Technology is not good or bad in its nature, but it can be used for good or bad. This is like atomic energy which can be used in a destructive or constructive way. If it is in creative hands, can produce a masterpiece.
We should not talk about the noxious ways it can be used. In fact technology is a boon for a teacher who wants to give his best.
A teacher with clear goals of education, when equipped with technology is in a most worthy and responsible position. He/she has to explore and demonstrate the ways, a particular device can be used to achieve his/her goals.
If we talk of educational goals it can be defined as producing certain kinds of adults able to be a part of a virtuous society. To achieve this goal technology offers wheels with zero friction and provides a wide range of choices. But it may create a state of hesitancy for users. That moment teachers with apparent goals easily come out with right decisions, but teachers with hazy sight, may opt for incompatible tools.
We know very well that the lessons, presented with visuals are more effective and long lasting hence be chosen carefully as the wrong contents may take the students to a wrong track. So it becomes very necessary to think before choosing a tool, technique or contents of a particular cognitive exercise and then it must be comprehended on how that tool could be utilized in a better way.
Research tells us that kids learn well by doing. Learning that engages and challenges the learner is called active learning with real output. Computer games can be used to create interest in learning among students. Computer games in the classroom have all its nature to produce cognitive stimulation. They are going to prove potentially a great power in education if the teacher is spry and lightheaded to be a part of it.
Social networking sites e.g. Google+ and Facebook can prove to be the best tools to develop interpersonal skills among students. ‘Communities on Google+ with Hangout’, having more advance features presents a ground to organize events like debate, symposium, declamation and poetry. Google docs have all its potential to develop literary skills among students. But under the observation of a great teacher.
Finally, it is not the technology that is making children smarter. It is teacher and student that improve attainment. Technology and bad teachers have no impact on education at all but technology and great teachers have good chemistry.
But who is a great teacher teaching with technology:
One who always remembers the basic nature of technology, that is
- Technology is not stable, but always changing.
- Technology is not the lesson, but a medium to deliver it.
- Technology is not the problem, but offers the solutions to some of the never ending problems.
- Technology can not be staved off, it had always remained an integrated part of your life and certainly will be.
- Technology is not the answer, but capable to present a number of riddles to be answered so as to utilize the untouched areas of kid’s brain.
This first appeared on my blog here.
