Thanks to the emerging technological advancements, humans are only a few years short of colonizing Mars, yet UNICEF Data suggests that the youth literacy rates remain less than 50 percents in several countries in West and Central Africa. Not to miss the global gender disparity, social inequality, and accessibility to primary education in most developing countries. So while millions of consumers can personalize their Netflix experience, global education still seems like a distant dream. The good news, however, is that this dark cloud has a silver lining called technology and as per mobileappdaily research these 4 ways suggest how technology is transforming education
Learning is personalized and fun: With more and more educational institutes embracing technology, old age factory model is being replaced by Personalized learning. Technologies like Knewton are constantly data mining education content and personalizing it for each student, based on their learning method and pace, specific interests and differentiated instructions that support student progress based on subject matter mastery. With technology tools like Cool Math, Exploratorium, Fun Brain that integrate science, math and other subject lessons into engaging videos and games, learning process for students becomes not only more engaging and fun but also gets retain in their minds as compared to when reading from a textbook.
Performance Tracking: technology-based assessments are helping teachers identify where their students are faltering and intervene with targeted explanation immediately and revise their lessons plans and approaches. For example, technology tools like PowerSchool and My BackPack not only help parents stay up-to-date on their kid’s progress but also offers several administrative features for teachers like grade and attendance entry and publishing, mass communication tools for sending emails to groups of parents, students, etc.
Extending education to farthest corners: Teachers and technology are now reaching the farthest corners of the world via mobile apps like Khan Academy that alone reaches about 12 million students each month. But Khan Academy isn’t the only game changer as several education apps are emerging in the marketplace to facilitate distance learning and bring classroom experience to a mobile phone. What’s more impressive is that the syllabus offered via these apps isn’t limited to traditional subjects like Science and Math but also offer interactive courses topics like linguistics and coding.
Building social and emotional skills: In the present world of data democratization and global accessibility of information, there’s an increasing recognition that the digital natives need a more advanced set of social and emotional skills rather than history lessons. Skills such as metacognition, critical thinking, persistence, and self-regulation have become essential prerequisites for students to thrive in the constantly changing world. But with teachers wrapped in the responsibilities of content delivery, assessment, and classroom management, there isn’t much time to mentor students to build these essential skills. Technology tools like Edmodo are addressing this very exact issue by creating an online collaboration hub that leverages the power of social media to facilitate customized classrooms for every teacher/student situation.
Just like any new wave of revolution, technology advancements also come at a cost. In absence of supportive parenting and teacher’s overview, children can fall prey to online bullying and abuse. With computers mining heaps of student data each day, institutions also need strong security measures against security theft. Furthermore, it is vital that the provided hardware is connected to accessible power and data points, smart cabling systems and high-powered connections. Yet, the true power of these technological advancements lie in the development of, and agency for, teachers, so they can not only maintain the technology but also employ it in accordance to the ever-changing needs of their students.