How Is Technology Changing Education?
This is undeniably era of technology and it is affecting every aspect of people’s lives. Education is not excluded. Educators and students today are experiencing the influence of technology on their everyday duties, and have to be constantly up to date with the ever growing innovations. From the Power Point presentations to podcasts, the possibilities seem unlimited, and we are just scratching the surface here. The new technologies will revolutionize the way we see education itself and make it both easier and more challenging. So, how should teachers and students deal with such changes?
Resisting the changes
Many schools today still don’t implement technology as much as they could and should. The traditional system of education poses a lot of barriers to modern education techniques. This can be easily seen by the very appearance of the classrooms that hasn’t changed for a century. Yes, chalks and green boards have been replaced with white boards and markers, but the same principle of teacher standing in front of a group of students talking and questioning is still there. Some conservative teachers complain about the constant learning and the necessity of being up to date that technology demands, but as in any other job, a person should strive to perpetual improvement and new skills development.
The importance of going with the flow
Some changes are inevitable and there is no point to resist, especially if the bring so much good with them. We already have kids who constantly use PCs, laptops, smartphones and tablets, in and out of classroom, so why not take advantage of that? Just a touch of a keyboard or a screen can lead to an enormous amount of information, so it is a lot easier to learn and research, at home and in school. Just as for students, technology offers a lot of possibilities for educators, such as A Learning Place that offers teaching resources and tools online for math teachers. The technology development is imposing to educational system to set a norm of non-stop professional development for teachers.
The most important changes
One of the best things students gain with technology improvement is that they are not constantly bound to the four walls of classroom, their assignments will be available to them wherever they are. Also, soon it will be no need for textbooks; they’ll be replaced with eBooks, which are a lot cheaper, up-to-date and interactive. With the increased usage of technology, students are becoming more engaged and active in the classroom, and the relation student-teacher is not anymore one-sided. All of these changes allow teachers to develop more personalized approach to teaching every individual student and helping him/her to learn and progress at his/her own level and pace.
The many ways technology can change the future at just at their beginning and we are witnessing perhaps the last years of education as we know it. And that is a good thing; our children deserve to experience the best education possible. And can you imagine how exciting future in schools they have to look forward to? Schools, parents, teachers and states should made that possible for them, so that together we can embark in an educational adventure, that will make both learning and teaching experience better.
About Author: Dan Radak is a VPS security and hosting generally specialist. Currently he is employed as a consultant in a couple of e-commerce companies. Lately he has been interested in education related themes. You can follow him on Twitter.
