How does technology improve primary education?

Technology has a very big impact on today's society and the world we live in, this is only going to develop further and become more influential on people’s lives. Bringing an aspect of technology into education is extremely important and can show children as well as parents how technology can be used as a positive.

Technology can be used to engage children especially those who struggle to concentrate or find it hard to focus. Children can get distracted if a teacher is sat in front of them talking at them in an attempt to teach. There are many ways that technology can be used to prevent this such as using PowerPoint presentations or videos to gage interest. This is something different from writing on a whiteboard so for children they find it more interesting and exciting.

Technology can develop education by giving students additional resources and options to seek extra support online. Within a lot of school’s teachers set homework over online sources such as MyMaths or Purplemash. For students who need to spend more time practicing a concept, online exercises and curriculum can also help them work at their own pace and still keep up with their peers. Khan, T (2019) This approach benefits both the pupil and the teacher as it can be easier to use as well as quicker for the classroom teacher when they have on average 30 students work to mark, it is sometimes easier to access and there is no excuse of it getting lost. In addition to this is saves a lot of printing ink and is better for the environment.  Since the introduction of computers, tablets, and mobile phones, there has been a great scope of education applications that allow learners to learn various concepts in a playful manner. Moreover, they can access to live streaming videos online to better understand an idea, subject, or concept. Morrison, 2018

How is technology already used within the primary schools and how is this beneficial?

Standardised tests can be done through computers rather than with a pen and work book, registers are completed by class teacher using an online database, PowerPoint presentations are made online and often shown to the class by using a smartboard. Within specific lessons videos can be shown to demonstrate things or show examples, for example, in science lessons experiments videos can be shown before they are carried out instead of, just being shown by a teacher. This makes work interactive and fun for children and they tend to learn more from a first-hand experience and want to then get involved and try out what they have watched.

Many schools have brought in the use of iPad and own one of two per classrooms, they use these a lot of the time to take photos and use them on the school’s social media pages like twitter or Facebook, this is a way of showing parents and other people what the children get up to and are learning.

References:

Khan, T (2019) How Technology Can (and Does) Improve Education. Online at: https://www.trustradius.com/buyer-blog/how-technology-improves-education [Accessed 24/4/19]  

Morrison, J (2018) 8 Ways Technology Improves Education. Online at: https://elearningindustry.com/technology-improves-education-8-ways [Accessed 24/4/19]