Like other fields, information and communication technology (ICT) brings changes in education too. The use of old educational techniques has changed through the emergence of ICT. ICT is good for introducing changes in the educational system. There’s no doubt that every institute aims to adopt ICT reforms. But many factors create a hierarchy among them. Hence, the institutes that experience less limiting factors stand at the top. Whereas those who fail to cope with the hindrance, are ranked lower in ICT’s advanced list of institutes. Still, the factors may vary from financial factors to those of political stress. But as a whole, ICT has a great association with the learning-teaching practices.
This article will discuss how ICT has changed the common Educational techniques. Todays’ educational system involves many ICT tools. This is because ICT wants to make information exchange process easier through the following aspects;
Laptops
In many schools, the leaders arrange small, and inexpensive laptops for the kids. These laptops designed for the kids involve low cost operating systems. These laptops are also power efficient. Further, they have special mesh networking, as well as re-programming functions.
But distribution of laptops to every student of the school is expensive. Still, sending and receiving class work through laptops is an effective method. It helps the schools in preparing students for tomorrow. Hence, ICT gadgets (laptops and tablets) have changed the common educational techniques. These gadgets are convenient for both teachers, as well as students in the long run.
Smartboards
In conventional classrooms, teachers used blackboards to explain the concept. But after a few years, whiteboards replaced the traditional blackboards. Yet in the present era, ITC invented smartboards. The smartboards are now far better for classroom demonstrations. They allow the teachers in enhancing students’ engagement regarding lectures. The videos, as well as images, have a good impact on students’ learning abilities as well. Hence installing smartboards in classrooms has changed the traditional board-writing practice. And the credit for this dynamic change goes to ICT.
E-readers
In past, the students had to hang bags full of books on their shoulders when they went to school. Sometimes, the load of books was greater than the student’s own weight. Hence, it caused vertebral discs’ dislocation, or other health issues in the students carrying those bags. In this context, ICT has taken a step forward to share the load of such students. ICT introduced digital book sorting platforms. These digital platforms store all important books that are only one click away.
Further, e-readers are electronic devices for storing all academic material in digital form. The researchers proved that independent readers often use these devices. The teachers can also use E-readers for saving lectures that they will deliver in the future. Some of E-Readers that you can use are listed as under;
- Amazon Kindle App: Here, you can find millions of books, magazines and newspapers on different subjects/topics of your interest.
- Wattpad: This is a free tool that you can use to read and write stories. Through this app, you can synchronize your favourite library to any of your devices.
- ComiXology: This is a subscription-based app through which you can download millions of comic books and read them online.
- The Academic Papers UK: This is a dissertation help online provider portal where you can read and download hundreds of research papers and read academic articles.
Flipping Classroom
Flipping classrooms allow the students to stay connected with their class. Through this aspect they can even stay connected from the comfort of their personal place. In this classroom, you can invite the students who cannot come to school due to physical issues. Here, the medium of information exchange is that of a computer. In the past, students who could not complete homework often refused to come to school. But in flipping classrooms, students love to do digital homework. Their motivation levels are also high when it comes to doing homework through such an aspect. Still, the impact of flipping classroom on the students’ learning outcomes is not clear. But in general, most of the students prefer this mode of learning. This shows that ICT applications have changed the current educational trends.
Sustainable Advantages of ICT
Before advancements in ICT, the class-based exams need lots of preparation. These relate to the aspects given as follows;
- Question papers made by the teachers.
- Examination controllers assigned roll numbers to the students.
- The institutes arranged a ton of papers for recording students’ answers.
Apart from these, students used dozens of ballpoints for writing the answers. For arranging tons of papers, roughly 80,0000 to 60,0000 trees were cut down each year. This rapid deforestation was the leading cause of climate changes.
Nowadays, the application of ICT has changed the whole scenario of traditional classrooms. Due to covid-19, the use of ICT in education has also become very popular. The examinations have also shifted to web-based platforms. In online examinations, the students don’t need papers. Hence this decrease in paper usage will have good sustainable benefits in the future.
ICT introduced lists of new deceives that transformed the traditional education system. The current educational techniques are also far more improved than the past ones. And with more application of ICT tools, the future of education will be better than it is today.
