subject: Educational Technology Has Always Been Progressive [print this page] It is probably fair to say that every generation of teachers and parents will think that the technology used in the classroom is far more advanced than what they had when they were younger and to be honest, they would be right in saying this. After all, every new generation of pupil has benefitted from technology advancing at a great rate and to be honest, future generations of pupils will also be experiencing ways of learning that are far in advance of what is being used today. That is just the way of the world and it is always better to embrace the new educational technology products as opposed to moaning about how things are different from the way that they used to be.
A simple television set may seem like old fashioned technology for some classrooms but there was annoyance in some places when it started to be used to teach children. Parents and teachers would say that in their day the TV set had no place in the classroom and that all of their knowledge was delivered by books. That was the situation of the time but the use of TV helped many children to engage with topics more and it brought some issues to life. This is the exact same today with educational technology like interactive whiteboards streaming video content from the internet and from all four corners of the globe.
Some people were up in arms at multiple choice quizzes being marked by using an answer grid but this form of marking provided a great boost to a teacher and allowed them to use their time more productively. The fact that educational technology products like student response systems are taking answers and logging and marking them immediately is a huge step on from these answer grids but still some people have concerns about whether teachers should be working in this manner. There is a slight loss in the immediacy of the connection between the teacher and pupil through not being hands on with the marking process but all it takes is a second to check a pupils scores on their allocated file and a teacher can know everything they need to know about a pupil.
Educational technology should always be focused on delivering the best form of education for a pupil and if this means continually pushing the boundaries of what is available and the teaching methods used, it is no bad thing.
