Technology in Education
The development and incorporation of technology in education have made learning easier. In the traditional classroom set-up, the teacher would stand in front of the class and relay knowledge while the students sat and listened. This teacher-centered form of teaching was not a suitable way of learning. Technology-driven learning has been instrumental in making classroom interactions engaging, collaborative and lively. The use of technology in education has made learning easier because it promotes the fruitful learner-centered learning method.
Technology in education has made students easily access reading materials. Before learning was aided by technology, books were the only sources of knowledge, and they were not easy to come by. Students would have to flock to the library for access to knowledge. The teachers dominated book ownership, and they became sources of knowledge to students (Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 15). Students, thus, relied on their teachers for knowledge. The introduction of technology changed this because vast knowledge became accessible to students. Now, students can learn something for themselves from primary and secondary sources on the internet. They can even challenge what their teachers say. Access to reading materials makes classrooms interactions student-driven. Consequently, there is an intellectually stimulating and learner-centered form of learning in utilizing technology for education.
The use of technology in education has enabled teachers to develop instructional materials that promote student-centered learning. Teachers can make their work easy by coming up with instructional materials which speed up the comprehension process. The internet provides a vast array of interactional materials in videos, documentaries and pictures (Tantry and Ahmad 987). When used well, the instructional materials can give an ocean experience to a student who lives in a semi-arid region or display what living in the arctic regions is like. The materials can engage the learner deeply and connect to the lesson in a way that a teacher-centered lesson cannot. Thus, the internet has eased learning through access to instructional materials engaging learning aids.
Apart from improving the traditional learning system, technology has redefined how learning should take place in the classroom. Prensky (3) points out a huge discrepancy in teaching without technology to a generation of students who have grown up using technological gadgets. He calls the technology generation digital natives. He asserts that growing up with technological gadgets has made digital natives’ brains change and become accustomed to technology. They have developed digital fluency because manipulating technological gadgets and processing their information seems to be their innate ability. Students in this age think and process information differently because they get used to receiving information fast. They also like to multitask. Quick gratification and graphics accompanied by text are other features of digital natives, making them learn better from technology than from listening to a teacher. Growing up with technology has given them the skills that previous students did not require, which calls for a new way of learning in the technologically driven classroom. Technology, thus, has redefined the classroom experience and made it student-centered rather than teacher-driven.
Technology has redefined the classroom experience by taking the focus from the teacher to the student. Students experience a classroom experience where they transcend from geographical confines and can have an engaging second-hand experience of what they are learning about. Technology has enhanced this by making reading materials accessible and providing easy means of creating engaging learning aids. It is becoming an integral part of learning because it has changed how students learn, making technology mandatory. Technology has not only made learning made easy but also fun, engaging most importantly, learner-centered.
Work Cited
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. “Access to Learning” Mitchell, D. Chester, Ed. Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, November 2012.
Prensky, Marc. “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants” On the Horizon, Volume 9, issue 5. 2001, Accessed 2021-10-07
Tantry, Javaid., and Ahmad, Javaid. “188-Role-of-Modern-Technological-learning-aids-in-Education” International Journal of English Language. Volume V, Issues XI. 2017, pp. 986-995. Accessed 2021-10-07