As we know about Titanic, a fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, achieved a great critical as well as commercial success. But do you know the reason Why James Cameroon , the director and co-producer of the movie, planned for Titanic 3D?
As the 2D technology gets enhanced to 3D technology, audience will experience much more effectiveness as the images seem real and moving near them. This is a general example to express the power of technology which serves as a catalyst to make a work more effective in any field. There is no doubt that technology has already made its mark in the field of education by enhancing the learning standards with different teaching and learning approaches. Let’s learn about a few advantages of using technology in education system.
Use of mobile devices and computers in education:
Students can adopt their own learning style.
Mobile devices and computers are great tools to engage students as they are the platforms for numerous games, storytelling apps and online tools.
Multimedia plays a key role in learning as it enables educators to help students clearly understand the concept through presentations, images, animations, illustrations, etc.
Using a technological device helps students learn interactively through games and apps.
Use of Internet and Social Networks in education:
Using Internet and Social media in the education system allows students to learn at any time and from anywhere. They provide educators, students and parents with platforms to work collaboratively to improve educational goals.
In addition to the above, there are many more advantages of using technology in the field of education. If we go more into this concept, there will be a question raised for sure.
Can Technology Further Improve a Lesson that is Already Effective?
Educators utilize technology to provide students with multimedia resources, engage them with best materials and also enable them to work collaboratively and interactively. Some highly experienced educators who are hesitant to the use of technology in education sometimes question the administration or educational technology developers on why to use of technology when the lessons are already effective. Not only educators, but anyone who is involved in education has a query like this. I hope this guide helps you to get this query clarified. I’d like to bring to your notice about the way technology can further improve the effectiveness of a lesson.
Dynamic lesson or effective lesson:
First thing I’d like to mention here is that “What is a dynamic lesson or effective lesson?”
Dynamic or effective lesson is a lesson that engages and excites students through a variety of modes ranging from technology to art-based exercises.
“Remember, putting something online does not make it a dynamic lesson or even effective.”- Thomas Murray, Director of Technology and Cyber Ed.
In a flipped classroom, educators provide students with best online tutorials or materials to go through at home. If classroom interactions such as student-student or student-teacher aren’t carried out besides the above process, it won’t make any effectiveness in learning.
“It’s the critical consumption, the collaboration, the conversations, the building upon that (online lesson) do.”- Shawn White, an English educator.
According to Shawn, there are a set of processes to be carried out besides delivering a lesson. Even if you deliver a lesson which is effective, the real effectiveness evolves when all the students actively participate and learn the content in it. For this strategy, technology application is all that we need. Because, effective lesson means not just delivering a lesson but also making students learn it through collaboration,.
Technology motivates students and engages them with lessons:
Alexandra Toti , an educator at NCSU in Elementary Education, once said, “Technology in the classroom is only a good thing when it is being used to enhance the lesson.” Enhancing a lesson in this context means not educators say is that students pay much interest if we include multimedia in the lesson. Images, just improving the quality of lesson content but also making students learn more effectively. What most of the elementary animations and interactive apps motivate students more than what traditional approaches do. These can improve the effectiveness of a lesson further.
Technology is used to teach outside the classroom, too:
Let me share facts about a survey which was conducted on the topic “tech usage in education”. In a study of AP students, there was a clear difference between the students’ grades when the learning was carried out between traditional and flipped classroom.
1st case:
Students learned half through traditional lecture and worked the remaining half at home.
Average score on AP calculus test: 3.59
2nd case:
Students learned half through online tutorials at home and got their doubts cleared from the teacher in the classroom.
Average score on AP calculus test: 4.11
And interestingly, those students who scored 5 out 5, spent 10% more time on online tutorials.
Source: Infographic by OnlineUniversities.com.
Use of Technology- 21st Century Curriculum’s requirement:
Dr. Abdul Kalam, in an interaction with IIT Kharagpur students about creative education, shared that use of technology must be a part of curriculum and it’s a requirement of 21stcentury education. According to him, technology plays an important role in making students think beyond the lesson concept by breaking the human limitations which leads to creativity and innovation.
Virtual Laboratories:
Any lesson that is effective becomes even more effective if we teach students with practical approaches. Traditional laboratories need more safety precautions and they take much time to do experiments. As technology advances, educational institutions have started using virtual laboratories.
In a recent study done by 3rd party educational specialists in Denmark, Labster , a next generation virtual laboratory for teaching and learning life sciences, was found to be significantly more effective than traditional classroom teaching. Labster is a great laboratory simulator which provides students with a fully equipped virtual laboratory. Labster launched its lab simulation software (“eLearning video game”) a few months back. It offers free user accounts for people signing up in the first three months. After which it will be charging for use with a fee for each new virtual case.
The above mentioned are a few strategies that support the statement that technology can further improvesa lesson’s effectiveness. We’d like to have your views about how technology has helped you in improving the effectiveness of your lessons. Please feel free to share with us in the comment box.
