Is Technology a Boon or Curse for Education?

Published on September 23, 2021

Technology has swayed every aspect of life today, and education is no exception. As technology connects people and devices evermore, introducing it in teaching our children becomes a pressing issue. In some ways, education seems much the same as it has been for many years. A 14th-century illustration by Laurentius de Voltolina depicts a university lecture in medieval Italy, which is easily recognizable as it parallels the modern-day. Classrooms do not look much different in contemporary times, though the modern students look at their laptops, tablets, or smartphones instead of books (though probably open to Facebook). A cynic would say that technology has done nothing to bring the change in education. The atmosphere of education is stale for over a century. Many huge costs would involve drawing a contrary picture. Nevertheless, the benefits of enabling the future generations where anyone has a chance to succeed regardless of learning style will not only empower them, but as these students go out into the real world, technology will advance to protect everyone’s data and suit our needs faster with an option of personalized learning as well. Our experience with technology is always a bitter-sweet one. We humans relish its presence in our lives, but we dread the effect it may have on our manners, attitudes and social interactions. We open the gates of our schools to all types of technological tools, yet we fear it may badly impact our students’ performance. This article debates how classroom technology, such as tablets, internet connection, laptops, social media, etc., has affected education.

The COVID-19 pandemic has firmly demonstrated why online education is a vital part of teaching and learning. By integrating technology into existing curricula, as opposed to using it solely as a crisis-management tool, teachers can harness online learning as a powerful educational tool. In many ways, technology has profoundly transformed education. For one, technology has dramatically expanded access to education. In medieval times, books were rare and only an elite few had access to educational opportunities. Individuals had to travel miles to get an education. Today, massive amounts of information (books, audio, images, videos) are available at one’s fingertips through the Internet, and opportunities for formal learning are available online worldwide through various online platforms, podcasts, traditional online degree programs, and more.

The ultimate tools like BOOKR empower teaching and improve English language learning with an easy-to-use gamified library application for students synced with the teacher dashboard displaying real-time statistics. This all-in-one solution is designed to develop children’s reading, writing, listening and communication skills, excelling their overall comprehension capabilities. Access to learning opportunities today is unprecedented in scope. Thanks to technology, simultaneously, the hunger for grasping a sentence or two of wisdom has significantly railed down. A prophet is not honored in his own country. What appears to be a tremendous treasure for the unfortunate seems to be just another advancement tool to the fortunate.

Opportunities for communication and collaboration have also been expanded enormously by technology. In a traditional scenario, classrooms have been relatively isolated, and collaboration was limited to other students. Today, technology enables forms of communication and collaboration that are undreamt of in the past.

Immersive Interactive Classroom is one such boon to education that allows a range of exciting learning environments using advanced technology and cutting-edge graphics. These incredible environments are fully interactive and provide a visual, engaging and multi-sensory learning experience. The mind-boggling technology gives our pupils limitless exposure inside the boundary of four walls. Immersive Interactive is customizable as per schools or your children’s needs. We now can understand the world by immersing in it. Students at a school in a rural area, for example, can learn about the Arctic by thoroughly engaging in it. They can share their learnings, collaborate on group projects tracking the same expedition, etc. The walls of the classrooms are no longer a barrier as technology turned them into an osmosis of learning, communicating, and working collaboratively. The model of the teacher as the “sage on the stage” is slowly fading out. With the access to information and educational opportunity that technology has enabled today, it is evident that the teacher’s role is shifting to the “guide on the side” students being more responsible for their own learning using technology as a means to gather relevant information.

Talk about technology and not throw a beam on AI? that’s impossible. With the worldwide reach of the Internet and the ubiquity of smart devices with the robust simulation of human intelligence, a new age of anytime anywhere education is dawning. While the debate regarding how much screen time is appropriate for children rages on among educators, psychologists, and parents are still quite hot, there’s another emerging technology in the form of artificial intelligence and machine learning that has begun to alter education tools and institutions changing what the future might look like in education.

Humanoid educational robots are finding their way in medium instructions and propagation. The idea of a life-like robot in education continues to intrigue people. With NAO, it’s even more fascinating. NAO is the first robot that genuinely interacts with humans while providing flawless experience in creating an empathetic link with students, teachers, and researchers by their eye-catching appearances, moderate sizes, and humanoid behaviors, enabling new pedagogy methods in classrooms. This versatile and high-performing robot meets the expectations of teachers and researchers with its advanced platforms for in-depth study such as human-machine interaction, cognitive computing and autonomous navigation, etc. 

Studies show that the global AI in the education market is projected to reach USD 3.68 billion by 2023, at a CAGR of 47% during the forecast period 2018 till 2023. Although experts believe the critical presence of teachers is irreplaceable, but with AI in the picture, there will be many changes to a teacher’s job and educational best practices through this paradigm shift in educational technologies. It will be up to instructional designers to make the most of these technological transformations and make them a remedy of great efficacy. The ultimate goal should be to style the education as effective and efficient as possible for it to be available to everyone everywhere.

Technology has a diverse effect on education, from providing great accessibility, increased flexibility, personalized learning, improve teacher productivity and efficiency, engaging content to increased collaboration and communication. However, there is a lot to digest when we talk about educational technology trends with its over and covert influences. Technology has seeped into education and altered its whole teaching and learning process, but here is the good news, you don’t need to sail alone through this EdTech paradigm shift ship. The voyage is even more adventurous, with us bringing forth the actual value of learning, making education more relevant and empowering. Our educational solutions facilitate the accessibility and convenience of education and change the learning behaviors and learners’ desires for learning.

The UAE’s Ministry of Education (MOE) developed the Education 2020 strategy, which is a series of ambitious five-year plans designed to bring significant qualitative improvement in the education system, especially in the way teachers teach and students learn. The UAE Government allocates a significant share of the federal budget for the development of the education system every year to provide quality education services and enhance a knowledge-based economy. In 2020, the government allocated a whopping AED 10.4 billion, which is 14.8% of the total budget, to foster quality education. Leader Edutech continues to contribute to the nation’s interest by creating the productive influence of technology in education. With our pathbreaking educational solution, we are steadfast to refashion the education industry and offer students the opportunity to take part in the future of innovation. Hence, technology is always a boon for education if the scale of impact is as positive and significant as we offer.

Learn more about our innovative solutions today and help redefine the way of learning. Call 045754647 to speak with an advisor or visit www.leaderedutech.com to request more information.