the ability to process educational information resources，the ability to produce educational information courseware，and the comprehensive application of educational information platforms.These capabilities do not exist independently，but complement each other.Only by mastering them，College English teachers can become more powerful in their work.

Key word：College English Teachers;Educational Information Technology;Information Age

Introduction

Today，more than ever，the role of educational technology in teaching is of great importance because of the use of information and communication technologies.With the help of various applications for distance education，the Internet，teachers，and students themselves，they see the advantage of educational technology.The question is whether schools and teachers themselves are ready for the use of technology in education and whether they are aware of its benefits？ This paper is trying to discuss about the ability of educational technology in the College English.

Educational technology is a systematic and organized process of applying modern technology to improve the quality of education（efficiency，optimal，true，etc.）.It is a systematic way of conceptualizing the execution and evaluation of the educational process，i.e.learning and teaching and help with the application of modern educational teaching techniques.It includes instructional materials，methods and organization of work and relationships，i.e.the behavior of all participants in the educational process.

In College English teaching and learning，there are so many choose from the world of technology：Radio，TV，CD Rom，Computers，interactive whiteboard，real-time multimedia and so on.It is true that there are teachers who use ‘cutting edge technology，but the majority of teachers still teach in the traditional manner.None of these traditional manners are bad or damaging the students.In fact，till date they are proving to be useful also.In the other words，these two groups represent a group of teachers between older and younger teachers.Older teachers during their study did not have the possibility of training with modern technical appliances，did not have the information technology，educational technology...while the younger generation of teachers possess the knowledge required for the use of educational technology.For a better understanding of educational technology requires a set of computer science，pedagogy，psychology，cybernetics，informatics...The knowledge teachers possess is sufficient for a basic use of education technology.However，educational technology is one big system.First of all，teachers have a basic knowledge of the use of educational technology.It takes far more professional training through a variety of conferences，courses，professional literature，seminars...in order to get a better knowledge in the use of educational technology.The fact is that under use of educational technology，primarily due to poor school equipment necessary resources，insufficient information and knowledge of teachers and the lack of interest and lack of motivation of teachers to use them.Teachers have to be motivated to use the same because the use of educational technology in teaching provides better interaction with students，better reception of information because the students receive knowledge visual，auditory and kinesthetic way.Among other things，an educational technology motivates students to work independently where the student is more motivated to return to learning and working because modern technical equipment is widely available at any given moment.

The other problem is that teachers have been using new technologies in the classroom.However，the development and application of new technologies grows as a measure that is the question of whether teachers are trained to keep up with them.Here we have two problems.Are the teachers have the ability to use educational technology and whether the school is sufficiently equipped with all modern technical means？ Numerous studies were carried out，some are still ongoing，but we have to find the right strategies to apply educational technology in teaching.

（作者單位：北京外国语大学）