Technology affects every area of our lives these days, so naturally many of us start wondering what does it mean for education in particular. We can safely assume that technology will change education in the near future, but how exactly will it happen?
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In this article, we want to talk about
5 ways technology will change education in 5 years.
Curious to find out more? Then continue reading.
1. Portable learning
According to the statistics provided by Pew Research Center, 73% of teens have access to a smartphone. The 2015 stats also show that more than half of teens have access to tablets.
That’s the reason why many schools and universities already start including portable devices in the learning program. These days the tablets are commonly used in many classrooms – and it’s safe to assume that they’ll be used even more in the future.
The way the tablets are used differs a lot, depending on a school and on a course. However, even now teachers report that the use of tablets is very effective for those students that struggle academically.
2. Personalized learning
It seems obvious that every student learns differently. However, the education system still struggles to accommodate every students’ needs.
The technology is able to change that. Various education software like DreamBox can already adapt to the skill level of every student, allowing every one of them to learn at the pace that suits them best. It’s quite possible that in the future such software will become more widespread and able to adapt even better to assist the needs of the students.
3. Distance learning
The development of online learning courses and distance learning, in general, allows students all over the world to hone their skills and to receive high-quality education provided by world’s best educational institutions. Even now people can take online writing courses on websites like Coursera to learn how to write a conclusion that actually looks strong, for example. Furthermore, there’s a possibility that the education will slowly become more distant as well, focusing on combining e-learning content with classroom work.
It would be much more affordable and accessible, as well as personalized. It might also make the education process more diverse as well as every student will be able to craft their own learning plans and try different courses.
4. Immersive learning
Though the VR technology isn’t commonly used in schools and colleges now, this doesn’t mean that this won’t change over the last 5 years. The use of that technology can really diversify students’ learning experience, allowing them to enjoy learning even more.
For example, VR technology could become a great addition to the biology, geography, and history classes, allowing students to not simply learn something new but to see it with their eyes. Such complete sensory experience would benefit them a lot, helping to memorize the information better.
5. Human learning
It might seem that the development of technologies would affect the learning process badly as well, leading to teachers losing their jobs. However, this is hardly going to happen.
The technology, no matter how effective it is, cannot replace the human teachers completely. What it can do, however, is ease their work, allowing them to focus on the students more. Various software that could take care of the routine tasks exists already and is probably going to develop even more during the next 5 years. This way the teachers, who now need to take care of too many things, from class activities to paperwork, will have more time to work with students directly and to measure their performance more effectively. This could also help them offer students more personalized and detailed feedback that could help them a lot.
Some think that integrating more technology into the education system is not a good idea. However, we personally think that this would be a great way to really diversify the education process, to make learning more personalized, effective, and accessible.
And though we cannot say for sure how exactly the technology and the education system will change in the future, we can make predictions (most likely, accurate ones), basing on the current situation. We hope most of them will come true and that the technology will only benefit the education system instead of complicating it.
Do you agree with us and think that the technology will improve the education system? Or do think it would be better if we stick to the traditional education system? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
