Advancement in technology has revolutionized almost every aspect of our daily lives. Perhaps its most profound impact is in the education field. Emergent technologies like virtual reality, educational apps, and online classrooms have not only made archaic methods like “chalk and tall” redundant, but have quickened the rate at which students absorb new knowledge.
Here’s an in depth look into how technology is shaping the future of education:
Virtual reality in medical schools
Using cadavers for teaching anatomy has been a medical school norm for generations. Thanks to virtual reality, this trend’s longevity might soon be threatened. Cadaver use comes with significant grey area and has been a controversial and hotly debated topic in medical circles. Virtual and augmented reality applications offer a perfect alternative for this ethical conundrum, provided that cadavers can continue to be used for a few more years until the aforementioned technologies reach their peak. Nonetheless, it’s a promising start with even more promising potential ahead.
Harnessing the power of the internet
A moderated, fast, and secure Wi-Fi connection in the classroom can make a huge difference for students and teachers alike. It puts reference and research materials right at their fingertips in the form of blogs, achieves, videos, and eBooks. Even more incredible is that it provides access to material that would otherwise be inaccessible due to rarities of a specimen, lack of availability, and geographic limitations.
Video conferencing for more interactive learning
Before internet access was widespread, students in distant countries couldn’t even imagine interacting with peers on the other side of the world. Thanks to the development of collaborative video conferencing tools, this has become an everyday occurrence! Imagine a class of biology students in Iceland having a live Q&A session with Nobel Prize-winning American biologist James Watson, with neither of them crossing the continental divide. Invaluable video conference sessions such as this can be recorded and stored to continue benefiting future students. Video conferencing holds multiple benefits by cutting costs and fostering interactions between parents, teachers, students, and peers.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence personifies how technology is shaping the future of education. Though still very early in its development, and not nearly ready to replace real professors and lecturers, artificial intelligence has already played a significant role in enhancing and streamlining tasks such as grading quizzes and collecting homework assignments.
There are a number of digital courses that utilize AI at their core in order to observe student behavioral patterns and plot the course accordingly. This phenomenon is known as “smart content”. Smart content can be utilized in conjunction with a textbook to segment information into more appealing formats, adding in summaries and visual aids when needed, and awarding milestone achievements to keep students enticed and absorbed.
Technology’s role in shaping education’s future is truly fascinating, with breakthroughs and innovations popping up every day. Whether it’s developments in enterprise software, virtual reality, or artificial intelligence, it wouldn’t be far fetched to claim that technology’s impact on education might soon become an autonomous subject due to its diversity, vastness, and unexplored potential.
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Mia Clarke is part of the content and community team at Userful.com, experts in all things video wall and display solutions. When Mia is not spreading the word about video walls she is often found discovering the great outdoors, walking or cycling.
