If you can make an effort to imagine, a few decades ago, students didn’t own smartphones. There were only textbooks, books, and papers. Of course, back then, we didn’t have social media either. The time I’m bringing up is the time when TVs were starting to become mainstream and kids were playing outside.
If you pay attention now, our world is deeply technologized and digitalized. The Internet of Things is the latest juicy technology trend, a trend that promises to revolutionize most of the objects that we use on a day by day basis. From fridges and ovens to watches and jewelry, everything will become digital.
The contrast is quite huge, especially because we’re talking only about thirty to forty years difference in time.
Education and technology are a trendy topic nowadays. Since every industry and field of activity is influenced by today’s technology dance, it is important to acknowledge the way technology breakthroughs are impacting the way in which the new generation students learn.
In today’s post, we’ll discuss several huge technology benefits that are helping students learn in a faster and more efficient manner.
Learning Through Digital Simulations
Traditional learning makes it hard for students to fully understand the concept that’s being thought. The theory is very different from practice. Digital models and simulations allow students to understand the “big picture” and capture more essential information that will improve their overall learning experience.
Besides that, teachers are already glad to present their lessons in a more interactive way, a way that actually captures the full attention of most of the young students.
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Learning Flexibility and Accessibility
Learning flexibility means to be able to learn at your own pace. Today’s e-Learning industry is making that possible for every student (regardless of age) who wishes to take things slowly, or on the contrary, to progress faster. There are dozens of certified courses on most of the important education fields, and students can go through college while staying at home and learning online.
The accessibility that technology grants are also a major factor that generates a big gap between traditional learning and new-age learning for students. Nowadays, students from third world countries have real possibilities to gain access to the same type of quality information that most students receive.
The digital environment makes everything simpler, especially because connections and information are extremely abundant.
Improved Communication
Communication is key in every single field today, and education is no exception from the rule. Since technology has brought new communication channels such as collaborative cloud spaces and professional communication tools, students and teachers can benefit from a faster and more direct interaction.
Mark Hudson, CEO at Essayontime, points out that by the time when the digital services weren’t too present or active, assignment writing services were almost non-existent. “Nowadays, educational services are making student’s lives way easier by offering professional academic assistance.”
Moreover, using different collaboration tools, teachers can distribute assignments in real-time, through the online medium. Students can ask for feedback, check grades, communicate with their teachers and colleagues, and solve most of their problems in a more effective manner.
Less Time Spent on Research, More Time Spent on Learning
Technology is a great time-saver. Research is extremely accessible because Google and cloud libraries are providing all the necessary features to find the right information in a matter of minutes.
Since students don’t have to manually seek and read books to gather information no more, they have more time to spend on working on the practical side of things. More action, more progress, more growth.
The Internet provides a handful of useful technological tools that all students can leverage to improve their learning experience. For example, specialized academic research platforms help students find relevant information and examples that they’ll later include in their dissertations.
The IT, architecture, construction, and so much more academic environments and fields are now dependent on technology. To be more exact, students are leveraging technology to complete basic tasks in their fields of activity. What does this mean?
Technology helps students spend less time on research and spend more time practicing and learning.
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Interactive Learning
Let’s face it. Compared to books, the digital environment is way more tempting and interactive. If not for everyone, at least for today’s young generation.
Nowadays, children receive smart technology from a very young age. First graders are already mastering a phone; many of them have already witnessed the interactivity of digital games, photos, and videos.
Now, imagine bringing these children in traditional classrooms that offer them nothing but the standard procedure that has been used fifty years ago.
Unfortunately, this is one of the reasons why many schools turned their students against them. Fortunately, technology is getting more and more popular in academic institutions. Principals and teachers understand that the learning industry is similar to any industry, in the sense that it is everchanging.
Therefore, since technology enters children’s lives from a very young age, teachers need to make a decision. They will either compete with technology and impose their older ways, or they will adapt to the current technology trends and match today’s students’ mindsets.
Teachers that prepare their classes in an interactive fashion are almost always gaining more respect and attention from their class.
Online Collaboration
Lastly yet very importantly, online collaboration helps students develop both their communication skills and their teamwork capabilities. File sharing, info sharing, and overall engagement are some of the elements that make progress happen faster. When it comes to working on a common project, online collaboration tools can make the difference between a mediocre and a successful result!
For example, students who learn marketing can leverage professional collaboration tools to exchange the necessary information in real-time. The entire marketing campaign will be more successful as the analytics, optimization procedures, and the feedback is accessible to more than ten people.
This is just one example. Think about all the information that you can share through the click of a button. Nowadays, instant messaging apps represent one of the most important communication channels between students and not only. Professionals, family members, old friends – you can collaborate and exchange information with anyone in the world. This making it easier to build successful projects and materialize your ideas in effective ways.
Effective and Objective Assessments
With the help of technology, teachers do no longer need to manually keep track of their students’ progress. Nowadays, teachers and professors can monitor the results and the performance of each of their students through specialized digital simulations and models.
This will allow any teacher to use AI technology and machine learning applications to get a better perspective of students. They can capture deeper aspects that reflect their students’ progress. For example, there are all sorts of rates that can reflect a student’s consistency, presence in class, grades, performance over a year, performance over four years, and so on.
When it comes to individual assessments, teachers can leverage different tools and software to improve the way the correct and decide grades.
Plagiarizing tools are extremely useful for detecting the stolen concepts in students’ papers. Students know that teachers use these tools, so they’re obligated to ditch cheating and focus on getting the task done.
Grammar and spelling tools allow both teachers and students to improve their activity. To students, these tools can be a great booster. To teachers, these tools offer a different benefit, which is the benefit of time.
Learning Becomes Affordable and “Profitable”
Lastly yet very importantly, one of the best benefits that technology brings is the accessibility to education. Nowadays, e-learning platforms are allowing every internet user to access great amounts of quality information on different topics.
For example, Coursera is an online educational platform that connects important colleges and universities with online learners. You can study Harvard’s lessons by being a member of the Coursera platform. And you get to pay only for what you want to study.
If you think about it, compared to a $100.000 MBA program, the e-learning alternative might turn out to be way more “profitable” in terms of return of investment.
The benefits of e-learning are huge. You can learn at your own pace. You can study only the fields of activity that highly relevant to your future career. In some countries, traditional learning forces students to learn information that they really don’t want to learn, information that they’ll never use after they finish their studies.
Lastly yet very importantly, free information is available all over the place. YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, and all the other relevant social media channels are providing a lot of opportunities for growth.
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Final Words
Technology is undoubtedly one of today’s most significant game-changers that is constantly modifying the way we do things.
When it comes to education, technology is already making a huge impact. It is planning to continue at an even more accelerated rhythm. For example, VR headsets are already being implemented in US schools. This is allowing the students to experience real-life situations that allow them to grow.
Taking into account the quick transitions in today’s technology trends, we can definitely say that the new technologies are definitely helping students learn in a better, simpler, and more effective fashion.
