Technology in education

As the use of electronic teaching and learning tools has increased, technology in education has become a key focus for educators at all levels. Using electronic and digital tools is seen as a way to enhance learning and provide a beneficial experience for all students. Administration of educational programs has also benefited from the growth of technology, allowing student progress to be tracked and analyzed more successfully. This in turn permits a fine-tuning of learning objectives and corresponding curriculum units. It also allows teachers to more easily share student progress with parents. For example, teachers might produce charts on a laptop showing a particular student’s successes and challenges in math, even breaking down the data by type of math problem. While many embrace these benefits, critics contend that an overuse of electronic devices in classrooms might detract from the learning experience for some students, making it too impersonal without enough of a social component.

Background

A student in the late 1970s would have been aware of the new inventions entering society around them, from the personal computer (uncommon at the time) to early cable television. In classrooms, however, technology was largely mechanical. For example, a teacher might use an overhead projector to show information on a screen to students. Alternatively, the teacher could show a science or history film on a 16 mm projector, which was wheeled from room to room. In the mid-1980s, projectors gave way to videotapes and televisions, which continued to be wheeled from room to room.

By the late 1980s, personal computers had become common enough that many high schools had computer labs where students learned various skills. Most of the computers used DOS, and later the Windows operating system from Microsoft. In addition to word processing and printing, students could do advanced calculations on spreadsheets. Lotus 1-2-3, first released for MS-DOS systems in 1983, was a popular early spreadsheet program.

These software programs and the PCs they operated on represented the forefront of educational technology at the time. They were particularly beneficial to classes about business or math. Of course, students were excited to learn by using personal computers at their schools, which were still rare in the home environment.

By 2000, Windows-based PCs were common and the Apple iMac was taking off. Microsoft, Apple, and many other companies realized the benefits of getting their technology into schools with the hopes of creating lifelong customers. For that reason, they began to communicate to teachers and parents the benefits of their computing devices and software packages. That trend continued into the twenty-first century, with software packages such as Microsoft Office offering a home and student edition and Apple marketing aggressively to students. Because technology in education is big business, online outlets such as the Academic Superstore offer discounts on software for students who can verify their currently enrolled status. That is usually done by verifying a school-based e-mail.

Technology in Education Today

The range of electronic devices that can be used for teaching and learning has blossomed dramatically since the start of the twenty-first century. Touchscreen machines such as smartphones and tablet computers can fulfill a wide variety of educational functions. For example, a science student can physically manipulate a 3-D model of an atom or molecule displayed on their tablet with a series of gestures, learning about the structure of each. A student in a music class can play the notes of a classical composition on his or her tablet by using it as a full piano, with visuals and sound to match.

Additionally, the newfound prevalence of wireless broadband internet allows for the near-instant transfer of information in educational settings. A teacher leading a class can direct students to the website they established with course materials, or show them in real time how to do research on a site such as ERIC.gov.

New educational technology also allows classes to be delivered remotely. An American university can arrange for a guest lecture from a professor in Scotland, with the entirety of the presentation transmitted via a service such as Skype. Such presentations can even include active review and alteration of documents via free file-sharing services such as Google Drive. In these ways, modern technology in education has opened the doors for learning across borders. This includes the chance for students in poor areas to have access to learning resources that would previously have been inaccessible for them.

Companies view these new electronic avenues as opportunities for profit. In the key college textbook market, expensive and heavy books are beginning to be replaced with digital versions, which are not only easier to transport, but also easier to search. The hope, on the part of students at least, is that updates to digital textbooks will be less expensive to produce, and the savings will be passed along to students. In some cases, downloaded digital textbooks come with automatic updates for future revisions, either for free or a modest fee.

These advantages, coupled with the popularity of using tablet computers as e-readers, have made digital textbooks the default at many universities in the 2020s. At the same time, the availability of digital textbooks has accelerated the development of e-learning programs. Many universities are using advances in educational technology to deliver full classes and complete degree programs to students around the country. This opens up the chance for students in different regions to attend the college of their choice, and it allows universities to gain a new source of revenue from out-of-state students. Correspondingly, opportunities to learn and teach are expanded far beyond what would have been possible without the current revolution in technology.

The early 2020s were a period marked by major developments in classroom applications of technology. The decade began with the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, which led to school closures across many countries and forced many districts to adopt or accelerate their adoption of e-learning platforms such as Zoom, a videoconference tool. While these technologies allowed many schools to continue educating students despite stay-at-home orders and other public health measures, the pandemic also highlighted a number of issues related to e-learning, including the impact of the digital divide, or the gap in internet access, as well as burnout. Many observers and educators noted that certain groups, including low-income students, students of color, and students in rural areas, were more likely to have difficulty accessing or effectively using these technologies during the pandemic.

As schools in the US and other countries largely returned to in-person learning by the end of 2021, debate continued over the effectiveness of Zoom and other technologies and the long-term implications for students who spent significant amounts of time learning online during the pandemic. Other discussion focused more on the benefits of these technologies, particularly for neurodivergent students who may face unique challenges when learning in person. Despite the uncertain effectiveness of e-learning models, the pandemic did force schools in the US and other countries to invest in laptops, tablets, and other digital learning tools at an unprecedented level, with US primary and secondary schools purchasing twice as many laptops and tablets in 2020 as they did in 2019, which greatly increased the digital capabilities of many schools in subsequent years.

Educators in the early 2020s were also forced to contend with major developments in the realm of artificial intelligence (AI). By 2023, many educators expressed concerns that students had begun to use chatbots such as ChatGPT, which had launched in November 2022, to complete assignments and even write entire academic papers; anecdotal evidence of this happening at multiple grade levels had also begun to emerge. The use of AI to complete assignments sparked considerable debate, with many educators and students considering the practice to be academically dishonest and related to either plagiarism or cheating. However, despite this criticism, other experts suggested that AI could have a function in a modern digital classroom so long as clear standards for its use were established. Possible classroom applications of AI included AI-based learning games or using AI to help generate highly personalized and data-driven feedback for students.

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