TECH EDUCATION

Uses Of Information Technology In Education

By Philip Yiga | February 3, 2017

Today, people are using technology so much in each and every aspect of their lives including education. In fact, technology has greatly improved on education and most schools are actually starting to integrate information-technology into their daily routine inorder to prepare their students for the gradually changing technological world. On the other hand, with information-technology in schools, education has taken a whole new-level whereby the teaching-learning process has been made more efficient and effective than never before. All in all, information-technology and education can make a great combination if used with the right vision and reason but you should also remember that there are also some serious disadvantages of using information-technology in education although the advantages out-number the disadvantages. Below are some of the uses of information-technology in education and I think they will be of great use both to schools and students.

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Uses of Information-Technology In Education:

Easy access to a variety of learning-resources: with the use of information-technology in education, it’s actually very easy to provide teachers and students with various learning-resources inorder to enhance on the teaching-skills of teachers and to improve on the learning-ability of students. In fact, with information-technology in schools it’s very easy to provide both audio and video education to students and this actually helps to make education more efficient and effective than never before. All in all, today students are encouraged to carry computers to school inorder to help them improve on their studies and this has actually made education very efficient than in the past.

It prepares learners for the competitive technological future: the use of information-technology in education actually helps to prepare students for the gradually changing technological-environment which requires people with some computer-skills. So with the integration of technology in schools students will be equipped with computer-skills that will enable them to cope-up with changing world-environment most especially in the future.

Real-time access to information: with the use of information-technology in education, both teachers and students can gain access to educational-content in real-time while using their computers coupled with an internet-connection. For example, teachers can now easily gain access to all the information they need to provide to students in real-time and also students can make research or access their coursework’s easily in real-time when online hence leading to an improvement in the teaching-learning process.

It facilitates for long-distance learning (online-studies): the integration of information-technology in education has actually facilitated for long-distance learning through online-studies. In fact, today different people around the world are opting for online-courses and this is mainly because online-studying is very efficient whereby it enables someone to study while doing other things like working. All in all, with online-studying there is no need for physical-contact with the instructor yet the learner gets the same educational-content like those attending lessons in a classroom.

Information-technology enables students to learn at any time: with the use of information technology in education today, students will be able to learn at any time of the day or night while using their computers coupled with an internet-connection. In fact, with information-technology students can easily access all the educational-content they want online even beyond school hours hence making education more efficient and effective than in the past.

Increases on student’s interest to learn: with the use information-technology in education, students have become more interested in learning and this is mainly because technology makes learning more fun and exciting compared to traditional methods of learning. In fact, the number of school drop-outs has gradually reduced today in most modern countries due to the integration of information-technology in education.

It facilitates for collaborative-learning: the use of information-technology in education has actually facilitated for collaborative learning whereby students can now study in groups or clusters using different technological-tools. For example, students can use online discussion-forum sites inorder to share ideas on different topics and this has actually led to a great improvement in the educational-sector today.

It Saves money and time: the use of information-technology in education actually helps to save schools a lot of money that they would have spent on buying new textbooks for use by teachers and students in the teaching-learning process. On the other hand, technology also saves students a lot of money that they would have spent on buying textbooks and notebooks to use during lessons and today students actually use personal laptops and tablets as educational tools at school. On top of that, information technology saves teachers and students a lot of time that they would have spent looking for different topics while using textbooks in a classroom-environment. In fact, with the use of computerized-devices teachers and students can easily access all the educational-content they need in real-time faster and easier than never before.

Easy access to updated educational-information: with the use of information-technology in schools, students can easily and quickly gain access to updated educational-content through the internet. In fact, the internet contains a lot of educational-content that is usually updated on a regular-basis and this actually helps to provide students with valid information at all times. On the other hand, even teachers can use the internet to collect updated educational-content for their students and this has greatly led to the development of the educational sector worldwide.

Offers a multi-media approach to education: information-technology also offers a multi-media approach to education through use of audio-visual platforms. In fact, technological-tools provide students with sight, sound or both during lessons and this greatly helps to improve on the learning-process. For example, today schools use motion-pictures, filmstrips, television-sets, audio-tapes and computers to carryout lessons whereby this has enabled students to learn new things easily and faster than in the past.

Reduced workload at school: with the integration of information-technology in schools teachers can easily record students performance, class-attendance and a lot more while using their computers and this actually saves them a lot of time and effort that they would used when manually recording student-data. On top of that, teachers no longer have to go with textbooks to classrooms like in the past and today they just carry a single laptop that contains all the work they need inorder to carryout lessons. On the other hand, even students of today don’t have to carry textbooks and notebooks to classrooms but instead go with laptops or tablets that store all the educational content they need.

Easy access to an online-library: the internet actually supports a lot of educational-services which include an online-library. With this online-library, students can easily access a lot of educational-content faster and conveniently than never before. In fact, teachers can easily upload content onto the online-libraries inorder to provide their students all the educational content they need.

It equips students with different skills: the use of information-technology in schools actually helps to equip and improve on different student-skills like communication through the use of social-media networks, complex problem-solving, self-direction and self-reliance, researching-skills and a lot more. So, students in schools that have integrated technological-tools into classrooms are actually more likely to acquire all these skills and these skills are very essential in today’s world that is evolving technologically.

Improved retention-rate of students: information-technology actually uses visual and audio platforms to provide information to students and this actually makes education more exciting and fun than in the past. So, it’s for this reason that students will be able to learn new-things easily, faster and even get a lot of interest in what is being taught while at school. All in all, it has been proven that students in schools that have incorporated information-technology into classrooms tend to have a higher retention-rate when learning compared to schools that lack technological-tools in their classrooms.

It allows students to practice independence: with the use of information-technology in schools, students will be able to demonstrate independence by simply making their own research and even complete their assignments without the help of their teachers. This will actually help to transform students into more responsible citizens of the future because they will have all the skills needed to survive independently without over-relying on other people.

It improves on learners focus: since information-technology uses both visual and audio platforms, students will tend to be more focused and attentive for longer while having lessons in a classroom-environment compared to traditional methods of learning. In fact, students like technology and that’s why schools that have integrated information-technology into their curriculum tend to have more active and sharp students than students in schools that lack information-technology infrastructures.

Information-technology prepares students for future technological- carriers: the integration of information-technology into education actually helps to prepare learners for future technological-careers like programming, software-engineering, analysis-jobs and a lot more. In fact, even some jobs in the health and business-sector require people with some IT-Knowledge and this why it’s very important to integrate information-technology into education inorder to equip students with particular computer-skills at an earlier stage thus preparing them for the changing job-market.

It engages learners into the teaching-learning process: with the use of information-technology in education, students will be able to easily communicate with teachers during lessons or when at home using technological-devices like laptops and tablets coupled with an internet-connection. On top of that, there are also several online educational-platforms that help students to achieve group discussions and even some schools today have created websites that allow teachers and students to exchange educational-content easily and faster than never before.

Improved research-skills by learners: with the use information-technology in education, students will be able to develop valuable research-skills at an earlier stage without the help of their teachers or parents. This is actually possible because the internet provides students with real-time access to a lot of quality educational-content thus leading to an improvement in the educational-sector today than never before.

Increased innovation and creativity amongst learners: the integration of information-technology in education has actually led to an increase in innovation and creativity amongst students in schools that are well-equipped with technological-tools. In fact, today most online inventions like social-media sites were created by students and this clearly shows the importance of integrating information-technology in schools today.

Improved access to education amongst children with disabilities: information-technology has actually brought about drastic changes in the way disabled-children gain access to education today. This is mainly because technology offers various software and techniques that can be used to help disabled-children achieve good-education efficiently and effectively just like normal-people. For example; deaf students can now receive early language-stimulation through sign-language lessons or even use advanced computerized hearing-aid equipment, children who can’t see have also been provided with technologies that enable them to read and write when at school.

Easy storage of educational-content: information-technology actually facilitates for easy storage of educational-data whereby today teachers store all the educational-content they need on their computers and no longer have to move around with textbooks. On top of that, teachers can easily keep different records about students more securely without even making any paperwork like in the past. On the other hand, even students can easily store their notes or educational-content on their laptops or tablets and this has actually eliminated the need for carrying textbooks to classrooms today.

Conclusion: the integration of information-technology into education is actually a great move because it has helped to improve on the quality of education received by students today than in the past. In fact, the most important factor about integrating information-technology into the educational-sector is to help children get familiar with using technology at an earlier since the whole world is changing gradually and requires people with some knowledge on technology inorder to survive. however, you should also know that the integration of information-technology in education comes with its own drawbacks like; its time-consuming, disrupts students during lessons, its expensive to implement and a lot more but the advantages of using information-technology in education outweigh the disadvantages and that’s its recommended to integrate IT in every school today inorder to achieve high-quality education. Lastly, schools are advised to implement strict rules on the usage of technological-tools in classrooms inorder to enable their students to achieve an effective and efficient learning routine.

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