I recently read a blog post by Rossco, that questioned whether or not technology can change education. The video that was posted with Rossco’s blog highlighted the need to implement cost effective technologies to transform the learning of students. The presenter of the video Raj Dhingra, built his presentation on the philosophy that
When you change the thinking, you can change the solution.
I looked more closely at this and recognised that there is a way to transform the learning of students through using ICTs. After watching this video I realized that implementing technologies into the classroom should not be limited by the cost of setting up the technology. There are plenty of initiatives around the world that cost no more than $1000 per student per year, which the video describes in more detail.
More often than not, technologies in schools are limited to a few computer labs and on the rare occasion, an initiative that allows students to have their own personal computer. While this all seems great, it poses an interesting question of whether or not using computers are the best way to transform students learning. The video above suggests that the computer has been used to change education in schools for 50 years, and questions whether they are able to transform the learning of students,a notion that is needed to personalise their education. Raj comes to the conclusion that technology, when implementing correctly and using the right resources, can change the learning of students. He puts forward the notion that technology has the ability to personalise learning and allows teachers to become learning masters, where the main objective is to assist and guide students, rather that a content master, who regurgitates the content knowledge students need to know- Which we all know from past experience, is a boring and ineffective way to learn
While I sometimes question whether or not technology is transforming students education, I feel that when set up correctly, that students can really reap the benefits that technology can have on learning. I feel that, in a time where our students have access to social media, computers and mobile devices, that it is only beneficial to use these technologies to transform their learning and make that learning personalised and relevant.
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