Technology within education

Technological advancements are always being made and it is used in everyday life; work life, social life and personal life. Technology in education today plays an important role in improving children’s learning, enabling them to enhance their skills holistically and knowledge. Technology is manifested through the use of computers and iPad or Macs or Tablets etc and it can be of great use for practitioners when planning lessons.

As well as having many benefits to using technology within education, there are also some negatives. One of the positives of technology within education is that it promotes independent learning and students can use the resource as a source of information as they have access to the world. Although, with such freedom, there are also some challenges to this. Some content online may be explicit and inappropriate for students. To overcome this challenge, it is important that there are precautions made when allowing students to use technology. This can be done by blocking certain websites and talking to the children and parents about internet safety. It can also be beneficial to get external agencies in the school to talk to the students, making them aware of the dangers and how to stay safe online. As mentioned by Chang & Wang (2009); Kessler & Plakans (2008); Sacristán, Sandoval & Gil (2007) technology has obtained increasing amount of attention in education. It has become a big part of education and is used as a earning tool. Graham (2008) agrees that in order to teach children effectively using technology, both students and teachers need to be in a technology- rich environment. It is also important to make students, teachers and parents aware of the possible dangers and challenges that come when using technology. Technology can be costly for schools, which may prevent them from providing modern technological tools.  

This is a short video which shows us some of the positives and negatives of technology within education.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=108&v=MpGHLwVuxt0

Technology changes the way in which students are taught and as Tapscott (2009) says, “DT has enabled education processes to depart from ‘old- fashioned’ teacher delivery of content and instead to ‘focus on lifelong learning, not teaching to the test’”(p 148). In order to use technology as a tool to educate children, teachers need to be properly trained as teachers need to feel confident when using technology because it will enable them to gain full use of it. Nagel (2013) mentions that the “lack of adequate, ongoing professional development for teachers who are required to integrate new technologies into their classrooms yet who are unprepared or unable to understand new technologies.” Supporting this, Yeung, A.S. et al (2012) says that “education should reconsider training contents and approaches.”  Agreeing with Yeung, et al., Mcwilliam (2008), has said that in order to teach students about and with technology, they need to develop their skills, knowledge and confidence. Although, as technology is always up dating, as it is becoming more and more costly, meaning that some schools may not be able to afford it. This is mentioned by the British Council as they also that “Schools undoubtedly avoid using technology because they lack the sufficient budget spending it entails” (Teaching English | British Council | BBC, 2019). This would mean that children are prevented from further enhancing their skills and knowledge because schools do not have sufficient funding. Donaldson believes that we need to be more than consumers of technology and to develop the knowledge and skills required to use technology creatively.

Teachers play an important role in education, it is a performance, and this is something that technology cannot accomplish. This is recognized by Purewal (2016) as he states that “teaching is a performance, its reading the room and working it” which is something technology is unable to do, as he also says, “empathy is a key area of difficulty for technology and automation”. Technology is a good resource to find information and to use as a learning tool, although, they cannot form emotions. Emotions is what helps us to properly education and help children. Purewal (2016) also supports this by saying “Technology can’t detect emotional states, let alone adapt its behaviour to cater accordingly” and this ability to detect others’ emotions enables practitioners to relate to and understand the children, meaning that they’re more capable of meeting the needs of and educating the students. They’re also able to create a bond with them, forming a relationship means it is more likely students will tur to their practitioner and disclose to them.

In the life as a practitioner, things don’t always plan out as they’re meant to; meaning that a member off staff may not be in, or activities can’t go ahead and practitioners are required to think ahead and have a ‘plan B’ or sometimes thinking on their feet, which is something technology is unable to do. In agreement with this, Purewal (2016) states that it is one of the key skills a practitioner has. Opposing to this idea that teachers cannot be replaced is Kalia (2018) who believes that there is a high chance that teachers will be replaced as she states that “the 2017 Oxford University's study estimated that 47% of all U.S. jobs could be replaced by AI-Bots within 20 years”. Although this may be the situation, technology at the moment is used more as a tool in education, to help aid practitioners.  The reason for this may be because technology provides wide range of information and introducing new technologies will, in some ways replace what practitioner do,  as It can “aid data-gathering significantly, freeing up teachers’ time and allowing them to focus on more important aspects of their work” (Purewal, H., 2016).

Technology has advanced greatly over the years and we are able to connect with the world. In agreement to this, Purewal (2016) states that “technology has the potential to reach those who don’t have access to a classroom”, for example, some practitioners contact external agencies, celebrities or other schools around the world as part of their approach to learning and engaging students. The effectiveness of technology in education is dependent on the practitioners’ ability to integrate it into their teaching (Kent, T. W., & McNergney, R. F., 1999). As technology is advancing and integrating in businesses, teachers’ jobs could be a risk as Michael Trucano (2015) states that “Teachers who don't use technology will be replaced by teachers who do.”

As mentioned by Hooper and Rieber (1995), schoolwork focusses more on remembering, organisation of lessons and ensuring that curriculum is followed, rather than making the information they are providing meaningful. This is a video showing us the future of education and what happens with the help of practitioners educating students to be life long learners rather than teaching them to be good test takers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ-tjdMnHlA

As these technological advancements are being made, it is also said that they are also affecting the curriculum by Watanabe-Crockett (2013) who says that “Educators are taking advantage of open resources to expand their curricula with media-rich tools and texts that can be used and adapted to specific lessons," according to the report. "Formerly bound by the framework of standardized course materials, teachers now have access to a wealth of digital information that they can use to meet district expectations." The LNF is available for practitioners to use to develop curriculum content, which ensures that learners have the opportunities to develop and refine their skills set.

As we are in the 21^st century, technology is incorporated in everyday life, including education. There are many benefits and negatives to incorporating modern technology in lessons. When using technology in lessons, it can be distracting for the students and the people around them, which is supported by Himmelsbach (2019) as he states that “Laptops distract from learning, both for users and for those around them”
and this could lead to bad performances in class. Although, technology within lessons can provide different opportunities for children as it can become more fun and enjoyable, meaning that children are more likely to be engaged in the lesson. This is believed to have a positive outcome for the students by Savvidis (2016) as he states that “Students who are engaged and interested in things they are studying, are expected to have a better knowledge retention”. This outcome could possibly lead to the children having a successful future with technology as “Students can gain the skills they will need to be successful in the future” (Savvidis, P., 2016) as most organisations use modern technology as it has now become a necessity.

References

Chang, C. &Wang, H. (2009). Issues of inquiry learning in digital learning environments. British Journal of Educational Technology, 40, 1, 169-173.

Graham, L. (2008). Teachers are digikids too: the digital histories and digital lives of young teachers in English primary schools. Literacy, 42, 1, 10-18.

Himmelsbach, V. (2019). Six Major Pros & Cons of Technology in the Classroom. [online] Top Hat. Available at: https://tophat.com/blog/6-pros-cons-technology-classroom/ [Accessed 6 May 2019].

Kessler, G. & Plakans, L. (2008). Does teachers' confidence with CALL equal innovative and integrated use? Computer Assisted Language Learning, 21, 3, 269-282.

McWilliam, E. (2008). Unlearning how to teach. Innovations in Education & Teaching International, 45, 3, 263-269.

Nagel, D. (2013). 6 Technology Challenges Facing Education -- THE Journal. [online] THE Journal. Available at: https://thejournal.com/articles/2013/06/04/6-technology-challenges-facing-education.aspx [Accessed 5 May 2019].

Sacristán, A., Sandoval, I. & Gil, N. (2007). Incorporating digital technologies to the mathematics classroom: in-service teachers reflect on the changes in their practice. Conference Proceedings of the Psychology of Mathematics & Education of North America Annual Meeting, 1-144.

Savvidis, P. (2016). Top 6 benefits of using technology in the classroom. [online] Webanywhere.co.uk. Available at: https://www.webanywhere.co.uk/blog/2016/02/top-6-benefits-technology-classroom/ [Accessed 6 May 2019].

Tapscott, D. (2009). Grown up digital. New York: McGraw-Hill.

TeachingEnglish | British Council | BBC. (2019). Using technology in lessons. [online] Available at: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/nanashengelaia/using-technology-lessons-1 [Accessed 6 May 2019].

Watanabe-Crockett, L. (2013). 6 Technology Challenges Facing Education. [online] Wabisabilearning.com. Available at: https://www.wabisabilearning.com/blog/6-technology-challenges-facing-education [Accessed 5 May 2019].

Yeung, A.S. et al., 2012. Mandatory use of technology in teaching: Who cares and so what? British Journal of Educational Technology, 43(6), pp.859–870.

YouTube (2014). Media and Technology in Education: Pros and Cons. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=108&v=MpGHLwVuxt0 [Accessed 5 May 2019].