COVID-19’s interruption of the face-to-face classroom experience has resulted in students finishing the school year several months behind in reading and math. Worse, high schoolers from across the world are becoming more likely to drop out of school.
In fact, more than 35% of parents have expressed concern about their children’s mental health, says a McKinsey & Company study.
The past year has made it clear that one of the only ways to tackle the disruption in education and improve learning outcomes is through the right technological interventions.
However, over the last 18 months, “technology” has also become synonymous with “virtual”, where children have complained of feeling isolated sitting behind a device, craving engagement with their peers and teachers. That does not have to be the case, though – the right tech can be centered on human connection.
Three reasons to adopt edtech
One of the biggest challenges facing e-learning today is getting learners interested and engaged with the content – for instance, by adding more touchpoints and scope for holistic learning, and by allowing families to be part of the instructional process.
Here are some of the key benefits of applying educational technology at your school:
1. Edtech is immersive
With augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), or even high quality 3D video rendering, students can now see live 3D models of objects and obtain information about that object from diverse online resources.
2. Edtech is personalized
E-learning can be leveraged to create individualized study plans with appropriate pedagogical approaches and content, to achieve a student’s specific learning objectives, almost like a personalized tutor for every student.
3. Edtech is adaptive
The right e-learning platform can seamlessly scale up and standardize instruction. It can facilitate differentiated instruction and increase learner engagement.
And here’s how you can adopt interventions that match your needs
Step 1
The first step is to take stock of how your current schools, educators, and learners are engaging with technology. Regulations around use and accountability for devices, reliable access to the internet or even sufficient outlets for charging devices in classrooms are basic hurdles that need to be identified and addressed.
Step 2
Consider how technology may affect interactions among learners and educators. For instance, technology may accelerate student learning if there is access to quality content. The right tech could facilitate differentiated instruction. Schools need to think about seemingly simple things that could make a huge difference in the quality of education disseminated. For example, will adding electronic whiteboards make a difference in the way the lesson is taught?
Step 3
Define clear objectives and goals and establish ways to regularly assess progress and make course corrections in a phased manner. This is an area that lends itself to technology adoption, with streamlined data gathering, and the use of machine learning algorithms to improve the retention of concepts based on students’ past performance and learning style. This contributes greatly to creating a more interactive learning experience.
Step 4
Define how this kind of reform will be approached and implemented. If technology just lies in the classroom unused or if teachers don’t use it effectively, the results can often be disappointing, no matter how good the technology itself.
Step 5
Be sure to engage closely with your edtech partner to fully understand how tech can improve learning outcomes in schools, and ensure buy-in from all stakeholders, including educators, school leaders, parents, and learners. Deliberately and consistently explaining what technology is and is not supposed to do, and how it can be most effectively used, can make it more likely that programs work as intended.
Effective education aims to achieve a fine balance between knowledge and skill development. Adding the right technological intervention to traditional pedagogical methods can redefine learning and make it more effective. Engaging e-learning content plays a vital role in this process, and that’s our focus at Hornbill FX. Do get in touch with us as you build technology into your school’s learning curriculum.
