Education plays a very crucial role in our lives. If we rewind and look back at our earlier childhood and how children during that time used to learn and get an education, it is so different from the ways and methods education is imparted today. And comparing further with the times of our parents, whenever, they talk of how they got their education is nothing less than an adventure; how they used to walk miles, how they had to mug up a lot of things and recite in the class, and how their syllabus used to vary from what their children learned today, and so on. So what these journeys of education tell us? Indeed education has evolved in so many and it is still evolving. It tries to adapt and modify according to the need of the hour. Furthermore, the technological revolution along with the wider access to smartphones has contributed to revolutionizing education.
Ed-Tech (Educational Technology) then comes into the picture, what it aims to do is to use technology in such a way that learning and its quality are enhanced that will ultimately lead to improved changes in the educational system. However, because we are making a transition to use something like technology to impart learning and education, it is but natural that people will have doubts and skepticism attached to it. However, we must bust the myths and realize the potentialities of Ed-tech, and it is also important to realize its limitations as well so that there is no barrier or obstacles that will hinder its implementations.
One such expectation or myths that revolve around Ed-Tech is that it will do away with the teachers, professors, and so on but in reality, Ed-Tech is not trying to substitute the role of the educators or supervised learning, rather it is a tool for the educators to improve the process of imparting education. For example, maths will have the ability to go beyond just solving problems on paper, to understanding the real-life application, videos that make maths fun; this will probably lessen the fear of maths.
Another such expectation that people have is that smartphones are meant for calls, watching videos, playing games- in short kids become disinterested in studies when they get a smartphone but in reality, smartphones can provide an easier platform for obtaining education, there are numerous apps, and so on that make learning easier, fun and engaging. Another concerning expectations of Ed-Tech are that it will isolate the children from the learning process and deprive the children of peer-learning, however, in reality, this is an avenue even for introverted children who shy away from talking or interacting in physical classrooms- it makes the learning process interactive and engaging such that interactions between the mentors, teachers and fellow students are maximized.
Furthermore, expectations or myths like Ed-tech learning won’t be useful and it is a burden on the children is extremely false because Ed-Tech promotes contextual learning and the learning is imparted in such a way, that it overcomes the widespread problem of ‘mugging up culture in education Ed-Tech therefore, attempts to make use of their learning, engage with it, further gamification helps in building nuanced understanding, now what happens is that whatever you have will stay in your long-term memory and you remember for the entirety of your life. Now isn’t that amazing?
- RAJNANDINI BARMAN
