Reasons Why Technology Is Important In Education

Today, technology is everywhere and it has greatly changed every aspect of our lives starting from our workplaces, homes and even education. In fact, technology has been integrated in education in different ways in-order to improve on the way students study today. On the other hand, students even enjoy using technology because it gives them a platform to learn more things out of class thus making education more fun and exciting than never before. So, most educational institutions today have decided to integrate cutting-edge technological tools into their classrooms in-order to improve on the way students learn. All in all, although some schools are delaying to integrate technology into their classrooms, other schools have already started using it and they are greatly gaining from it and the fact is that technology is becoming a key aspect of learning in schools today.

The Importance of Using Technology in Education:

1. It has diversified the learning process: Technology in schools has actually diversified the ways in which students learn whereby students can now teach themselves in different ways by simply making research online. In fact, teachers can’t give students all the knowledge they require in class and its only technology that will enable students to make maximum research on different topics inorder to get more knowledge. This has actually saved teachers a lot of time in class and has also helped to expand the minds of students today through making extensive research online.
2. Technology has made education flexible: with the integration of technology into the education-system, students don’t have to learn about the same things at a time. In fact, today students can be sitting in one class but reading about different things due to technological-advancements in education. This has actually enabled students to share knowledge on different topics thus improving on the learning process in schools.
3. It facilitates for distance-learning: technological advancements in education today have actually enabled students to undertake online-courses while doing other things at the same time. in fact, these days some students no longer have to go to class inorder to get lectures but they instead sit on their computer-devices and study remotely without any instructions from teachers. This has actually enabled different students around the world to get equal opportunities when it comes to education thus leading to a development in our communities.
4. Technology increases students desire to learn: with the integration of technology into education, students actually tend to enjoy learning more than never before. In fact, technological devices like projectors, laptops and tablets make classrooms a place of fun thus making students more excited and interested in learning. In fact, the fun that technology brings in classrooms even helps slow-learning students to understand different topics a bit faster and this is actually an added advantage on the side of such students.
5. Technology breaks monotony in education: integrating technology into education actually helps to shift learning from being teacher-centered to student-centered. In fact, with technology incorporated into classrooms teachers act as facilitators rather than instructors as it used to be in the old days. This is actually a great thing because it gives students space to learn a lot of new things on their own and this has greatly led to the growth of educational sector world-wide in just a few decades.
6. Technology prepares students for future careers: today, the working environment is changing at a high-pace due to several technological-advancements. So, incorporating technology into education will greatly help to prepare students for the changing working-environment of the future and this can actually be achieved by equipping students with different technological skills while still studying. in fact, today students who have little knowledge about using technological equipment like computers, phones and other tools tend to find a hard time at workplace since most companies have also integrated technological-equipment into their offices.
7. Technology saves students and schools a lot of money on educational-equipment: with the integration of technology into education, students and schools are able to save-up a lot of money that would have been spent on educational-tools like textbooks, books, etc. in fact, today students use laptops and tablets for reading in classrooms and also schools provide teachers with technological-tools like projectors and laptops so that they can carryout lectures easily than never before. on top of that, students no longer have to carry heavy textbooks to school but instead carry a single computer or tablet which stores all the information they need hence making learning more fun and exciting
8. Technology increases on collaboration amongst students and teachers: with the integration of technology into education, collaboration between students and teachers has greatly improved because students can easily communicate and share information with their teachers and even with fellow students when not in class no-matter their physical location. This is actually possible through use of different online-networks like facebook, whatsapp and other online learning-platforms hence making learning more efficient and effective.
9. Easy access to updated educational-content or information: with the integration of technology into education, students and teachers can easily gain access to up-to-date educational information in real-time than never before. In fact, the internet offers a lot of educational information which is usually updated regularly and this implies that learners can easily search for educational-information on different websites and then make comparisons. This has actually helped to broaden the minds of students since they get updated information on whatever they looking for online.
10. Technology ensures reduced workload in schools: due to the technological-advancements in education today, students no longer have to create notes in books using pens. Instead, computers and tablets store all the information/notes they need thus reducing on their workout when at school. Additionally, records of students’ attendance, performance, courses-taken and school-enrollment are these days stored on computerized systems and this is actually a great thing because computerized-records are easy to access and can’t be easily lost compared traditional methods of recording and storing data inform of written documents which can easily be misplaced or tampered with.
11. Technology improves on different students’ skills: with integration of technology in education, there has been a gradual improvement in certain students’ skills like communication, problem-solving, research and self-direction. This is actually possible through the use of technological devices like laptops, phones and tablets which can now be used in schools for educational-purposes.
12. Easy updating of information by schools: today, educational-content can be updated over the internet easily and faster than never before. In fact, teachers and professors no longer have to write new textbooks but instead create a digital version of these textbooks and this is actually less tiresome and cost-effective. On the other hand, students no longer have to go to libraries to look for updated educational-content but they instead make online research and they will actually get all the updated educational-content they need in real-time.
13. Technology makes education more enjoyable to students: today, schools that have integrated advanced technologies like using filmstrips, audio-tapes and other computer-devices have actually made education more fun and enjoyable to students. In fact, the integration of multi-media into education has enabled students to learn new things easily and quickly than never before thus leading to a generation of more creative people.
14. Technology trains students to be decisive and independent in schools: with the introduction of technology into education, students have actually learnt how to be decisive in terms of making research online because they will have to sort out the information that is important to them and then leave out the other information. Additionally, technology even enables students to work independently when making research and this actually improves on their learning-process.
15. Technology improves on the retention-rate of students: most students actually learn by practicing rather than listening and technology actually offers students with a chance to practice or research on what they are studying through the use of computers, tablets and other devices. In fact, students who use technology during the learning process will be able to easily remember what they learnt compared to students with limited technological-resources in their schools.
16. Technology helps to keep learners focused for a long period of time: using technological-equipment like computers to conduct research actually enables students to access more information, saves on their time and even keeps students focused for longer periods of time compared to traditional ways of learning in a classroom-environment. In fact, using technological-equipment in classrooms makes lectures more fun and effective with less stress of creating notice or listening to the instructor all the time.
17. Technology engages students into a teaching-learning process: technology actually uses videos, animations, audio-clips and diagrams inorder to show students clearly what is being taught thus enabling them to learn new things easily and faster than never before. In fact, with the use of technology in classrooms students can easily participate in answering questions, interacting with each other during group-discussions and can easily communicate with their teachers where necessary.
18. Technology enables students to learn at any time of the day: with technology incorporated into education, students can actually learn and make research on different topics at any time whether at night or during the day as long as they have internet-access. This has actually improved on the learning-environment globally and that’s why most schools today are creating websites inorder to provide their students with all the information they need in real-time.
19. Technology has led to equality of students in the educational-sector: since technology provides students with all the information they need without any restrictions, this has actually led to equality of students in terms of access to educational-content no matter their race, gender, age or location.
20. Technology has connected schools globally: technological advancements today have actually enabled schools and universities to connect and communicate to each other no matter their physical-location. This has actually enabled schools to share important educational content hence leading to the development of the educational-sector globally. On top of that, even students from different schools can communicate and share educational-content over the internet through group forums, chats and educational-websites.
21. Technology is used as an assessment-tool in schools today: today, schools use technological-equipment to assess the performance of their students and this has actually helped teachers to save-up a lot of time that they would have spent on assessing their students.

Tips to consider when integrating technology into education:

• Invest and integrate up-to-date technology into classrooms: it’s recommended to integrate up-to-date technologies into classrooms because such technologies will enable teachers to conduct lectures more easily and also provide students with an efficient and effective learning process. Some of the technologies that you may integrate into your school include; placing projectors and flatscreen TVs’ into classrooms, providing students with laptops and tablets and also creating a school-website that provides students with digital educational-content in real-time. However, you should know that integrating technological-advancements into schools is a bit costly because technological-tools are expensive.
• Consider monitoring the use of technology by students in school: although technology offers students with a lot of learning opportunities, it also has some drawbacks like students can easily access inappropriate content over the internet like pornography which can easily affect their performance in class, additionally, student can even access different social-media platforms and spend most of their time chatting instead of doing educational-research and this highly affects their overall performance in class. So, it’s recommended to monitor student when using technological-devices in classrooms inorder to ensure that they are doing the right thing. Additionally, schools should even acquire software that prevents students from accessing certain websites when using the schools public-network connection.
• Train teachers on how to use new technologies: education-institutions actually need to train their staff on how to operate new technological-equipment inorder to achieve effective teaching and learning results in classrooms. In fact, teachers must know what to do before teaching students and if they don’t know what to do then the teach-learning process may become a bit difficult in classrooms. So, schools should always be ready to allocate some funds inorder to train their teachers on how to operate new technologies.

NOTE:  Today, technology advancements are everywhere and even creating a big impact on the education-sector. So, it’s recommended for schools to start investing cash into technology inorder to make the teaching and learning process more convenient and efficient. In fact, technological advancements in schools make education more fun and even help instructors/teachers have an easier class-time.

REFERENCE:

• https://theithacan.org/news/regulations-on-laptop-use-in-college-classrooms-differ-among-professors/
• http://www.importantindia.com/23211/why-technology-is-important-in-education/