How to Effectively Use Modern Technology in Education?

Digitalization is one of the main trends in the development of human civilization, which forms a more inclusive society and better management mechanics, increases access to health care, education, and banking, improves the quality and quality of public services, expands the way people work together, and provides the opportunity to enjoy a broader range of products at lower prices. The Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated the importance and necessity of digital technology for the well-being of the population and the development of economies.

Today, digital technologies are being implemented as part of business processes, and their widespread implementation is evident in all spheres of life since they have been used in all spheres of life:

• Expense-driven cost reductions combined with cost-competitive services available reduce capital expenditures for business start-ups;
•  their use reduces costs, increasing productivity and decision-making efficiencies;
• They become cheaper and thus more affordable due to cost-free content and services (low marginal costs): users pay only a fraction of the charge created by the digital economy;

They can be used to create unique products, fully adapted to the client’s needs.

In services, digital technologies allow you to do business from anywhere globally, conduct video conferencing, and buy products and various household goods through the Internet. Digitalization can contribute to solving social problems by improving access to essential health care services (electronic health care system) and education (distance learning), the provision of financial services, and the simplification and efficiency of government activities (electronic government): a design of electronic regulations and registrations).

Information technology is becoming more and more popular in our lives. The ordering of food, taxis, household goods, and even drinking water has become firmly embedded in our smartphones. Thanks to information technology, entire factories are working, helicopters are flying, and buildings are being designed.

Digitalization has not disappeared from education. The use of multimedia preschools, tablets, and computer classes has had an indefinite impact on the educational process. Also, the developed amount of writing services like us.essayassistant.org shows that it’s impossible to ignore the digitalization era.

But you have to look at it much more profoundly.

But do teachers have a chance to make the most effective use of technology in education while students learn the skills and abilities required for today’s developed world?

Not by a long shot. Computer technology is insanely essential, Ukraine has seen many states target programs to purchase computer equipment for schools, but we have two significant problems with this approach. Check here how to teach yourself on online learning platforms. Learning platform is a system for educating users online via some courses or tutorials.

The first is the stagnation of the park. Technology develops very quickly, and even in a year or two, a recently renovated computer class can already be considered stagnant, and the process is constant…

The other is that today’s Generation Z is no longer enough to acquire knowledge; students need to be explained why they need it, how it can be used and how it can be helpful in the future.

The main challenge for education is to make the younger generation more interested in learning.

Harvard University professor Ruben Poitendura described using information technology and its impact on the educational process.

He introduced four crops, namely: Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition. That is Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition.

To make it clear to you what this is about, I will give you an example.

Let’s assume that the teaching task involves practical work on determining the temperature of the air.

It would be enough to give students a thermometer with a classical approach. However, even this trivial task can be solved by introducing information devices.

The first level (Substitution) allows students to measure temperature not with a conventional thermometer but with an electronic thermometer.

The second level (Augmentation) is the ability to solve the same problem using a digital laboratory, namely an off-the-shelf calibrated temperature sensor with built-in software.

The third (Modification) – is to solve this problem using a non calibrated temperature sensor. With this approach, students will first need to understand the principle of its operation, create a device (electronic thermometer), program and calibrate the machine, and measure the temperature.

The fourth and final level (Redefinition) can be the task of developing and creating an industrial design of the temperature measuring device, which, for example, will be quite different for different groups of children; at the end of this practical work, the children must analyze, propose the scope of their device, arguing their case.

As you can see, even an everyday laboratory work can turn into an actual quest with the effective use of information technology. Children understand the principles of the work of those intelligent devices, which they use every day in their lives.

Moreover, the educational programs already allow for implementing such a practice-oriented approach and fulfilling the state academic standard at a higher quality level.

In short, this approach directly concerns STEAM education.

For example, today’s labor training programs allow students to set challenging learning assignments, such as building a weather station or a “smart building” project.

The STEAM approach is a fundamental change in teaching and makes the young generation more interested in learning.

However, even with the great desire of the teacher, STEAM is not possible without being specially equipped for this purpose laboratories.

It is essential not to allow them to be misunderstood in this context. Equipping schools with projectors and multimedia playpens is extremely important, but information technology must be an effective tool for realizing the learning process, not an end in itself.

STEAM laboratories allow you to implement complex technological designs for modeling an intelligent building, greenhouse, automated weather station, etc.

Of course, this list is not exhaustive, and I posted it to compare and understand how different is the usual multimedia board from the actual STEAM equipment.

Also essential is the presence of teaching kits for design and technology education: 3D-modeling and 3D graphics, construction, milling, holographic educational video, electronics, and robotics.

We can boldly state that STEAM education is a relatively new concept in Ukraine. That is why we are often confronted with a lack of understanding of the need for such changes.

There are a lot of teachers who are ready and already trying to introduce children to modern technology. Still, they need support and advice from specialist practitioners in the relevant fields.