By Lovi Raj Gupta, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Head Lovely Faculty of Technology and Sciences at Lovely Professional University
Technology-enabled learning refers to the use of technology, networks, systems, and digital material to expand, improve, and promote student-centered learning and education. Historically, technology has been used in educational institutions largely to assist traditional ways of teaching and learning. However, today’s educational system requires education that puts expertise to use, analyses it, creates new knowledge, and integrates it. A new era in education is already here, one in which technology plays a critical role in improving the teaching-learning environment for students and instructors alike. Students nowadays are more tech-savvy than it has ever been, and they deal with technology rigorously in various forms.
Technology has always played an important and significant part in the teaching-learning process. It has fourfold participation, where one can include and embed technology into any academic process or create an engaging and enticing instructional learning framework.
The First fold – Technology broadens an individual’s reach while going through the frameworks of searches that are accessible, whether in the form of Google search or any other search engine. When we search for a topic or subtopic, we obtain several sites and links that represent the opinions and knowledge of diverse people on the subject. For example, if a theorem or a postulate is sought, visible ideas from numerous renowned teachers, academics, and industry professionals on the particular theorem or postulate broaden the reach.
The Second Fold- Technology is crucial in making the teaching and learning process more engaging and interesting. With all of those animations and graphics, it is clear that ed tech has advanced to a greater degree in supporting its role in school education, elementary, secondary, and senior secondary education. Graphics have evolved into a new method of introducing creative concepts to individuals in the educational system.
The Third Fold- One can use technology to archive all of our learning and refer to anyone’s archive in a jiffy. As a result, there is no need to cram, recall, or mug the knowledge because it is easily accessible. This has made the entire process smoother, and anything and everything have become more feasible.
The Fourth Fold- With the use of technology in the teaching and learning process, interaction has gotten more particular, but it has also grown more comprehensive for any type of engagement, idea development, and practical or experiential learning. With so many simulators accessible, there is a multitude of content that can be explored.
So, with all these four folds, the spectrum has become wider and the engagement is quite deeper than usual. We are aware that each kid learns at a different pace, which can be tough in a typical classroom setting. Children may now abide by their learning patterns thanks to technological advancements in schooling. Individuals who require more time can go through the activities until they thoroughly understand them, whilst students who require less assistance can continue. It also gives the teacher more time to provide specialised support to individuals who need it.
When it comes to generative pre-trained language models, it’s a case of a glass half full and glass half empty. When these generative language models enter the scene, a student can acquire answers to all of their questions in seconds, but it will always dismay an individual’s originality and exploration. Individuals’ explorative skill has decreased since searches became prominent in the early 2000s. With the advent of technologies like ChatGPT, Bard, or any other language model paradigm, care must be taken to avoid losing the explorative nature and basic inventiveness.
Children are surrounded by technology from a young age and are most at ease with it. Several ed-tech companies are stressing the themes of gamification and interaction in order to keep students interested. Technology is required to succeed in the real world. Technology in education does not always imply that teachers will be replaced. One of the vocations least likely to be automated is teaching. Technology, on the other hand, has the ability to revolutionise how students and teachers interact and improve the learning experience when utilised as a tool to increase learning and teaching.