Part of providing students with the best possible education is preparing them for the workforce and the world they will enter after they leave school. In our case as parents and teachers, this means we have to give them the ability to learn both independently and collaboratively. It means turning our focus away from the traditional model we may be more comfortable with to more real-world contexts. And it means teaching students to utilise the technology that exists today so that they will be able to comfortably incorporate it in their careers.
Increasingly teachers are finding new, exciting ways to incorporate technology in their classrooms. Unfortunately, there are still some teachers who think that including technology simply means occasionally using computers in class and perhaps creating PowerPoint presentations. We can do better than that.
For students, technology is more than using the Internet once in a while. With internet-enabled phones, instant messaging, music, videos, and social networking, personal and mobile technology is ingrained in youth culture. It’s important to young people, it’s part of their identity, and it’s not going away.
Plenty of teachers would argue that technology is a necessary aspect of classroom education, but classroom policies often consider a student’s personal technology device as contraband. And so, teachers spend their time and energy confiscating personal technology, keeping these devices out of their classrooms and denying students this important component of their cultural identity.
Instead, we need to find a way to embrace all forms of technology in the classroom and use them to our advantage. By training students to use technology appropriately and effectively and providing opportunities for them to reach learning targets through its usage, we create a situation in which students are engaged in learning. We also free ourselves from the constant cycle of fighting against students.
Technological literacy will be a valued skill in students’ futures; therefore, we should help them use technology effectively and efficiently. We need to engage students in conversations about the appropriate application of technology and allow them to help us clearly define accepted applications, as well as inappropriate practices and the resulting consequences.
Being able to access information quickly, including subject notes, get help on assignments, and effectively evaluate resources are essential skills. As parents and teachers, we can provide opportunities in class and at home, for students to learn and demonstrate their mastery using technology. We can create innovative activities and projects and allow students to use technology as part of class work.
Talking about class work, students don’t necessarily have to be limited in anyway. Recent happenings have indicated that some of our teachers are not up to standard. Some of them don’t even revise their work notes. Imagine using a lesson note prepared ten years ago to teach students in these present times. Sadly, that’s the situation of things in most of our schools.
With technology in education however, this aspect of teachers’ incompetence is being taken care of. Smart students are no longer limited to the four walls of their schools as they are constantly learning through their mobile phones. They have access to classwork notes and exercises, and also practice exam questions. For example, www.passnownow.com embodies a free online study platform which provides Secondary Students with upbeat, on-the-go solutions to all School Subjects in the simplest ways.
Technology is not our enemy. With some patience, careful planning, and thoughtful consideration, we will create more skilled students who are ready for the future, while creating a more enriching classroom dynamic where technology is just another tool for building students’ success.
