Six years ago, I was entering my senior year of high school. In the three years prior, the only way I had access to a computer at school was if I walked a hundred or so feet down the hall to the computer lab in the library. With such limited resources, I probably only visited that computer lab once a week; any assignments that required using the internet for research or using Microsoft Word to type up a paper was most commonly assigned as homework and required us to use our home computers or laptops.
In my senior year, however, things began to change. Everywhere I looked, students were surfing the web on their smartphones and even bringing in their tablets from home. The technology, of course, was considered a distraction by teachers and school personnel and was not allowed to be used in the classroom. My school had made the mistake of thinking of mobile technology as a threat to education, rather than a tool that could greatly enhance learning.
While I didn’t have much opportunity in high school to use technology as an educational tool, college was a different story. I immediately purchased a laptop, learned how to use a learning management system and participated in a few online classes.
What I learned through the use of technology in college, students are now learning as early as kindergarten. What does this mean for the future of education? It’s impossible to predict, however the recent years have proved without doubt that technology is advancing and becoming more and more prevalent in classrooms around the world.
It is vital that students get their hands on technology in the classroom as soon as possible. I have spoken with numerous educational leaders and I have heard the same message over and over: we cannot predict how technology is going to change education in the future, but as long as students use technology now, they’ll know how to adjust with the times.
Schools cannot afford to resist implementing technology in the classroom; it is simply not going away. Teachers need to embrace technology in the classroom, understand how to use is as a tool for learning and be eager to learn about the new devices and software that can help their students learn better and prepare for a brighter future.
The more familiar students are with technology, the easier they’ll adjust when it comes to using technology in higher education and eventually in their careers. Educators have a responsibility to prepare their students for the future. If there’s one thing we can predict, it’s that technology is not going away. If there is any fight against using technology in the classroom, it needs to end today; your students’ futures depend on it.
If you enjoyed this article and want to receive more valuable industry content like this, click here to sign up for our digital newsletters!
Leave a Reply