Helps improve student’s knowledge retention:

When students are more interested and engaged in the information they are learning, they tend to retain more information. Students enjoy working with technology, which encourages them to actively participant, which in turn improves their retention of information.

Better classroom collaboration:

Through technology, students can work on projects simultaneously and easily bounce ideas off one another, physical and social boundaries no longer exist when they can easily work together online. Technology allows students to seamlessly collaborate and find instant answers to questions or problems they may have.

Creates a more engaged environment:

Students are more engaged when they are enjoying the lesson. Using exciting technology such as tablets can turn traditionally dull subjects into fun, interactive experiences. There are so many games such as Kahoot! that students love that allows them to recap on what they have been learning through fun and interactive quizzes.

Lack of access to technology:

Not every student is going to have the same access to technology at home. If a student is expected to carry out tasks after school, it can be unfair on students who don’t have the same access as their peers.

Difficulty integrating technology into lessons:

Some teachers may find it difficult to incorporate technology into their lessons. It may take them some time to familiarise themselves with the technology before they can begin integrating it into the classroom. Challenges can easily arise when using something you are unfamiliar with, thus leading to delays in teaching.

Technology can be costly:

Technology changes, often. It can take some time to get used to teaching methods online and when you may just be comfortable with certain programmes and sites, it may change again, bringing you back to where you started. For the same reason, investing in the latest equipment will inevitably drive up costs.

Overuse:

Overuse of technology can have very negative effects, with high screen time leaving children and adults with such as sleep problems, obesity and anxiety. It’s important to limit the use of screens and not over consume. It is recommended that children aged 5-18 years should have no more than 2 hours of screen time a day, so keep this in mind.

This year in particular has proven how invaluable technology is as a teaching resource. It has also proven the necessity of traditional, face to face teaching methods and it is clear now that there in the future there will be no separation of the two. Perhaps blended learning is the future of education as there are undoubtedly advantages to both methods.

What are your thoughts? Do you think we should place more or less of an emphasis on technology within the classroom?

Let us know your thoughts below.