The Importance of Technological Education

Introduction

We live in the 21st century, the era of technology, the world economy is based on technology, and a lot of things in our lives are based on technology so we know technology is important, but how is technology improving education worldwide, how it benefits or affects teachers and students around the globe, what skills do we need as teachers and as students to take advantage of technology, how technology has changed learning process.

What is technology?

Technology is scientific knowledge applied to improve human abilities, it could help to satisfy human needs, and also can improve living as far as education is concerned. Technology is a resource that can improve the process of learning in consequence, it enhances knowledge.

“Technological education is the training of human personality, designed and developed by applying scientific knowledge in different areas floss acquired in social life, especially in the economy. Within hours of technological education can achieve practical applications. Through practical work, students represent their feelings, and attitudes and find their means of representation, form handling skills, and choice of tools and materials needed.” (Rădoescu, 2017)

What affects the implementation of technology in schools?

There is a big challenge when it becomes to implementing technology in schools, teachers are facing a reality where they need to learn quickly about new technologies and teachers are not always willing to do it for the reason that they do not have the expertise or time, also they must acquire skills to use new technologies in their classrooms which is a bigger challenge for the reason they have to deal with problems like no having the basic resources as there is the lack of electrical energy, no internet or slow connection and no devices.

UNESCO made a statement when they compromised to include ICT worldwide by 2030 in all schools, but for now, we are still facing these problems.

“Successful integration of ICT into teaching and learning requires rethinking the role of teachers and reforming their preparation and professional development. It calls for promoting a culture of quality in all its aspects: staff support, student support, curricula design, course design, course delivery, strategic planning, and development. We will therefore ensure that teacher-training institutions are equipped and prepared to use ICT adequately to expand the benefits of training and professional development programs to all teachers, and to act as the vanguard for technology-supported innovations in education. We also commit to providing teachers with system-wide support for the pedagogical use of ICT, to incentivize teacher innovation, and to develop networks and platforms that allow teachers to share experiences and approaches that may be of use to peers and other stakeholders.” (UNESCO, 2015)

What are the benefits and the disadvantages of using technology to teach and learn?

Benefits

- Enhanced teaching and learning, when it comes to visual resources make learning more enjoyable, also the class could be more interactive and interesting.

- Globalized education is when we learn and work with other students or colleagues from different parts of the country or the world.

- Geographical limitations are out when we want to study for a degree or just learn something without leaving our house.

Disadvantages

- Writing skills are declining due to the excessive use of keyboards.

- It becomes easy to cheat in exams.

- Technology is making us more distracted.

- The imagination of students is being affected.

- The overtime use of screens and keyboards could become a health issue.

(Raja, 2018)

What skills do we need as teachers to apply technology in our classes?

“Ideally, teachers should acquire basic digital skills and knowledge to support relevant curriculum contexts. This will entail setting aside time within the traditional curricula for the incorporation of a range of relevant productivity tools and technology resources. Changes in pedagogical practice involve the use of various digital tools and digital content as part of whole-class, group, and individual student activities.

Changes in teacher practice involve knowing where and when (as well when not) to use technology for classroom activities and presentations, for management tasks, and the acquisition of additional subject matter and pedagogical knowledge in support of teachers’ professional learning.” (UNESCO, 2018, p. 22)

In our opinion, as students, we think technology is practical to use nowadays and gives us more opportunities to get more information about any issue, homework, and advice related to studying and our subjects at school. Also as students and according to this information we consulted and read, we think it is easy to get involved in all this mass of knowledge, but we have learned about the difference between the Knowledge and information era that today some teachers are still in the information era.

It is hard to get into a big change today because as teachers we must acquire skills to use new technologies in our classrooms which is a bigger challenge for the reason we have to deal with problems like support in our schools, new devices for teaching classes, platforms that previously should have been taught, but the truth it is not real this “magic world”. Some teachers from the old era, cannot merge their old knowledge to the new educational methodology with those new aspects of TECH-EDUCATION.

“The use of new technologies encourages the adoption of new teacher roles that embrace new pedagogies and approaches to teacher education. The successful integration of ICT into the learning environment will depend on teachers’ ability to structure learning in new ways, merge technology appropriately with a pedagogy, develop socially active classrooms, and encourage cooperative interaction and collaborative learning, and group work. For many, this will require a different set of skills from those they currently possess. The teaching skills of the future will include the ability to develop innovative ways of using technology to enhance the learning environment and to encourage knowledge acquisition, knowledge deepening, and knowledge creation. Teacher professional learning will be a crucial component of this educational improvement.” (UNESCO, 2018)

Why is technology so important in education?

ICT increases access to education and improves its relevance and quality, it is also relevant in terms of reached knowledge, promoting:

• Active learning
• Collaborative and Cooperative learning
• Creative learning 
• Integrative learning
• Evaluative learning 

(Raja, 2018)

We think as a team that another important aspect of the material structure of education is some technologies are more loosely structured or organized, whereas some are more opaque or systemic and thus more difficult to influence or affect; and we believe all “this magic technological resources in education” has good results in acquiring information but to achieve knowledge the process is complex.
This one has more disadvantages, for kids than adults, that’s because it is more difficult to focus or concentrate for the young ones. They are more distracted by the time they are “looking for some information they are supposed to deliver or investigate for school or any other project from it”.  
Nowadays some teachers from the old era don’t like to use technology because this involves new training, new knowledge, a new way of thinking, new resources, new plans, new strategies, new commitments, and so on.
So there is so much we can talk about education in technology and how this situation has changed our lives to develop new ways of thinking and how to reach new goals.

THANKS

References

Raja, R., & Nagasubramani, P.C. (2018). Impact of modern technology in education. Journal of Applied and Advanced Research, 3(1), 33-55.

Ammon, S. Philosophy and Technology); 2017 Vol. 30 Issue 4, p495-520, 26p. Document Type: article; DOI: 10.1007/s13347-017-0256-4; (AN PT.CJ.DIE.AMMON.WDINED) [Citation Record], Base de datos: EBSCO Publishing Citations

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2011). Competency framework for teachers. UNESCO ICT.