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Throughout the years, the use of digital tools in the classroom has been on the rise. Their presence benefits the students and educators in such a way that it makes the learning method more exciting and dynamic. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic this trend accelerated and a noticeable shift was seen in how teachers and students use technology in class. In today’s rapidly progressing world of modernization and digitalization, the introduction of technology in every field or sector is becoming crucial. Exciting technological advancements are happening every day, benefiting humans in every aspect of their lives. Education is one such field that is welcoming technology adoption positively.
Among the main benefits that technology provides in education is by providing study material to students in such way that makes the concept understanding easier, and allows problem-solving much easier, all by using technology. with the usage of smart classrooms, the focus is to improvise the performance of every student. To understand easily, edtech leads to improved quality of studying and better communication that eases skills and knowledge for students.
Among the many benefits which digital tools provide learners is by making the learning experience more authentic. For instance, usage of interactive whiteboards can make learning more exciting as well as dynamic for students. Incorporating short, focused sessions like those found in microlearning, can significantly enhance the learning experience. Traditional teaching methods can sometimes feel dull and unengaging to students, in response to this, having a multitude of software at the teacher’s disposal means that lessons can benefit from multimedia learning through educational videos, podcasts or even virtual reality. Moving on, access to the internet can allow to research topics, download images and other media, making it easy to access information and enrich a lesson in ways that were not possible earlier.
With abundance of software such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom, students can now also prefer remote learning methods allowing them more personalised and differentiated learning. A teacher knows best that each student has different needs and learning speeds, and it is essential that these are respected so that each pupil may reach their potential. Existing software can make it straightforward to give each student an adapted, personalized, or differentiated learning plan and materials, letting them learn at their own pace.
Before we embrace technological innovation to enhance learning, we need to understand that the literal meaning of academic understanding has changed over time. Skills that students require should be based on what we as society value. For instance, good writing was a measurement of a student’s academic understanding, it was used to measure their college readiness, academic acumen etc, but now, with the advent of technology, students can use software to proofread their articles and make it error-free. Thus, is now becomes important to understand which tools can be used as a measure of measurement and which can be overlooked.
A student might have accurate knowledge about a topic, but unless they have the measure to showcase that knowledge amongst others, their understanding will not hold much value. When we consider those measures, the potential of tools like ChatGPT and others comes to existence.
Often, education calls for students to keep their phones aside, lock down the browsers and access computer in a privilege-punitive loop. In all senses, limiting a student to pen-and-paper assignment is not going to prepare them for the real world. Computers, phones and apps are here to stay, so it is time we have honest conversations with students about time, management, focus and integrity. Educators can teach students how to use their phones and computers to connect with the plethora of learning resources available online. We can teach them media literacy and how to vet sources. Then we can even allow students to learn the self-management necessary to navigate the digitally centred world.
The generation today finds its way around technology, some do it with full integrity and honesty, while other find ways to cheat the system. But as educators, we need to help them, find creative, honest ways to use technology. However, it is also important to take necessary precautions, and know that with or without these tools, students have access to unlimited information, which makes it important to teach them digital responsibility and integrity.
A few decades back, we could not have imagined the abundance of information there would be at every student’s finger tips. Now that we have such liberation it is imaginable why we’d like to explore our boundaries, and whether we as educators are ready or not, the students or learners of today are armed to explore what technology has to offer them, and how it can make their learning experience fun.
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