Today, when technology has become a driving force for all the worlds of different organizations, it is, at the same time, becoming a complaint of various parents who come with the accusation that technology is mainly affecting the studies of their students.
Because of smartphones and other advanced technologies, students have become engrossed in their phones rather than in their books. As an excuse for their studies, they take the gadgets and use them for their recreational purposes. Various studies have been conducted that state a few facts about the impact of these gadgets on students.
They state that there is a critical impact of gadgets on the mental and physical health of individuals. But, irrespective of all these facts, it is not to be ignored that technology has its pros. It offers a great escape from the monotonous study schedule of the students. It does have adverse impacts but only when used negatively, otherwise, it has immense possibilities and scopes for students, that would benefit them immensely.
Many studies have stated that 50% of students between 10 to 18 years of age tend to use the internet to do homework at least once a week. Moreover, 75% of them in the age group below 10 spend most of their time playing online educational games. Taking these two facts into consideration, it becomes essential that we understand how this technology benefits our children:
1. Technology offers a way better learning experience than the one provided by traditional methods. It is often seen that students get bored by the standard methods of teaching used by the teachers. In contrast to this, if they teach using intelligent boards, it immediately captures the students’ attention.
Students learn better when taught using multimedia proving these to be intelligent teaching methods, and thus they immensely benefit from it. If teachers use online quizzes or such educational games, they get more participation from students which is the ultimate requirement for teaching.
. With time, even the methods of educating children are changing. Several coaching institutes make use of this developing technology to facilitate the efficient learning of their students. With the help of online portals that store information and materials for the students to the use of online classes at any time of the day, all this benefits the students and facilitates effective learning.
Students can even access the recordings of these online classes if they were not online due to something that kept them occupied. They can even access the recorded course at any time of the day except for the live lectures.
3. Although the immense use of social media may be harmful, students can easily connect and discuss their homework or such problems with their friends. This way facilitates group learning and problem sharing and solving abilities resulting in a stronger bond.
4. various sites have been developed today that facilitate the smooth conduction of online classes and studies. MS Teams, Google Meet, and Zoom are the most prominent ones being used. Microsoft has advanced itself so that assignments, files, tests, and the like can be uploaded on the platform, and even reminders can be set for the same. The material remains accessible to the students anywhere and anytime, and they can easily benefit from it.
5. Above all, technology saves ample time for people today. While earlier you had to keep on hunting for various things, either in the book or in person, today you have the opportunity to type out the topic of your research and get helpful information for the same, and that too, within no time.
The earlier method took a lot of time, plus we had to filter a lot of information to get what we required, but the latter comes up with the information that we want.
6. Parents can now remain in continuous information of their child’s progress at school through the Learning Management System that these schools have. Therefore, they can keep track of their child’s activities.
7. It is challenging to believe, but it is well researched that students study more through YouTube than through any other medium. The plethora of available information helps them choose what suits them the best to their understanding, and they learn accordingly. However there some platforms like Quora and other QNA sites that provide students a good amount of academic knowledge.
8. It has been seen that each student learns at his own pace. Instead of adhering to a set time, they prefer learning at their comfort.
Thus, to facilitate all these things, there have been a few devices and applications designed for the same:
A) . 3D Printing- This method is the most exciting and innovative one that engages the students in their studies. Whatever image you put on the printer is scanned, and a 3D picture of it is given to the learners.
Therefore, we have moved to a much more advanced level of using technology for education using the 3D printing model. So now, students can see a 3D presentation instead of a visual image.
This can be most effective in the chemistry class for studying things like an atom and biology to learn concepts like viruses and study historical artifacts. A 3D model for all can be shown to educate the students to the core.
B.) Cloud Computing- This technology is safe, low cost, and easy to use. Instead of buying expensive books, one can access cloud-based digital content that is less costly.
Also, there are chances that the book you are referring to may be an old edition, with the information not updated, whereas Cloud overcomes this drawback and provides the students with updated information. Students can access the learning material, tests, tutorials, and assignments whenever they want to. Also, the content is always saved on Cloud, and there are almost negligible chances it may be lost.
Therefore, Cloud, with its advanced technology, creates such an environment where all can access high-quality education.
C). Augmented Reality- This, yet again, is the most exciting and entertaining way of studying. Here the concepts and ideas are explained by putting them in a real-world situation. This is done using a camera or some other device.
eachers can use this technology most efficiently while teaching non-interesting subjects to their students. There are specific augmented reality applications such as Star Walk that help explain the universe excitingly and understandably.
D.) LCD Touch Screens- Yet again an exciting way of learning, LCD touch gives a real-world touch to the learning experience. After changing from blackboard to whiteboard to projectors, now we have these LCD touch screens flourishing in education.
Learning can also be done through the various gaming applications that have been developed over time for the purpose. And that is how technology is engulfing the field of education within no time.
It has now become an indelible part of the field that does nothing but makes the process an interesting and understandable one. Thus, these were a few facts about technology that have efficiently facilitated learning.
