Changes in Educational Technology

Technology has influenced almost every aspect of life today, and education is no exception. True? In a sense, education seems to take many years. A 14th-century illustration by Laurentius di Voltolina shows an academic lecture in medieval Italy. The scene is easily recognized for its parallels to modernity. The teacher teaches from a podium in front of the class while the students sit in line and listen. Some students have opened their books and seem to be joining them. Some seem boring. Some talk to neighbors. One seems to be sleeping. Classrooms aren't all that different these days, although you might see modern students staring at their laptops, tablets, or smartphones instead of books (they're probably open to Facebook). A cynic would say that technology has done nothing to transform education.

The Changes Comes In Many Ways

Yet technology has fundamentally changed education in many ways. On the one hand, technology has greatly increased access to education. In the Middle Ages, books were scarce and only the elite had access to educational opportunities. People had to go to training centers for training. Today, a lot of information (books, audio, images, videos) is available on the Internet, and formal learning opportunities are available online all over the world through different learning mobile application and websites. Thanks to technology, access to learning opportunities is now unknown.

Opportunities That Comes With the Change

Technology has also increased the possibilities for communication and collaboration. Classrooms were traditionally relatively isolated and collaboration with other students in the same classroom or building was limited. Today, technology enables a form of communication and collaboration that was unimaginable in the past. For example, students in a rural class in the United States can learn about the Arctic by accompanying a group of scientists on an expedition to the area, reading science blog posts, viewing photos, and emailing students questions. Also talk directly to scientists via video conference. Students can share what they have learned with students of other classes in other countries who are participating in the same expedition. Students can work on group projects using technology tools such as wikis and Google Docs. The walls of the classroom are no longer an obstacle, as technology opens up new ways of learning, communicating and collaborating.

Change in Traditional Learning System

Technology is also changing the roles of teachers and students. In a traditional classroom, the teacher is the main source of information and the students receive it in an inactive way. This model of the teacher as a "wise in the field" has been around in education for a long time and is still very much alive. However, thanks to the access to information and educational opportunities that technology enables, today we see the teacher's role in many classrooms shifting to the "leader next door". Because learners take more responsibility for their own learning by using technology to collect relevant information. Schools and universities across the country are beginning to redesign study spaces to accommodate this new model of education, encourage greater communication and small-group work, and breakthrough technology.

Power of Technology

Technology is a powerful tool that can support and transform education in many ways, from making learning materials easier for educators to create new ways for people to learn and collaborate. With the global reach of the Internet and the ubiquity of smart devices that can connect to it, a new era of education is emerging at any moment. It is up to curriculum planners and education technologies to harness the power of technology to transform education so that effective and efficient education is accessible to everyone, everywhere.