TRENDS IN TECHNOLOGY AFFECTING TEACHING AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

Over the last few years, the educational sector has witnessed drastic changes. Apart from the way students taught being different, technology has also brought major changes to the way learning is administered and its effects have been positive.

Thus, digital learning has become an essential part of the education system and school authorities, parents, teachers and students are trying to implement the latest trends in technology in order to improve the expected results.

One would therefore have to know the current trends in this space in order to know how to use technology to achieve these results. In this article, we explain some of these trends.

1. Learning out of the Classroom Environment:

The spread of mobile phones amongst learners has caused learning to continue outside the classroom environment. With this, students can therefore now learn what they want to learn at their own pace and time. Therefore, parents, teachers and school authorities should be abreast enough with e-learning sites and tools in order to provide proper guidance. This is important now in the delivery of efficient education if you want your children to have a holistic education. Developers should also consider the size of the app, its friendliness and the kind of language used so it is appropriate for use by children. Offline tools can also be used alongside the online ones to augment the cost. EBooks, offline dictionaries are examples of such offline tools.

2. Learning on Social Media:

 Some few years back, social media was seen as a disruptive tool but not anymore. But now it is a powerful tool for teaching and learning. Schools now have social media pages where they disseminate information, allow for students interaction and others. Also, e Learning sites have social media pages where they also educate their followers. The Ghanaian owned online e learning  platform, has a very active Facebook page which puts out a lot of relevant information. Some students also share educational videos and images with their friends and followers. This generates thought provoking and insightful comments and opinions which also improves learning outcomes.

3. Learning Through Collaboration:

With technology, staying connected with people is easy and this has found its way into learning as well. Learning, sharing information, discussing etc. are done collaboratively. Teachers now promote group learning, group assignments and tasks. This form of learning improves the collaborative skills of students while teaching them to be tolerant of the opinions of others and teamwork.

E Learning also comes with collaborative features that allows this method to flourish. Group assignments are done via social media platforms, for example. The bridge between teachers and parents and teachers and students has also been bridged through this method. And this has promoted a peaceful relationship between these parties since they communicate more and better at their own convenience.

4. Management of Data:

Data Management, which was a cumbersome part of the schools tasks, has become easy to do with the aid of technology. Most Schools use management systems such as the Moohey School Management System to complete assessments, take attendance, promote students, and monitor progress of students and others. Evaluation of an entire class’ assignment can be done seamlessly online.

Parents can also monitor their wards progress remotely and can interact further with teachers online without having to visit the school. All these have made the use of such approaches a fast growing one amongst the school circles.

5. Interactivity in Classroom:

The introduction of technology into the classroom space has made classroom learning more fun and interactive. The course content is embedded in videos, audios and eBooks and made available to students before or even during lessons. Unlike the hardcover books, these e-contents allows students to continue learning even out of the classroom. At the time of learning, students can still send messages to teachers to provide further assistance where necessary. Developers of educational platforms are therefore working tirelessly to come up with more of such interactive tools for learners. The Moohey School Management System for example, has a simple communication tool which allows students to interact with teachers. The seekapor eLearning portal also has subject content in the form of videos, worksheets and articles that can be used for teaching and learning purposes .This style of learning has seen growth in recent years and school authorities are all embracing it.

6. Gramification in Education

This trend is gaining grounds because it increases student engagement. Gramification is therefore being used in various forms through badges, stickers, little tokens and leader boards as seen on the online B.E.C.E test taking platform called, apor. Although they promote competition, they also increase participation, engagement and promote learning outcomes. Students become actively involved where there are gramifications involved. The urge to lead the scoreboards results in better performance and retention is increased.

Thus beyond the traditional gramification methods, teachers also encourage students to test their retention abilities by using online test taking platforms. On the whole, gramification boosts morale, motivation and interaction amongst students.

It is said that life is dynamic thus nothing is constant and this applies to learning. Very soon, technology will take over the learning space. As it is with every new thing, the acceptance rate will be slow but when it catches up, it will blow up. Every year, additions or new trends emerge to technology and learning. It is therefore key that people are made aware of these changes in order to take advantage of them. After all, these technological trends make teaching and learning better, faster and more effective.

reference: https://kitaboo.com/trends-in-education-technology/