Education technology (EdTech) has brought a major face lift in the way teachers accomplish their coursework and daily teaching activities. Teaching is not a piece of cake; it brings along several challenges and responsibilities. The recent trends and developments call for gathering knowledge of latest technologies and procedures to excel in the field. In today’s age, it is essential for teachers to remain updated with latest information, technology, and teaching-learning procedures to attain perfection in education. Additionally, there has been a tremendous rise in students’ needs and the society’s expectations, which has introduced further responsibilities for the teachers.
For achieving better results, today’s teachers have to differentiate their instruction, use data-driven teaching-learning practices, focus on the students’ social and emotional challenges, and prepare them for the 21st century economy. This calls not only for working harder and improving the performance, but also embracing innovative technology. It can assist in enhancing the existing classroom lessons; however, technology can expand the frontiers of education, uplifting it to a higher level.
EdTech Enhancing Teaching Practices
EdTech assists teachers in enhancing their current abilities, while also expanding what they are able to do. It improves their instructional value, and assists them in making their work smoother. For example, numerous search engines and websites can help in preparing educative materials and learning activities to make education more interesting, pedagogically sound, and focused on high standards and students’ needs. Educational videos can add on to edutainment, while various other latest tools can simplify the workflow, saving time and additional efforts.
These technologies do not necessarily change a person’s way of teaching. They enhance the current practices by improving instructional value and upgrading their efficiency for the teachers and the students. Technology can assist the teachers to implement new practices that would otherwise be challenging to adopt and maintain. We have witnessed time and again that novel technologies have introduced revolutionary changes in diverse fields. From food, clothing, housing, energy, and so on, technology has opened newer doors for human productivity.
In similar ways, technology can aid teachers in properly channeling time, attention, and energy towards bringing out innovative educational methods and techniques. For instance, there are various online learning technologies that adapt to individual learning needs of students. This will reinforce the teachers’ capacity to offer differentiated learning, while gathering a clear picture of learning progress of the students, as a result making data-driven instruction more manageable. Additionally, employing writing feedback software can assist the teachers assess grammar and sentence construction abilities of students. As a result, they can focus their efforts on higher-order elements of writing such as, reasoning, rhetoric, and style.
Providing the Scope of Personalized Learning
In many institutions, teachers utilize blended learning instructional models, which means lectures are supplemented with online videos that help students to learn independently at their own pace. This will provide teachers more time to spend with the students. They will be able to learn the students’ problems and take corrective measures accordingly. Many teachers are also of the opinion that if they reallocate class time through blended learning, it expands their capacity to conduct various other activities such as problem-based learning, project-based learning, and so on. This creates window for personal interactions which promote caring and supportive relationships. Although this procedure does not require technological support, but it helps teachers to adopt these practices in transforming them into excellent opportunities.
Embracing EdTech for a Bright Future
Implementing EdTech can be worth the while for enhancing and expanding education. Although expanding is a road less traveled by teachers because of time constraints, it can create wonders in the arena of academics. Sometimes, educators may feel that technology acts as a hindrance in education. They may be of the opinion that they have spent years honing their teaching skills, which focus on a human touch. However, implementing advanced educational technology does not mean replacing traditional teaching methods and educational procedures. It is essential to combine both methods towards achieving better results in terms of curricular excellence. Teachers can spend some time in learning about EdTech, its functioning, and various related practices. This will be beneficial towards incorporating innovations in education and bringing forth revolutionary procedures.
For many teachers, implementing EdTech for uplifting education can be a challenging task. They might be accustomed to traditional teaching-learning procedures and are willing to pursue the same going forward. However, for them, looking back is not the option; teaching using advanced technology is a difficult task, but constant practice will hone their skills and assist them in providing the students a lasting educational experience.
– Ananda Kamal Das