Technology is here to stay, so why not get used to it?
Students must become accustomed with technology to succeed. It will be used in a variety of ways throughout their lives, like higher education, work, daily communication, and keeping up with current world affairs. So, having younger generations become comfortable with it early on will ensure success in school and employment.
To do this, technology needs to be accessible for students.
Many schools continue to work toward this goal. According to a 2022 article from The Journal, 94 percent of K-12 students are provided with laptops. Clearly, laptops are becoming increasingly valuable resources as more educational materials move online.
“[Technology and the internet have] huge benefits,” Cal High resource teacher Shirley Darroch said. “It makes an even playing field because everyone can access the same information. It’s organized.”
It’s also important to remember that students learn at varying paces. With online resources such as YouTube, Google and Schoology, students who learn at a slower pace are able to review any material they need, and those who learn at a faster pace can move ahead.
Students who need more help with certain material can also look up what they need online since there are a plethora of resources to help with any course. When students have trouble understanding a topic, they can find online tutors or watch videos that are posted online through various websites.
“[Technology and the internet] speed things up and [they] also allow the transfer of data and information to be super immediate and across all platforms,” Darroch said.
This wasn’t possible just 20 years ago. It is easy to take for granted how much more convenient different aspects of learning are today because of technology.
Peer editing is also very common in classroom settings, which relies on students being able to share Google docs with others easily. Compared to written corrections, online corrections are more legible and there is less risk of miscommunication because of messy writing.
Another common activity in school is researching a variety of different topics across classes. Before technology, students had to sort through shelves of books in the library when they were researching a topic. Now students have the ability to find the information they need within seconds online.
Technology can present some challenges, such as the occasional disruption of the WiFi connection and websites becoming randomly dysfunctional. But it is still extremely useful and allows students to have more information at their fingertips, which makes up for the occasional lack of reliability.
Additionally, the convenience of having more and more assignments posted online greatly helps keep stressed students more organized. By keeping most assignments on a singular school platform, it’s simple for students to get anything they need within a few clicks.
While some people don’t like the effects of digitization of education, it does allow students a unique environment that is tailored to their learning, to what they want to learn, and how they want to learn it.
Technology prepares students to be more comfortable with completing tasks independently, which is an important skill to have for the future.