Technology is a concept developed to make our lives easier and more convenient. In the media, people tend to put too much emphasis on the negative aspect of technology. You often hear about alienation, the negative influence of violent video games, and toxic gaming culture. They don’t tell you that there are so many ways in which technology can (and already has) revolutionize things like education.
With the latest improvements in the field of tech, there are so many great ways to increase levels of immersion in modern education. Technology can make education more accessible and effective, and here are the top four ways to achieve just that.
Teachers have more tools available
The first major advantage comes from all the tools teachers have available now that they couldn’t access before. Just tools like Google Classroom, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or Canvas provide an opportunity for online learning, which is pivotal during the pandemic.
Another example is a platform like Livestream Learning Studio, which helps you make a more dynamic learning environment through exciting virtual events. On average, this gives you a much higher level of production of learning material, which increases the level of immersion your audience will display.
Then there are numerous educational apps that students can use to actively participate in their education. One such platform is ABCmouse, which offers educational games that significantly enrich the learning experience by covering a range of subjects and offering engaging, interactive content for young learners. Through such learning apps, students can obtain a more immersive learning experience and gamify their education process.
Virtual learning environments can ensure that even those who can’t attend class that day can still catch up with everything. During the pandemic, this was incredibly useful. The same thing was proposed during power shortages (so the universities and schools could be removed from the grid while residential homes remained).
Students participate more actively
The biggest flaw of the traditional learning strategy was that it was so easy for the student to tune out. The professor is standing (or sitting) in front of the class, holding a lecture, while most students just take notes, listen, or pretend to listen. In fact, outside of tests, quizzes, or occasional questions asked by the professor, there isn’t much room for the student to get involved.
With the help of technology, much of this can be solved simply and elegantly.
First, students have an easier time participating in online discussions and collaboration. Now, imagine a teacher asking students to vote on a certain topic. How much time would this take, and how much commotion would it cause? However, starting a simple poll on a shared online platform will take seconds and immediately provide results.
Interactive learning resources allow students to learn through play and have the sort of immediate feedback that they could only get through direct interaction with the teacher. Given that they’re not the only student in the class, there’s no other way this would have been possible.
Lastly, learning through VR and AR is much more immersive, ensuring much higher student engagement. Still, the potential of these two tech trends is far from being fully realized.
Personalized learning
Technology can help make learning more personalized than ever before.
First, with the help of adaptive learning platforms, students can create a profile that will adjust to their preferred learning style. This way, you get personalized content, appropriate learning experiences, and the automatic adjustment of the difficulty of the curriculum (based on the learner’s performance and current knowledge level).
Now, via some of these platforms, learning materials are made from the available data and delivered personalized. An example that pops to mind is a feature on Chess.com where the puzzles that you’re asked to solve are your positions from previous games. This way, if you’re in a similar position again, you’ll have an easier job finding the right move.
Another huge benefit of learning in a digital era is that developing a sense of community is easier. For instance, before social media became a thing, it was much harder for students to exchange notes, tips, solutions, and learning materials. Today, even educational institutions upload their materials on blogs and official social media profiles. Most lecturers upload videos of their lectures on an official YouTube channel, making them available in perpetuity.
This allows students to progress at their own pace without feeling pressured to attend class when they’re not up to it or missing out when they’re ill.
Preparing for the modern workplace
Many parents are concerned that their kids spend too much time on digital devices. They believe that this makes them less focused and more desensitized. Now, while there’s a lot of reason for concern here, some solve this by banning electronic devices or severely restricting them. This creates problems of its own.
Sure, your kids may not know how to play with marbles (like you used to in childhood), but they use smartphone technology more intuitively than you ever will. Why? Well, because, due to the young age when they were first exposed to it, they didn’t have to “learn”; they could instead “adopt” it. It’s incredibly important to make this distinction.
What will play a bigger role in their future life and career – marbles or touch-screen interface?
Ignoring technology or trying to hide our kids from it will only cause a sizable blowback. Instead, you want your kids to adopt it as efficiently as possible. These skills and the trade of being tech-savvy will impact their future career. The best way to take advantage of this notion is to incorporate formalized tech training in their education.
Wrap up
Remember that our kids are living in the post-high-tech world. This means there’s no turning back, and these technologies are here to stay. However, this needs to be channeled the right way. Therefore, educational institutions need to introduce some reforms and consider serious innovation. The kids want it, the parents want it, and even the teachers could highly benefit from it. Where there’s a will, there’s always a way. Â
