Is Education Responsible for Technological Development, or is Technology Responsible for Advancing Education?
This is a debated issue among educators, and we don't want you to get caught up in it. We simply want to highlight the importance of technology in the development of education and achieving its goals. The clear role that devices, communication, and educational applications have played in various types of education has become evident recently. We also want to ask: How can we invest in technology in education effectively, at the level of individual learners and their families? How can you, as a self-directed learner or someone responsible for teaching children at home, use technology in a structured way that facilitates learning? How do we avoid the negative use of educational technology that is more harmful than beneficial?
Why Has the Importance of Technology-Based Education Increased in the 21st Century?
Educators answer: Because technology-based education increases student motivation to learn. Through it, students acquire knowledge, are able to create knowledge, feel independent in their learning,
share what they have learned, and apply this knowledge to solve real-world problems, making this a lifelong habit.
In school education, teachers recognize the benefits driven by this new technology. It replaces old teaching traditions and is supplemented with new teaching practices, allowing both students and teachers to be better equipped for the new, interconnected world influenced by technology around us. George Couros once said, "Technology will not replace great teachers, but technology in the hands of great teachers can be transformational."
Studies also indicate that technology-based education enhances the effectiveness of scaffolding, where the teacher acts as a guide or facilitator, providing supportive technological elements before gradually withdrawing that support to promote learner independence. Other studies suggest that technology-based education allows students to explore educational content that aligns with their personal interests and at their own pace (de Jong & van Joolingen, 1998). It makes students responsible for their own learning instead of relying solely on the teacher (Saye & Brush, 2007), and it even enables students to bridge learning gaps (Becker et al., 2017).
for instance, if a student struggles with a specific skill due to a prerequisite skill learned in previous grades, technology-based education can help remediate this by allowing the student to revisit the lost skill in a personalized setting, away from their current classmates, until they master it.
The Role of Educational Technology for Self-Learners
Educational technology has undeniably provided significant support for self-directed learners. In his book "How to Develop Your Skills Through Self-Learning," Martin Meadows states that as a person embarks on their journey of self-improvement, they increasingly need a toolkit of resources to help achieve their learning goals and, consequently, their personal development. Meadows suggests that the discovery and organization of these tools are now facilitated by educational technology.
Formal education systems (schools and universities) and informal education systems (online learning platforms) have recognized that available technology changes the face of education. They have encouraged online learning, the sharing of educational experiences, proper research practices, and self-directed learning through various changes, including:
The Role of Learners and Teachers in the Classroom
In a technology-based learning approach, the student is at the center of the teaching process. They explore, discover, infer, and apply while
the teacher's role is limited to guidance and direction. For instance, a math teacher can direct a student to the required content on Khan Academy, then guide them to practice exercises on Kahoot, and after discussion and feedback, direct them to a third platform for a quiz on the lesson.
Changing the Time/Place System of Learning
The educational process has become available to students at more flexible times that suit their life circumstances. Thanks to mobile devices like phones or tablets, the learning experience allows freedom of movement in different locations. For example, my children once joined a class via their tablet while we were in the car due to an emergency that required me to pick them up from school before the day ended.
Digital Tools for Self-Directed Learning
What digital tools do students or learners rely on for self-directed education, and do they accommodate all stages of the lesson from acquiring knowledge to testing understanding, interacting with it, sharing it, and evaluating this educational experience? Here are some of the technological means that support self-directed learners:
Online Learning
We all know there is a wide range of study resources available online, provided by internationally recognized platforms like Coursera, which collaborates with prestigious universities such as Harvard and Stanford. Arab platforms like Edraak also offer the latest educational courses in collaboration with leading experts and academics in their fields, covering various topics of interest, which learners can access according to their personal schedules. These are high-quality resources in terms of production.
Social Learning Networks
Modern technology also provides learning through blogs and social networks like Twitter and Facebook, facilitating collaboration that helps in learning by forming communities among individuals with shared interests in a specific subject, exchanging resources, experiences, and advice.
Virtual Classes and Video Conferences
Tools like Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom help transform classrooms into global communication centers for free, allowing students to connect with anyone worldwide to discuss topics of interest and learn from experts or teachers. They also facilitate informal lessons among learners.
Self-Publishing
Modern educational technology enables students to self-publish to reach an audience beyond their teachers. This allows them to share their ideas with real audiences outside their schools through blogs or
various social media platforms like YouTube, Twitter, and Wiki, which are free and easy to create.
Self-Assessment
After the stages of acquiring knowledge and sharing learning experiences, the time comes to evaluate this learning. Students can assess themselves by sharing their work with others to receive feedback for improvement, or by practicing tests on review sites that automatically provide scores and highlight errors and feedback.
The Role of Technology in Updating Curricula and Teaching Strategies
In response to major changes in the education equation, educational stakeholders have directed efforts to design suitable learning curricula for this new technology, adopting teaching methods based on technology:
Problem-Based Learning
Instead of primarily teaching facts, teaching practices have begun to shift toward skill development, which includes problem-solving, understanding new concepts, and communication. Whether approached as a problem, a project, or an inquiry-based approach, the idea is to move towards student-centered strategies that aim for critical thinking about problems. This type of learning prepares students to think creatively and find solutions to complex issues that will persist and new challenges that will emerge in the future, placing them in a global context that facilitates communication and collaboration with others who share their interests.
Student-Created Content
Many technology-based methods increasingly provide opportunities for students to create content that can be shared within the classroom, across schools, and on online learning platforms. The best way to ensure learners understand the content they have produced is to have this content validated by teachers and encourage students to summarize what they have learned by teaching each other in a shared group, rather than merely recycling acquired knowledge and encouraging students to present different perspectives on this knowledge.
Active Learning
Active learning means that students learn from experience and from each other through trying different learning methods, supporting each other's ideas, and, importantly, providing space for them to think and work independently. Here, the teacher's role is to be a guide and facilitator, offering help and support when needed, while monitoring student performance and educational outcomes.
Challenges of Technology-Based Education
Technology-based education requires strong motivation to succeed, as students learn effectively only when they have significant drive and
motivation. Research indicates that students who use more technology tend to achieve higher motivation levels (Trimmel & Bachman, 2004). Tseng and Tsai (2010) agree, noting that motivation
and self-drive must be strong in learners when engaging in online tasks.
One challenge facing technology-based education is that the abundance of tools provided by educational technology has aided teachers and learners, but the increasing number of new tools and technologies can sometimes feel overwhelming. Considering the appropriate means for educational tasks and choosing from an excess of options consumes effort and time that we believe should be dedicated to the education itself.
Conclusion
In conclusion, technology has brought significant transformations to education and learners in our era. The tools provided by educational technology are immensely powerful and diverse, and their use must be systematic and organized, both by educational supervisors and by learners themselves. Unorganized use can lead to a maze of procedures that waste time, effort, and resources.
