“Things change and unless you are open to other ideas, you are going to be totally irrelevant.”

This statement holds true to a great extent. We as humans keep evolving and so does everything around us. If one fails to keep up, one becomes irrelevant and fails to keep up. Technology is not a subset or a different stream anymore but underlies every single function we perform as humans.

The system of education too, is no exception to the widespread of technology. Education as we have come to know of from the ages of Gurukul and Guru – Shishya Parampara right to the online video call lectures has taken an unfathomable structure and rightly so. With the discovery of new technology, old technology becomes redundant and obsolete. Some traditional methods stay intact, like books which have not become irrelevant or never will be, but they are supplemented by E-books, documents, pen drives and presentations.

Technology in schools –

Most schools nowadays have started inculcating technologically advanced methods of teaching like presentations and smart boards, E-documents, and recorded lectures. Earlier, students used to hand write thousands of pages and needed to have multiple physical books, now sharing information, especially with the abundance of it has become so much easier with documents and emails.

Why is technology so imperative for teaching secondary students now?

In the secondary years of school in India, especially in the last three years of schools, education becomes complex, subjects become loaded and information becomes intense. Every subject requires to be taught differently and grasped differently.

Here are a few reasons of why technology is an important tool to leverage to teach secondary students.

1.        Makes teaching easier

Earlier, teachers used to carry a hundred files and books to class each day, check written papers, write on chalk boards, and white boards, teach using black and white charts and maps. With technology like videos, 3D diagrams, podcasts, RSS Feeds, teachers can explain better with the aids, Even the correction of papers which is a very tedious task seeks a little aid because of technology.

2.        Makes learning fun

No matter how much someone enjoys reading, subjects get difficult to grasp just by one method after a while. Colourful informed content, comprehensible videos, even from YouTube, podcasts, animations, pictures etc make learning a lot more fun and interesting, even more comprehensible. For example, if in Geography students are taught about some country, it is much more interesting actually to watch a documentary of the people from the region and how they live, eat, stay rather than just hearing about them.

3.        Technology caters to every kind of a learner

Every student is a different kind of learner. Some students are auditory learners who learn better by listening, some visual by reading or seeing, some prefer movement. Technology suits every student’s learning needs which is a very important prerequisite of making education equally accessible for all.

4.        Saving paper

Thanks to internet and technology, a lot of work can be done online or on the computer which in turn saves paper, and trees. Ultimately, technology is an aid to make the teaching and learning process much easier.