Classroom technology has evolved out of all recognition, yet the biggest changes are yet to come
The last two decades have seen a revolution in the way technology is used in the classroom. We’ve moved from a world where a handful of computers might have been found in a school’s computer lab to one where ICT suites and interactive whiteboards became a fixture of every school - and now to a world where fleets of laptops and tablets are used by many students throughout the school day.
The pace of change has been extraordinary, but there are no signs that it’s slowing up. A new generation of devices allied with new software and services and shifts in pedagogy will only see further transformations on the shape of classroom tech.
While ICT suites promoted the teaching of basic ICT skills in school, interactive whiteboards and laptops had an even bigger impact, transforming technology from a subject area to a tool that could help primary age students with literacy and numeracy, support history, geography and science lessons, or help young people get to grips with a world of digital media.
Combined with the internet, online resources and Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), technology revolutionised education as a whole.
Things have changed again since 2010, not just because of a change in government that has seen major changes to the ICT curriculum and the promotion of computing skills in schools, but because classroom technology is changing to reflect the devices and services being used in business and the home.
The debut of Apple’s iPad was as much a watershed for schools as for the business and the home, as schools rushed to explore the clear potential of a simpler, more personal, highly versatile computer and a library of education-friendly apps.
Behind the iPad has come a wave of Android and Windows tablets and convertibles, while Google’s Chromebooks have given schools a low-cost alternative to Windows laptops, hooked in to a world of cloud-based services, learning resources and free web-based apps.
Mobile technology has entered the classroom in style – and it’s shaking up the way we teach and learn.
Rise of mobility
“I think that for certain, mobility is taking over” says Gus Schmedlen, HP Vice President of Worldwide Education, “especially in the mature or developed markets, where broadband availability and streaming availability are pretty pervasive.”
For Schmedlen and HP, mobile devices play a critical role in preparing students for a world where every industry is being disrupted by technology, and where the most important skill a school can teach is learning itself.
Backed up by cloud services and effective, easy-to-use management tools, they can make transform the way technology is used in the classroom, and help teachers improve outcomes in a tangible way.
HP’s latest mobile devices, including its Education Edition tablets and ProBook laptops, provide them with total access to learning, and can be better tailored to the way that individual students learn.
For primary school students, this might mean working with a stylus to practice handwriting or basic maths skills. For secondary school students, HP’s partnership with Pasco turns its tablets into effective scientific instruments, where you can attach over 70 sensors to a tablet and see the incoming data live on the screen.
The potential to engage students in exciting, practical science lessons should be clear.
Economies of scale and cost reductions are also enabling more schools to look at 1:1 access schemes, where every student in specific years, or even across the whole school, is provisioned with their own tablet, Chromebook or laptop.
This doesn’t just impact what and how students learn, but where. “1:1 is a reality now, when you look at the cost of these devices” says Steve Beswick, Director of Education, Microsoft UK. “You’ll get to a point where anytime, anywhere learning really can happen.”
For Beswick, though, it’s not just about having the devices, but about the way devices integrate with services and applications through the cloud.
“It’s no point having 1:1 if it’s all disparate. You’ve got to handle it all in a seamless way. It has to be so that what Johnny does at home he can access from school, and what Johnny does at school he can access from home.”
Beswick describes how, at Bett 2015, teachers using Windows mobile devices on the showfloor were able to use OneNote and Office 365 to set tasks for students back at school, then receive work and feedback from the classroom in real-time while still at the show.
Both with Microsoft’s cloud services and Google’s flexible, integrated platforms are making for a dynamic and engaging environment for teaching.
Liz Sproat, Head of Education, EMEA for Google, cites the take-up of Google Apps for Education and Google Classroom in UK schools, and how the new Google Play for Education initiative should drive more teachers to take advantage of mobile tech.
“We see more schools using this technology to improve learning” she says, “and really benefitting from the advantages it can bring. This is my second Bett at Google, and already the level of the conversation is getting much more involved.”
Mobile technology also supports new blended approaches to learning. At Bett 2015, HP talked of Blended Reality, where students might use text books imprinted with a watermark that could trigger supporting video or audio materials on a tablet or smartphone.
“If a student is trying to learn Pythagorean theorem and they’re confused about what it means, they can take their mobile device, put it over the Pythagorean theorem and see a video about it and why it works” Gus Schmedlen told us. “What we’re trying to do is increase the number of modalities that a student uses to learn one learning objective.”
HP isn’t alone in this endeavour. Across the Bett 2015 showfloor we witnessed innovative approaches that combine digital content with real-world materials to engage students and improve learning.
Whether using 2D or 3D scanners with large-screen interactive displays, using 3D printers to bring digital objects into real-world forms, or combining computer science with chemistry or robotics, developers and teachers are finding new ways to mix the best of ICT with the best of more traditional pedagogy.
Large-format interactive displays and holographic screens, like HP’s ingenious zVR series displays, give educators powerful new tools to teach with, yet still give them scope to put their own knowledge, experience and enthusiasm to good use.
Cloudy thinking
Meanwhile, new cloud-based communications and telepresence platforms are enabling more collaborative approaches to learning, not just within the class or between classrooms in the same school, but across schools in the same area – or even different countries.
What’s more, the way we interact with technology is changing. Voice recognition, natural user interfaces and innovative PC systems like the HP Sprout all have obvious classroom applications.
All this new technology will pose challenges for teachers. “I think it introduces a new digital divide” says Microsoft’s Steve Beswick, “between the teachers who get it, in terms of how to teach using technology, and want to drive that forward, and those who don’t. There will still be some who don’t get it, and that’s not good, but we will help those who want to cross the chasm and join the teachers who do.”
For all the applications of this new mobile technology, we can’t forget more basic skills. HP’s Gus Schmedlen believes that laptops such as the new £179 HP Stream 11 Pro (above) still have a major role to play in education, because as long as students need to create a lot of content, a keyboard will still be an essential.
Gemma Harris, from St Cuthbert and Matthias School, London, agrees. “If the children are just using iPads, then they lose the skill of being able to use a PC. Employers are telling us as teachers that they need people who can use a PC and Windows, and while tablets are fine, we still need to make sure that children learn all the basic skills of computing and using a mouse.”
We live in an era of unprecedented, accelerated change, where the technology being used by young people outside the classroom evolves at a rate that leaves those of us who aren’t digital natives struggling to maintain the pace.
Yet if we can take advantage of the latest classroom technology, we can do a better job of preparing students for the world outside. The financial barriers are breaking down and there’s help on offer for training and development.
Source | http://www.pcpro.co.uk/
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