By: Dr. Anita Shukla,
Academic Head, Sunbeam English School, Varanasi, UP.
How technology can impact Educators life
Technology within the classroom does have plenty of promise: it enables customized, mastery-based learning, it saves educators time, and it equips kids with the digital skills they’ll need in 21st-century jobs. Controlled pilot studies have proven that individualized blended learning improves student outcomes significantly. Education technology has become a lifeline for the continuance of learning during the time of School closures and remote study.
The profession of teaching is struggling. As student requirements become more complicated and administrative and paperwork loads increase, educators’ working hours are increasing. in step with a recent McKinsey survey performed together with Microsoft, educators work a median of fifty hours per week — a figure that, in line with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development Teaching and Learning International Survey, has surged by 3% over the last five years.
According to researchers, 20 to 40% of current educator hours are spent on activities that would be automated utilizing existing technology. That corresponds to roughly 13 hours per week that educators can devote to activities that cause improved student outcomes and teacher satisfaction. Further technological advancements can raise this number and cause changes in classroom structure and learning modalities, but they’re unlikely to exchange teachers soon. Many of the qualities that distinguish educators are people who AI or other technology cannot duplicate: inspiring students, creating positive school and sophistication climates, settling disputes, creating a deep connection and belonging, seeing the world through the eyes of individual students, and mentoring and training students. These are the foremost important aspects of a teacher’s job, and that they can’t — and should not — be automated.
The pursuit of harnessing the power of technology
The question now is, how are we going to harness the power of technology in our classrooms? The good thing about this narrative is that it isn’t about technology that we haven’t yet invented. It won’t be necessary for AI systems to pass the Turing test. Adoption of existing education technology, on the other hand, is frequently the key to obtaining significant time savings for teachers. Bringing the average school to the level of the most basic would have a significant impact. This isn’t a simple task, though. It will take dedication from a wide range of stakeholders, including governments, school leaders, technology corporations, and, of course, teachers and students. As schools begin to wisely use technology, four imperatives stand out: target investment, start with easy solutions, share what’s working, and build teacher and school-leader capacity to harness technology effectively.
