There is no doubt that the state of education has changed in recent years – in large part due to technology. EdTech, however, requires responsible and informed use.
There is no doubt that the state of education has changed in recent years – in large part due to technology. The intersection between education and technology dubbed “edtech”, has now become a field of its own.
Overall, many believe that education has been improved by the use of technology in many aspects. But there are also numerous challenges. For example, according to Project Tomorrow, less than 10% of schools claim to have access to tools such as artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR) and other innovations.
How, then, do educators at all levels ensure that the tools they use in the classroom are effective? More importantly, how do they get access to these technologies in the first place?
How to identify your EdTech needs
To develop an educational technology infrastructure, you must first identify your needs. Here's how to do it:
- Conduct an audit of your current systems and tools.
- Survey your educators on staff to identify their individual educational and technology needs.
- Consider your priorities as a teaching and learning institution.
- Monitor student progress as you use current technologies and implement new solutions.
- Consider the purpose of unique tools and how they will be used in your classrooms.
- Formulate goals around your edtech plans.
Advantages of EdTech
EdTech has the potential to offer countless advantages for both students and educators. For example, technologies in the classroom can:
- Allow you to improve and increase collaboration .
- Allow you to scale instruction effectively.
- Better equip you to reach students with different needs and abilities through, for example, differentiated instruction.
- Increase your ability to engage students .
- Provide real-time feedback and data on how various lessons and initiatives are paying off.
- Personalize your students' learning experience.
Examples of effective innovations in EdTech
Innovation is occurring across the field of education, often with obvious learning gains. These are just a few examples of EdTech in recent years.
Gamification
Gamification of education, through tools like ClassDojo , Duolingo and many others, have been shown to increase student engagement as well as motivate them to participate in their education. A study involving 4th graders in Santiago, Chile tasked students with competing against each other in tournaments using math instructional software and correlated with a significant improvement in students' national math rating.
Student Response Systems
Online student response systems have been around for several years, but as we move into a space where e-learning has become a norm, they are even more prevalent. Online voting tools, for example, can be used to gauge attendance and encourage students who are less likely to participate to get involved in class discussions. Instructors can also gain insights into areas of concern for their students in addition to collecting feedback on classes.
Video tutorials and classes
In an age where teaching and learning occur synchronously and asynchronously, video tutorials and lessons are becoming more popular. Instructors can record themselves illustrating a concept or use pre-made videos to teach students without having to share a screen with them, allowing them to learn in their own time and at their own pace.
This way, education experts and instructors can also make their classes and tips available to a wider audience by posting their videos on platforms like YouTube.
Digital Experiential Learning
Thanks to innovations like augmented reality and virtual reality , students don't even need to leave their schools — or homes — to effectively “experience” distant lands, periods in history and more. They can get a view of the Eiffel Tower or go on a safari – without the travel involved.
Mitigating Challenges
Digital literacy
As digital and online concepts and technologies have been integrated into our everyday lives, so have the challenges of separating fact from fiction. This is certainly something we all struggle with, and in education, instructors must be especially aware of the false information their students are regularly exposed to.
But educators can also see this as an opportunity to instill digital literacy in their students. For example, they might ask students to review web pages through sources like Wikipedia to learn how to identify how trustworthy resources are.
Responsible use of the Internet
Digital citizenship goes hand in hand with digital literacy. In addition to learning how to consume information online and separate fact from fiction, students must also gain knowledge about how to communicate with others in an online space in a responsible, diplomatic, and polite manner.
Distractions
When you're struggling with gadgets and tools in a classroom, distractions will inevitably abound. You can impose barriers to these distractions, such as blocking certain websites from a specific location. However, this is more complicated when teaching and learning takes place online.
To ensure that technology is not a distraction, instructors can take several different approaches. For example, they can set schedules for technology use, as well as incorporate technology into learning more strategically.
Accessibility
Many educators fear that edtech is not accessible to people with disabilities or learning difficulties. On the contrary, edtech can actually improve learning and mitigate challenges, allowing them to learn, for example, at their own pace through tools that adjust to the specific level.
Of course, there is always room for improvement, particularly in the accessibility space. For example, across industries, more and more people are using alt tags for images in digital content and closed captions for videos.
The advantages of edtech are clear. But to assess whether your learning technology is effective, it's important to understand the challenges associated with it, as well as assess the capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses of your specific learners. Only then can educators truly evaluate the tools they are using and find ways to improve.
Furthermore, they must understand that technology cannot do the job alone – the best results occur when it is used in conjunction with effective teaching.
Source: BairesDev
