Technology & Teaching - A Pair Unlike Any Other by Nafi

Nafi's entry into Varsity Tutor's January 2020 scholarship contest

  • Rank:
  • 1 Votes
Nafi
Vote for my essay with a tweet!
Embed

Technology & Teaching - A Pair Unlike Any Other by Nafi - January 2020 Scholarship Essay

Technology is a forever changing element of our lives that has continuously proven to benefit not only individuals, but society as a whole. Technology has positively impacted my classroom experience in particular thanks to its versatility. One of the first pieces of technology I witnessed be implemented in schools was the SMARTBoard, which allowed teachers to draw on a digital board and be more collaborative when taking notes. This along with the introduction of Chromebooks and Google Drive shot education into the next era. Technology has managed to leave a mark that will have forever changed the traditional classroom in a positive way as it has improved collaboration and efficiency tremendously.
One of the first pieces of technology that I witnessed be implemented in the education system was the SMARTBoard. It was a digital board that would project the teacher’s computer and allow them to draw on. It was a lengthy transition from the traditional whiteboard, but soon became acknowledged for its usefulness and convenience. The SMARTBoard ushered in a new era of collaboration for teachers and students alike. Students could now play automated games on the board through the connection with the computer. Even more amazing, all the notes taken on the SMARTBoard could be saved and notes, for example, could be returned to for review or reteaching at a later time. I specifically remember learning all my times tables with the help of a timed matching game on the SmartBoard. There was finally an overlap between modern day technology that allowed education to not only be more efficient, but fun and exciting in the eyes of students!
Soon after the massive success of the SMARTBoard, schools across the nation began “One on One Chromebook Programs” where students would be given chromebooks to do work in class with. Chromebooks were a cheap and effective means of providing students with laptops to work on projects and take notes in ways that would be more collaborative than the original pencil and notebook. Likely the greatest piece of technology that has forever changed the education system as a whole, Google Drive has changed how information is taught, absorbed, and stored forever. A Google Drive account was free to make and gave students access to the free services of Google Docs, Sheets, Slides - essentially identical copies of the original Microsoft Office programs, but with the added feature of constant saving to the cloud after any change was made - a feature that Microsoft’s services heavily lacked in. Google’s services allowed for an entire class to work on one document at the same time. I can guarantee that school would be much more difficult for both students and teachers if Google Drive did not exist. I would not be able to send my essays or portfolios to colleges and would need to face reading both my own and other students’ handwriting… a feat that even teachers struggle with. Google Drive and the implementation of technology in the classroom has boosted collaboration in ways previously unimaginable. Now, teachers can simply post a study guide for an exam later in the week on Google Classroom and all students will get an alert. Even moreso, Google has become a vital part of the education system - with classrooms almost witnessing utter collapse if the WiFi is slow one day and no student can access their essay.
The unique capabilities of technology allow for an even more unique learning experience as a result. Specifically in my Anatomy & Physiology II class, we utilized iPads and an anatomy app approved by the school to learn about the different body systems we would explore throughout the year. It employed AR technology and allowed for full-size and to-scale models of the human body. We could check off which specific body systems we desired to see and had the ability to see how they interacted with one another as a result. This is only one of the specific examples that has proven to be more useful than the past methods of teaching: the classic skeleton model in science classrooms. New classes were created as a result of the inclusion of such amazing technology. The education system understands that the modern world relies on technology and has worked accordingly through STEM programs and improvements of art and science classes. My sophomore year, I took both Digital Arts I and Web Design as electives - both classes relied on technology and allowed students to become skilled in practices previously unheard of such as Photoshop or the building of their own website.
Thanks to technology, education has forever been lead in a positive direction. Students have learned how to be more creative and collaborative with one another all while becoming more efficient and skilled for the future. The modern world relies on technology and has become more and more dependant on it in order to support the continuous advancements humans are making daily. Students being given access to such vital programs such as Google Drive has accelerated the learning process in such a way that the traditional methods of a chalkboard or whiteboard and marker are seemingly inferior due to how little they pail in comparison with their technological counterparts and their true benefit to students all across the nation.

Votes