One taco dinner with a friend who works at a college, we were discussing about the whole pandemic situation and how it turned out to be a driver of technology.
Certainly, external situations could be strong drivers of change, and educational technology was not left behind.
As we kept discussing during dinner, she told me her experience about the youngsters having plenty experience creating Tik Toks, Snapchats, and Instastories, but when it come out to educational technology, they were behind.
So, does the coming generations are really being digital native.
Knowing the social media platforms is for sure not a certificate that people actually know how to use technology.
As technology keeps improving, and it becomes the major collaboration and working tool for businesses, it should also be properly taught at schools.
The current discussion if universities are actually properly teaching what businesses are requiring shows that probably universities should adopt the use of business technologies.
In my experience, the main and most common software that was used was Office.
At university, we all have used Word, PowerPoint and Excel.
But certainly, there are businesses that require advanced Excel skills that actually students don’t know.
If we start going further on more advanced systems such as ERPs, CRMs, POS, and more management software, then this ones are mainly only experienced when working at a company.
And in developer languages, then probably we don’t have to talk about Python, R, PHP and other programming languages that will turn out more difficult for non techies.
So, which technology should be taught at least in schools?
Certainly, I am in favor that universities should stop having too much theory, and start developing more tech skills in any kind of career.
At least the time invested during college or university, should not be spent to learn while already having a job or a business.
Technology in education is more than just file sharing softwares, it should build up collaboration between peers.
Education is the fundamental pillar of the whole world, it depends on it that future generations can live up to the great challenges that exist day after day.
Therefore, the truth is that beyond being two different things, they have to go hand in hand.
How can a young person be prepared to face the reality of a profession if technology is not the basis of education?
He or she will simply never be able to do an effective job if technology is not intertwined with current education.
The world as we know it is represented by innovation.
Every day new theories are formulated, medical breakthroughs are made, new artifacts are created.
We are as involved with technology as we are with the air we breathe.
Without realizing it, this represents a crucial point that gives balance to our lives.
Hence the need to understand that as living beings we are linked to today’s world in ways we cannot explain.
We need to keep up with the great technological trends of the moment to increase our knowledge and in the future have greater opportunities in job performance.
Some years ago technology in education areas such as schools, high schools and universities was excessively scarce, in fact it was considered as a constant distraction for students, reaching the point of eliminating its use as a work resource for students in educational institutions.
This really causes a break between education and the reality of work.
Making that young people without any experience on programs were in front of a monitor in their first working days, because they were accustomed to perform these procedures manually.
Something that would not only take them more time, but would also represent the presence of discouragement that leads to two things: the first, the dedication of study time in learning these programs and the second, the emotional breakdown caused by the lack of knowledge that would lead the professional to job failure and abandonment of their profession.
This started to be noticed more and more by schools, high schools and universities.
Allowing them to begin on a small scale to consider the need for the digital era in schools.
Reaching the point today that it has become an imminent requirement caused by the current pandemic.
A drastic turnaround creating that in just a few years and even months technology in education is the pillar that allows institutions to reach all corners of the earth.
Going from being something that was not considered, to being the engine that allows the growth of students to continue to function.
Technological integration has had a transcendental impact on education.
Students have been involved in a wave of programs making them experts in technological tools.
Even with higher performance than those who are older.
The new generations have a facility in their nature to understand the operation of the same with an extraordinary capacity.
And it is no secret that companies, corporations, public and private entities invest millions of dollars annually in high-end devices to ensure their employees greater comfort and job satisfaction.
This being the current case, beyond its importance, technology in education is an essential requirement to have a better chance to emerge as professionals.
The key points that are highlighted in the trajectory of technology as a vital use in education are as follows:
We are all familiar with the time when people depended on libraries in schools, high schools, universities and even in cities to have access to learning materials.
Although at the time it was the ideal way to acquire knowledge, it did not guarantee relevant information that would allow a student to have a global understanding of a subject.
Thanks to technology in education, students with just a click of a button can have works at their disposal in just seconds, including studies from the best universities in the world.
Information can be easily accesed through devices such as smartphones, PCs or tablets for education.
Explanatory videos with examples for children, teenagers or adults, allowing them to understand more accurately the subject of study.
This allows the student to develop exponentially his personal criteria thanks to the fact that he will be able to understand with facts the reason of things.
Turning students into connoisseurs of world culture.
Returning once again to the example of the library, how many hours did it take a person to get just the definition of a topic?
Well, the answer is simple, many hours, even to develop a topic in general it took days or even months to read all the books and get those texts that were related to the research.
Today young people can use applications to search within an eBook or PDF book the word they need, this makes the time is greatly reduced and you can spend more hours to read content that will be of benefit to the project.
Being a teacher is a great responsibility, since the knowledge that a child may have even in childhood depends on them.
They represent a significant guide in the development of their students.
Technology has given teachers the opportunity to have different ways of presenting a class, allowing them to adapt the topics to those students who find it difficult to understand a particular course.
Stimulating an education that will make an unimaginable impact on the lives of your class members.
Every teacher who makes the effort to teach classes that are adaptable to the innovations of the moment, is giving a foundation of personal development to their students and forging successful professionals.
As with everything, there are always problems that do not allow everyone to enjoy the true benefits of an education linked to technology.
And the fact is that these advances are not only focused on electronic devices, but also on social networks, search engines and even new theories that can help save lives.
That is why modern resources mean that life as we know it is led by such advances.
Among the most common problems that prevent the emergence of the same are the following:
It turns out that in order to provide a technology-centered education, institutions must have the same because otherwise this could not be carried out.
This represents a big problem, since digitalization becomes a luxury because not everyone can pay the price to have it.
Although we are in the XXI century, many cities, towns, and even countries are far from the benefits that could mean having technology as implementation in schools and universities.
Creating that only a percentage can enjoy these wonderful advantages.
Although it should be noted that more and more this gap is opening making more people can opt for devices.
The vast majority of teachers come from a teaching based on traditional education, in short the enemy of all innovation, creating that there are teachers who do not want to opt for the digital era because the traditional way has given results over the years.
This is the big mistake that prevents the growth of students, although many teachers, professors or teachers strive to create educational projects linked to the digital.
On the other hand, there are many who refuse to benefit themselves and their class of the importance of adapting to the current world.
Although it may seem harmless to continue teaching with this model, in a nutshell, it stops students’ ability to progress and increase their judgment in a classroom to be implemented in their profession.
When we fail to adapt, we are people incapable of accepting reality.
The digital era has marked our history and will continue to do so day after day, the world is moving forward and very fast, and if we do not grow together with it, the chances of success will be really scarce.
There are many tools that some years ago were implemented by students to facilitate their educational projects, such as Microsoft Office documents, but thanks to technological advances have increased digital educational programs that allow the student to have a more complete and structured education.
These come directly focused to allow the ease not only to the student, but also to the teacher, evolving the form of direction that education could have.
Although many aspects have changed due to the recent health situation in the world caused by the pandemic; however, this has exponentially motivated the use of technologies as an educational method to protect students from the disease caused by the coronavirus.
A significant boom and also demonstrating that it is possible to live in the digital era in the classroom.
Among the most outstanding platforms that allow the user a more complete performance, we have the following:
Being a google platform it has gained a lot of reach in recent months due to the search for tools that allow you to give a complete education online. But Classroom is more than that because you can use it from your face-to-face classes to online, making it a mixed method.
Classroom is very complete because it allows you to do papers, exams, and even schedule meetings and conduct them virtually. In addition, one of the most relevant benefits is that it is adaptable to any device, giving students the freedom to complete their work either from a phone, tablet or computer.
Something that really benefits the student community in general, is that it is a totally free system. Allowing institutions such as students to have access to it by simply opening a gmail account.
It is a videoconferencing and virtual meeting platform that can be used from any operating system, whether from linux, windows, mac, android and iOS.
It has different options that have positioned it as an ideal aid in the educational process of institutions. Among which the most outstanding is the number of people that can enter a meeting, up to 200 users.
In addition, it allows separating them into groups so that they can have a more personal interaction if the class requires it. It also has functions such as screen sharing to help the teacher to show didactic materials that may be useful for the class.
Finally, and very importantly, it allows screen recording, that is, if a student could not be in the meeting, the teacher can record it and then send the video to the student so that he/she can have access to the same information as his/her classmates.
A disadvantage compared to clasroom is that it is not completely free. In order to opt for all the features and unlimited hours of video conferencing, a package must be purchased from the zoom platform.
Microsoft Teams has become an important collaboration tool not just in businesses but as well in school.
This tool has helped on the file creation and sharing processes.
The remote courses can be given through their video platform, where people can have easy access to them.
Microsoft Teams for Education enables to aim for a normal class environment.
This tool, definitely would be a software that students might use on a working environment.
The digital era is the basis of today’s education due to the changes caused by the pandemic situation.
But beyond that, it will remain as a fundamental pillar to instruct students in the best possible way.
This will really allow us to have trained and experienced professionals in the future, helping them in their work performance and at the same time to see it reflected in the success they can achieve.
Adapting to technology is a way to increase our personal growth and at the same time to guarantee more opportunities in the future.
