Technology has been developed day by day. Educative practices have generally shifted away from traditional sit-down and stare-at-a-board lecture-style teaching. This modification is not a negative thing, and the shaping of education should be there as per changing trends in how young people learn and engage with the world. Recent years have seen developments beyond the wildest of dreams, and tech is now widely accessible in various contexts. There is a strong argument in support of its use for both educators and learners alike. The following article addresses the inevitable shift towards a more technology-focused education environment and what the consequences of this are.
Technology Benefits For Students
The first category of points to explore is the benefits of technology for the students. It is hard to ignore how integral tech is to youth learners; therefore, translating this into their learning yields positive results in numerous ways.
Added Variety In Lessons
Traditional, outdated teaching practices did not always cater to the varied learning styles of the individual. By investing in and installing desktop computers for schools and similar establishments, an opportunity to nurture each style of learning presents itself. You can take it as an advantage to the fullest extent. Bored students failing to engage, or progress, is a tale as old as time. Therefore anything practical that adds variation in the classroom binds to nuture instead of harming it.
Opportunities To Learn Safe Tech Practices
Safe technology practices are essential to observe and incorporate into any mode of teaching. Devices are dominating recreational activity, especially with teens and more and more in younger children too. But this world poses multiple threats if navigated with naivety, and therefore the need arises for informative practices for students from educators and those with a duty of care. Integrating tech into the syllabus is the perfect environment to enhance safe usage and raise awareness around cybercrime such as fraud, information theft, predatory behavior, and cyberbullying.
Relevant To The Wider World
As we all know that everyone is using Technology everywhere, and the world of work is of particular relevance in the context of this article. Young learners, while it should not be the only focus, still need preparation techniques for when they enter the workforce later in life. Essential skills such as presentation building, communication, email drafting, coding, typing, and spreadsheet navigation are all transferable into the commerce environment. This would be difficult to teach without the use of computers or laptops.
Advantages For Teachers
Teachers are also able to take advantage of technology in their role as an educator. It makes teaching more accessible and innovative and inspires a level of creativity that was previously untapped. The key advantages are as follows.
Opens Up Communication Channels
Reaching students is integral to understanding their potential and enabling them to move forward with their studies. Yet communication is notoriously difficult, especially during those teenage developmental years. Therefore anything that facilitates more accessible communicative functions is always a bonus in this setting. Instant messaging, emails, and class-wide channels are all options for a more open and collaborative classroom.
It also encourages students who wouldn’t otherwise to ask for help and express needs. Using verbal channels of communication does not suit everyone, after all, and sometimes writing things down is more contingent on effective learning.
Lesson Planning And Resources
The vast expanse of the internet may have its downsides, but a clear advantage here is the magnitude of online learning materials. These can be adapted, utilized, and implemented in the classroom with ease to empower students while accommodating variety and maintaining motivation.
Admin Tasks
Moving away from paper-based administration leans into a greater ability to remain organized and on track. Personal student information is better protected and more easily distributed directly to parents. It protects the environment by lessening the need for physical paper. It makes teachers’ lives more convenient as many of the traditional marking, recording, and lesson planning can all be completed on this platform.
The Impact Of Digital Trends On Education
Even though technology will play a significant role in the future of education, a new generation of teachers who value interpersonal communication in the classroom is needed to make the most of the new teaching tools. Students who choose this career route must acquire the knowledge and abilities to utilize new educational technology in a way that maximizes their advantages for middle school and high school students both now and in the future.
Schools Using Tablets
- Students now most frequently utilize tablets as their mobile devices, and for a good reason. They are versatile enough for a movie player, word processor, or educational gaming device. They are compact and portable enough for students to use alone.
- For teachers who have a liberal arts degree and have decided to work in education, there are many prospects for innovative tablet applications. The ASCD observes that “changing classroom practice with technology is hard”. It is because we use tablets to update already-established educational practices, like distributing materials and taking notes, rather than for more novel, cutting-edge uses. In this sense, a resounding “Yes!” to the question, “Is teaching a suitable career for the future?”
Assistive Technology
- New technologies empower students with impairments and give them greater parity with their peers than ever before. Less than 7 million pupils in the United States, or roughly 13% of all public school students, receive special education assistance, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). For special education children and students with disabilities to get the necessary educational help, a variety of assistive technology gadgets are available.
- The adoption of alternative input devices is a significant educational trend in the area of assistive technology devices. These enable students with impairments to use laptops and tablets. It has modified keyboards, including larger buttons, cursors that you can move with the feet or lips, and other features. Speech-to-text technology has emerged as a trustworthy substitute for pupils whose disability prevents them from utilizing any type of manual input device.
- These developments in educational technology eliminate distinctions between pupils based on their aptitude for learning. Teachers who take advantage of these and other advances will lead the way in education.
Voice platforms, augmented reality, and virtual reality.
- Increased network speed and internet capabilities will propel education trends and make it easier to integrate cutting-edge technology into classrooms. The next-wave technologies of augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) are two of its main subfields. While virtual reality goods create an immersive digital environment in which students interact in virtual 3D worlds to enhance learning experiences, augmented reality gadgets improve real-world materials by adding enhancements like making a map jump off the page.
- By creating a cardboard VR viewer, Google has already made its initial steps into the AR/VR space. Students majoring in STEM fields benefit most from AR/VR learning since it gives teachers access to virtual dissection, up-close examination of microscopic creatures, and a variety of other educational uses.
- However, AR/VR technology also enables students to tour the universe without ever leaving the classroom, circumnavigate the world, and investigate historically significant occasions up and personal.
- Voice platforms like Google Echo and Amazon Alexa, which are becoming more and more common in American households, also have applications in the classroom. These products give students prompt solutions. Among many other things, you can use them to play instructional games, poll their peers, and speak with students worldwide.
Conclusion
Welcoming technology in schools is something to be carefully navigated. Yet, the positive potentials far outweigh the concerns. Like everything, it can and should be managed considerately in line with safe practices. The opportunities it provides are too vast to ignore, and technology, if it doesn’t already, will dominate the future direction of education.
