The Benefits of Technology in Education

Technology has manifested itself in various ways throughout the ages, and although it has had a lot or little influence, is has always contributed to every age too. Due to these contributions provided, technology has progressed constantly and quickly to the point of influencing the most of the things with which we interact daily.

We might think that technology refers directly to electrical devices such as phones, Smart televisions, video game consoles, and many other devices like these ones, but all of these devices are the product of the innovation that technology brings.

In short terms, technology means the set of knowledge and techniques which are used to contribute to a specific area in order to improve it; said knowledge and techniques generate many benefits which increase technology's influence in our society. There are a great amount of areas in which technology influences very deeply, and one of the main areas is education, so let's review many of the benefits of technology in education in its several areas like education for children, in terms of health, and other areas:

Benefits of Technology in Early Childhood Education –

The childhood stage is a stage from which parents need to learn to take the best possible advantage as the rapid learning that their children can have during this time becomes evident. It’s clear that children learn to use technological devices very quickly, but that this happens doesn’t indicate that it’s best for them to use devices like these because such devices can generate some complications due to their misuse; To avoid any complications that may arise, parents should be very attentive to prioritize their children's use of technology, one of those priorities is education. The content that electronic devices offer can illustrate many dynamic ways to learn various things that our children can appreciate, instead of allowing them to play or see something that is not very useful, we can teach them to read through stories to children, creating drawings or landscapes from taking shapes that the device offers, learning new words, inventing stories with drawings, and many other things. It is important to consider the status of each child and adapt their capabilities to the use of technology so that more effective learning is generated.

When used correctly, ICT can be used to:

Support children’s cognitive and emotional development, and the development of social and co-operative skills;
Assist in the emergence of early literacy and mathematical thinking;
“Level the playing field” for children with special learning needs;
Enhance and strengthen relationships between children and adults, or give adults new ways to gain insight into children’s thinking or their interests, thereby providing opportunities to better support and scaffold children’s learning; and
Facilitate the emergence of “new literacies” or “multiliteracies” in children (Hill & Broadhurst, 2001; Pastor & Kerns, 1997).

(Bolstad, 2004)

The use technology in early childhood can support and benefit young children in key areas of learning such as:

Communication and collaboration.
Creativity.
Socio-dramatic play.
Learning to learn and help young children think about thinking.

Technology or ICT can be used to:

Support literacy.
Support numeracy.
Support science.
Help young children be creative and good problem solvers.
Learn about music.

When it comes to students though, the benefits of technology in education is two-fold. Technology when used in classrooms can indeed be used as a productive tool for students as they do work on their assignments or tasks. Technology is a good productive tool but that also nowadays there is emphasis on technology as a valuable constructive tool in education. Such a change comes with positive connotations attached as it results in quality learning. Mindtools (educational technology) within education are increasingly being included in classrooms as a learning tool for students as it aids in the learning development of literacy and numeracy.

Benefits of technology in education – Primary Education

Primary schools appear to demonstrate greater curricular use of technology.

It supports the learning of subjects across the curriculum with features such as:

Speed and automatic functions.
Capacity and range.
Provisionality.
Interactivity.

There are many benefits of technology in education and as technology evolves, so will schools to ensure that teachers continually work to prepare students for their future in society.

Benefits of technology in nursing education

Nursing is a profession that requires dedication and great care for the preservation of people's lives; this dedication implies and demands that those who work in this profession know exactly how to use the specific instruments that adapt to the teachings they have previously received to highlight in the area of nursing. The medical devices have evolved in such a way that these have more special uses, even more than old medical devices, this has also made the technology have a very deep influence on the nursing that has helped many lives be preserved due to the large list of procedures that these new technologies have offered, this is one of the main reasons for which technology must be employed in nursing not only currently but in the future too.

Benefits of technology in Higher Education

Without much debate, it’s clear that technology has had a profound influence on higher education, among many reasons, two of the main ones are:

Because it contributes to the investigation of new knowledge.
It allows the acquisition of such knowledge to make higher education a pioneer of new knowledge in the academic areas under study.

Technology allows laboratories, the execution of thesis, the generation of new ideas, and many other things not only remain as ideas, but also allows one of the most important things, that all this is brought to reality.

Benefits of mobile technology in education

Mobile technology has become a challenge overcome from which millions of people have benefited, to get a simple idea, starting with the use of mobile phones or laptops. Although we may not have much knowledge of these, on our beautiful planet there are very remote places to which it’s difficult to carry provisions such as food, water, or clothing, these are challenges that have been overcome by leaps and bounds, and technology has allowed it through many ways; In addition to this, technology itself has managed to be introduced in these places where there are usually high rates of poverty, and the fact that technology can be enjoyed more in those places, allows that population to acquire new techniques that can contribute to the progress of that society. This helps us to notice that technology not only works in our homes or cities, remote places are some of the many examples that show us that mobile technology has brought many benefits to all mankind regardless of where a group of people are located.

Benefits of technology in Special Education

Over the years, new and better techniques have been discovered and applied that have made it easier to provide education to people who have special characteristics and who could not learn in the way that a person without disabilities would usually do. To achieve all this, it has been important to use technology to make the use of these techniques more effective. Technology has not only allowed new techniques to be found so that these people can be educated, but it has also been essential for such discovered techniques to be employed in the most effective ways possible, this has allowed the beneficiaries to generate more autonomy and that way they are not seen in their social circle as people who cannot contribute much, but on the contrary, they have managed to be seen as ordinary people like others, who can make great differences when contributing their ideas and thus collaborate in improving the environment around them.

Benefits of digital technology in education

Digital technology has allowed each area of science to discover more than it could do if there were no digital technology available, this has become one of the main benefits that digital technology offers, in addition to this, these days the people are more attracted and motivated to educate themselves due to some interactive device, this has made digitalization a great phenomenon that has allowed a great advance in humanity by bringing many benefits.

Achieving an adequate education requires that as individuals we are able to reason, that we work as a team, that we can discuss, that we can be autonomous, and much more. Technology is an area which has a very deep influence in the other known areas, and for his reason we need to innovate as technology innovates, this not only bring many benefit to us as individuals, but will bring many benefits to our family, neighbors, people around us, and sometimes more than we think, so let’s enjoy of it by using it and innovating along with it.

The Benefits of Technology in Education