There’s no denying the impact of technology on every aspect of our lives. Technology allows us access to limitless information and resources – and provides everything from an international marketplace to options for social encounters.
The Need for Technology in Education
Because technology continues to change as time goes on, technology use in schools has become essential for today’s students. School administrators must be on the lookout for new technology.
From a local public school to a top private school, every type of modern school must utilize technology in their administrative functions, as well as for educational experiences for their students. Technology’s use in school is now a part of the mainstream, even for elementary grade levels. Its inclusion is no longer reserved for use in a private elementary school or a Montessori classroom.
Teaching today’s students about advances in technology must become a priority. It’s no longer enough to provide tech skills to those who will someday work in the technology fields – because every modern industry now requires the use of at least the basics of technology usage and operation.
Necessary Considerations for Technology Use in Schools
When planning how to seamlessly integrate technological aspects into a school system, those involved in its planning should consider many avenues where technology must be taught.
Here are some of the many things to consider about technology’s use in today’s schools:
What Is the Modern Classroom?
To past generations, the thought of a classroom evoked a blackboard with chalk and students who used pens or pencils to take notes in lined notebooks. Students read from primers and brought their lunches to school in buckets.
Today’s classrooms are very different. Today’s classroom may have a virtual professor, who is not in the same classroom as their students. The teachers’ notes may be projected on a screen or written on a whiteboard, and students may take notes on iPads or tablets. Their lab activities and other school projects may be virtual. They will also have access to an endless array of online reference resources.
In addition to using their computers to take notes or research topics, today’s students can take advantage of interactive activities that can help to spark their interests and imagination while studying.
Don’t Let Computers Allow You to Forget the Basics
No matter how much technology use in schools evolves, the basic mission of education remains the same: to prepare today’s students for their future lives. Getting back to the basics doesn’t have to mean concentration on the 3 R’s”, but those skills shouldn’t be glossed over. They are still the foundation of learning, and students today can use their computers to help them incorporate those basic skills into today’s ways of learning.
Although calculators are often considered as basic for today’s students as are pencils or pens for yesterday’s students, doing math and composing essays on paper is still a task that will help develop students’ minds for success in any subject.
“Baby Boomer” parents often laughingly complain about “the New Math” – but by using technology, both students and parents can come to a better understand of the new methods of math computation and the new directions of many subjects that are being utilized.
Increase in Productivity and Retention for Students
When conventional methods are used, the production of numerous handouts contributes to the waste of paper. It also has a high potential for students to lose those paper assignments. Students may not be able to properly organize all the assignments for various classes, and it may be a challenge to keep students on track in all their classes.
Computers can allow students to create an assignment calendar or homework list to organize their assignments. It can help them save and submit their completed assignments, and to know how well they are doing in each subject. If they fall behind in their work, they can ask online for help from their teachers. Some community libraries offer after-hours online homework help.
Eliminating the traditional paper handouts is also an easy earth-friendly measure each student can take.
Other Technology Use in Schools
Computer resources can also be used to help students collaborate with each other- and to help each other learn. Professors can set up private online groups where class members can submit tests – share their work with each other.
Students can also collaborate with students from other schools – and even other countries. This can provide them with additional social opportunities and access to many different points of view.
Students with different learning styles are now able to take advantage of the many types of expression available via computer. Modern instructors are now learning ways students can demonstrate their grasp of the subject in non-traditional ways by using alternate programs on their computers. Students can design artwork to give their answers; compose rap or rhymes, and even put math concepts to music.
Of course, technology has been used most predominantly by virtual schools. Most major universities have classes that can be completed online; some have online divisions which include majors which can be acquired completely online.
Technology Can Be a Teacher’s Best Friend
From endless online resources and interactive handouts to online systems designed to generate tests and quizzes, lesson plans, and grading systems, teachers can learn to take advantage of technology.
Teachers can take advantage of technology used in school to tap the online resources of videos, movies, and interactive online programs for accelerating classroom learning.
Technology used in schools can also be used by teachers to communicate with and support students. Using password-protected files, students can submit their work. Teachers can give them feedback, grades, encouragement, and suggestions for improvements or extra enrichment. Teachers can also use these files to communicate with students’ parents or guardians.
In addition to these improvements in the basic systems of teachers and students, some very specific areas can benefit from the inclusion of technology.
Advances in Hearing Aids
From using 3D printers for creating a hearing aid to providing enhanced audiometric equipment, this subject is an essential focus within every school subject. Technology use in school has also inspired the design of less conspicuous hearing devices for students
The field of IT management services is an area that needs to be considered both for its use as a resource for students and as a future career for its graduates.
Quality schools today require an excellent library – for its students and its faculty. Resources on all subjects must be available via the latest methods, so everybody who needs information can access it by using the most up-to-date methods.
IT management is also likely to be the chosen profession for many graduates. Therefore, it’s essential to have a well-planned curriculum for those who want to pursue that major- in addition to skilled faculty who can provide sufficient education about that subject. Technology use in schools must give an appropriate amount of attention to this field.
In addition to using technology to provide available information, the information generated by today’s company needs to be safeguarded. Technology now allows companies to provide and guarantee the security and privacy of their clients’ personal and financial information by using an online record management service.
Medical companies, lawyers, and financial institutions will need people who understand technology’s use in schools well enough to utilize and improve upon their methods of record-keeping.
Drivers’ Ed Classes
Most of today’s high schools provide drivers ed classes- or, at least, a local driver’s instruction company with whom they are associated.
Today, student drivers can find assistance in preparation for their licenses online. Each state’s regulations are available online, and prospective drivers can take practice tests online before going for their written tests.
Technological advances have allowed some schools to offer a new way for student drivers to prepare: by providing a simulated driving experience where the student can virtually “drive” on a computerized course and practice all the driver skills which they will be required to perform on the written test.
With the increase in pollution, there has been an associated increase in the need for technicians who are able to do a water and sediment test within local neighborhoods . These tests also ensure the safety of water used in institutions. Potable water has become a vital concern, and another use of technology in school will be to equip new practitioners of this skill.
Alternative power sources have also undergone technological advances. Additional technological equipment means an additional possibility of a computer crash. This means schools need to teach generator installation. In addition to every school’s need to acquire generators, there has emerged a new need to train people to design future incarnations of today’s generators – as well as provide instruction on generator installation..
History has shown the many changes in fashion. Since the invention of the modern sewing machine, those fashion changes have become easier to create and produce. The making of household linens and upholstery has also been made easier using modern sewing machines.
But today’s fashions are no longer made only from fabrics – and are no longer stitched together only with thread. Computer technology can now replicate fashions or create fabric patterns via 3D printing. In addition, today’s fashion designers often rely more on technological devices to plan their creations. Some fashions are now created from unconventional materials – such as paper, cardboard, duct tape, LED components, and metallic elements. New technology use in schools is already being reconfigured to process these new fashions – and educational institutions are responsible for teaching the next generation of designers – perhaps even as they develop the next generation of design technology.
Modern Art and Music
In the same way, fashion has evolved, artistic and musical creations have also evolved over the course of history. Not only are there many genres of art, the uses for both commercial and classical artworks have been expanded. Artwork has now become essential in advertising and marketing. In the entertainment world, art has become an essential element in set design. Today’s art has evolved to include more expressions of abstract art. Cartoons have given us many types of art- from anime to Looney Toons; cartoons can tell a story by itself. Countless educational institutions have dedicated themselves to educating future cartoonists and producers of future cartoon shows.
Music can now be played by computerized instruments, and musicians can enhance their own talents by using technology. Music instructors can now teach online, and music theory can be an online course. As we learned during the pandemic, orchestra members don’t have to be in the same room. The future of music will include technological advances.
Technology Launches Students into the Future.
Technology use in schools is not going away – and it’s not standing still. The future will find new and now-unimaginable developments of almost every field and service. No matter what happens, technology will have a major role in it.
It is essential for schools to help every student understand and be proficient in the basics of computer use. For those who want a career in IT, more intensive education will be necessary, but a basic grasp of the computer will become the foundation of almost any future profession.
Today’s schools have an unprecedented opportunity to look at the use of technology in schools from an opportunistic point of view. Schools that look to the future – even as they embrace the realities of the present – will be the ones who best prepare their students to embrace their future destinies.
