With technology, both teachers and students can easily access data. Unlike in the past, some educational material could only be accessed via physical libraries which acted as a barrier to those who had limited mobility. Let us take a simple example of online distance learning. A student from Africa can take the same course as a student in America, and both will do the same exam and qualify for the same job; this has been possible because technology has created an electronic learning platform. Teachers can assign work to their students via mobile phone apps, and students can ask anything or consult their teachers using mobile phone apps for education; this makes technology the number one game changer in the educational sector. Below I have listed some of the good uses of technology in Education:
Makes Learning Simple
With the typical set up of the education environment, a student will have to go to class and attend a specific lesson for just 40 minutes. Meaning this student will only have access to their teacher for only 40 minutes a day because this teacher has a schedule. And within these 40 minutes, a classroom of 40 students will all need attention from 1 teacher in 40 minutes, so if a student fails to grasp the concept in those 40 minutes, they will have to arrange for a special time with their teacher for an extra explanation. Now with technology, all this is cut out. Teachers can provide educational material online, and students can access this data remotely. If a student doesn’t grasp the point, they can post a query in the platform forum, and their teacher or fellow student will explain the subject in detail; this simplifies the process of learning and also saves the teacher the time they would spend explaining a point to each student. So by the time they appear in a physical classroom, all students will have an idea on a specific topic in question.
Technology Opens Academic Boundaries
With the introduction of global learning systems, students can be in a position to set up specific language lessons with a random teacher from another country, attending that lesson using video conferencing technology. The student will not be blocked by physical boundaries when they need to learn something new. The system cuts down all the hassle of getting a visa, paying for flights, paying for accommodation just in the quest of learning something new.
Great Depth Of Understanding
In a regular classroom without technology, some students will fail to get the point the teacher is trying to teach them. But with the aid of virtual manipulative tools, a teacher will be in a position to illustrate a point in a visual based form. Some students learn better with illustrations; text is sometimes difficult because it requires too much concentration. In this case, a teacher can use a projector and demonstrate a concept in details. A student will not forget this type of explanation because it is visual and verbal.
Makes Research Personal
Most students want to have a profound discovery of content on their own instead of sitting in a classroom and wait for a teacher who will give them just 20% of what they need. So nowadays, teachers have discovered this, and all they do is provide topics to research on. Then a student will go home and use the internet to read more on a specific topic. Then they will submit reports to their teacher electronically, and the teacher will correct them and add more detailed data based on their research notes. The student learns how to be their teacher, and the teacher will just polish and add value to what the student learned; this makes education more personal and exciting. Research shows that 94 Percent Of Teachers Say Students Equate “Research” With Using Google
Let’s look at a class of 50 students, some students will fail to come out and express what they know about a specific topic; this means that if student ”X’‘ is more informed than student ”Y” but he fears to express himself, student ”Y” will be left out. But with technology, student ”X’‘ can create a blog or post information on a forum were student ”Y” will go and access that information for free; thus technology helps student ”X” to express themselves freely, and it also helps student ”Y” to ask a question without fear of rejection or getting laughed at as it would be in a standard classroom.
The Use of E-books
In our typical education system, students must access data via a library and signup for these books for a specific period, and they have to return that book to the library for another student to use. With the introduction of e-books ”electronic books’’, a student will access all this data via their iPad or Kindle. So a student saves time by accessing all this data via their electronic devices, they will not have to carry five big textbooks, yet all those textbooks can fit on an Ipad or Kindle. Technology has made all this process so great and simple.
Have Fun As You Learn
If you look at a traditional classroom, a student will have to attend a lesson under specific conditions which are boring most times. But with technology, a student can solve a math puzzle by playing a math game. Nowadays, there are so many games created to solve a specific puzzle in our academic environment. So students use these online educational games to learn how to solve issues, and they don’t even get bored as it would be in a regular classroom. Let’s take a simple example of ”Epistemic Games’‘ this game puts a student in roles like a city planner, an engineer or a journalist and they ask them to solve a given problem. Examples are provided on each challenge which helps students learn how to solve specific tasks.
Enables Students To Learn At Their Own Pace
While in a normal classroom, all students will be given the same task, the teacher will have less time to explain all details, some students can not learn as first as others, so these students are left out. But with technology, every student has enough time to learn at their own pace without pressure. A student will find comfort and interest to learn something if they have enough time.
Cuts Down On Costs
When a student is starting a new course, they must have all the textbooks required in that course. In normal circumstances, a textbook will cost over $100. So let’s say the student needs over ten textbooks, that is over $1000 just on textbooks. Now with technology, most of this data is provided for free buy other students. Organizations like OER Commons want to deliver all this necessary data to students for free online so that even those without the $1000 to spend on textbooks, can have access to educational material for free.