Technology is going to allow students of all ages the ability to get a much different education
The days of the one room schoolhouse are over. There is no need for kids to be grouped together to get their education. It is now possible for kids to experience a learning environment that will help them achieve much more than in the past.
There are more schools than ever before and people are able to pursue higher levels of education as a result. With the help of technology, students around the world can gain even more access to education. That education will be very different from what they used to get in the one room schoolhouse.
Education in the past was often subjective
Schools used to be very isolated. They served a single community. That resulted in a limited education. The things people learned were often biased. They would include the facts and information that was important to the community the school was at.
In the United States, a student learning history in the North would often get a different view of the Civil War than a student learning about it in the South would. The dates and names would be the same, but the reasons behind things that happened would often be skewed in a different way.
This may not have been a big problem a century ago. The world was a very isolated place. Businesses operated in the community they were based in and there were not very many companies that would be considered multinational. In today’s world, the borders that separated countries save started to disappear. Thanks to technology, it is possible to communicate with people around the world in real time. That interaction is changing the way that people are getting their education.
(Next page: Technology doesn’t isolate-it connects)
Technology as a common thread
With tools such as UberConference free conference call service, it becomes possible for people to have face to face interactions in the classrooms, even if they are in two different parts of the world. It can allow students from one part of the world to provide their perspective on a topic so that others can see a different viewpoint of the same topic. This will expand the knowledge of the people that are in the classroom. It will allow them to open up their minds more and it may help them understand things in a different way.
Imagine a classroom learning a foreign language. An English class may be able to conduct a conference call with a class in Japan. It provides many different opportunities. The students will get to hear the foreign language being spoken and used in normal conversations. They may learn not only about the language they are hearing, but what people in that culture are like and what their lives are like. This visual aspect is a much better learning tool than memorizing things that are read in a book.
Many people think that technology will reduce the ability of people to communicate in the future. They worry that texting and emails are impersonal and people are losing the ability to talk with others face to face. The use of video conferencing in the classroom will have the opposite effect. It will teach people how to communicate with others despite any language or cultural barriers that may exist.
It is not perfect
Technology is not perfect for every classroom when it comes to communicating globally. There are several barriers that make it difficult for some educational institutions to take advantage of what technology can offer.
Time is the biggest barrier. It is often difficult to schedule the meeting of two or more classrooms in different parts of the world because of the time differences in the countries. This can be overcome with planning and scheduling.
The access to technology is a much bigger barrier. Not every country can afford the technology that is needed to share education with other countries. It is very important that the countries that do not have the technology are given the access to it in some way. It will not only benefit the countries that are receiving the technology, it will also benefit the people that will now be able to interact with the whole world.
Technology is going to allow students of all ages the ability to get a much different education. They will be taught that the world is a big place, but with a little help from technology, it can actually become much smaller. Students will have the chance to be more open minded about the events that have shaped the world and they will be able to use this knowledge to help them build businesses and to solve problems around the world in the future.
Students are the future of the world and they deserve the best education that they can get. Having access to a global education is one way to make that happen.
John Reiley is a senior business analyst currently residing in NYC. He has been helping business owners plan their strategy for success since 2005. He can be reached on GooglePlus.
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