With so many tools, platforms, solutions, and devices, it’s easy to miss the forest for the trees, especially when it comes to implementing technology in schools. Individuals are often confused and drowning in a flood of information, and to this flow is added a constant love-hate relationship with technology. This is “Technology – doom or boon”, “EdTech – education or technology ahead”, “smart teachers or smart classes, etc.”
Digital transformation is real despite solid evidence
The only consolation is that the situation is not unique to education, as the business sector and other industries have also faced this challenge for a long time. There have been many disastrous software and technology implementations that did not create any value. Despite these shaky grounds and skepticism, we have seen a major transformation in businesses adapting to technology (digital transformation) and ultimately creating exponential growth.
The introduction of innovations into the sector is gathering dust
Healthcare, education and agriculture have been the last bastions of digital transformation, but the path to digital transformation in education has so far been marked by exceeding expectations, delivery failures, elusive efficiency gains and It was full of potholes and nasty roads, made up of difficulties. related to learning outcomes. The sector saw a momentary euphoria, but the enthusiasm soon waned.
A classic example is the “Smart Digital Classboard”. This is nothing but a large TV screen in the classroom. Marked as a revolution, school leaders lined up and parents wrapped up their devices, but fast forward 10 years and literally some smartboards in schools are gathering dust. Maintenance costs were even higher, wasting valuable class time in class.
This has left many educators with an aversion to the promise of technology. All was not lost in technology, but rather relegated to administrative roles – websites, sending SMS to parents on holidays and attendance deemed innovative and tech-savvy.
Technology is more important than ever in education
It was only during the pandemic that the true power of technology was realized and appreciated. Technology has allowed me to teach remotely and connect with my students. Completely online for two full years. Technology was not just a peripheral tool, but core to how education was delivered. This has led to a renewed respect and interest in including technology in education. It’s wise to learn from past mistakes, so it’s helpful to think systematically about technology implementation.
Despite its complexity and many options, technology only offers four things.
Save time in your current work process
Labor saving in current work
improve the quality of work output
enable entirely new jobs
Instead of manually recording attendance, fingerprint, RFID, or digital registries, software for creating gradebooks from exams and tests taken, software assessments for practice and learning, live video classes, and graph tools is just one example of how technology can provide education.
Education leaders must reason and understand the true underlying value of each technology project before implementation.
(The author is the former CEO of Report BEE)
(Click here to receive the e-paper daily on whatsapp. Click here to receive the e-paper on Telegram. Sharing the PDF of the paper on WhatsApp and other social media platforms is not permitted.) increase.)
.
Comments
Post a Comment