We Have The Educational Technology – But Do We Have The Knowledge And Confidence To Use It Properly?
More schools than ever are incorporating sophisticated technology into their classrooms – yet as Elise Rappoport finds out, it’s often the case that teachers need more training and support before being able to use them effectively… Digital learning is an inherent part of the educational system; whether that’s schools providing pupils with tablets or laptops, […]
More schools than ever are incorporating sophisticated technology into their classrooms – yet as Elise Rappoport finds out, it’s often the case that teachers need more training and support before being able to use them effectively…
Digital learning is an inherent part of the educational system; whether that’s schools providing pupils with tablets or laptops, or students bringing their own devices (‘BYOD’) into the learning environment. Technology analyst Gartner recently values the educational tech market at almost £17.5 billion.
Yet while the rise of the ‘digital classroom’ has created new methods of engaging the younger generation – such as the ‘flipped classroom’, in which students view content or carry out research in advance to discuss collectively in their lesson – there is still a huge gap between how the most technologically advanced schools are educating children and those yet to embrace digital learning.
Beyond education
The importance of technology in the classroom goes way beyond education. In October, the mobile network O2 predicted that the UK will need 2.287 million digitally skilled workers by 2020 to satisfy the country’s potential. New research by Sahara Presentation Systems Plc, a leading distributor and manufacturer of educational technology, indicates that teachers and lecturers do not have enough training or support when it comes to using and integrating the most prevalent technologies in schools, colleges and universities around the UK.
The study, which polled 500 primary and secondary teachers as well as lecturers working in higher education, identified the devices and software being used to educate Britain and uncovered their impact in educational settings.
On the move
Given that 90% of 8-14 year olds and half (52%) of 0-10 year olds own a mobile device according to a 2014 Broadband Choices survey, mobile tech seems a logical place to start.
The majority of schools surveyed use tablet technology as part of their classroom experience. The iPad was found to be the most popular tablet device, with some 44% of teachers and lecturers using them in class, followed by the Microsoft Surface.
However, nearly a quarter (24%) of educators stated that they didn’t use tablet devices at all during lessons – and even among those who did, there seemed to be an overwhelming sense that were aren’t being properly integrated into the curriculum, with only 5% rating the integration of devices they’d seen as ‘excellent’.
Inadequate training
Interactive front-of-class displays are another popular tool in digital classrooms, with only a quarter of those teachers and lecturers polled claiming not to use them. When asked how well they felt interactive displays were being integrated into the curriculum, only 19.5 % thought their school or college had done a good job, suggesting definite room for improvement.
One of the key barriers to intuitive digital education is confidence. 69.2% of the teachers and lecturers surveyed said they had not received adequate training in using tablet devices. 61.7% said the same of front-of-class displays, suggesting they’re unsure as to how to use them to maximum effect.
“Part of the issue here is that we are so familiar with these devices in everyday life,’ comments Shaun Marklew, Sales and Marketing Director for Clevertouch Interactive Touchscreens [http://clevertouch.co.uk/], ‘so many schools assume that their workforce will automatically know how to apply them in optimal ways – which isn’t the case in the educational market.”
Content issues
It’s not just digital hardware that’s grown in popularity in recent years. Apps are also now much more widely used, with 41.1% of British teachers and lecturers currently employing apps to support learning, with the iTunes App Store, Google Play for Education and Amazon the top three most popular sources.
Of those polled, their trust in apps generally lay in whether or not the apps and their content were free to use, with free apps more likely to contain advertising or in-app purchases that could prove to be distractions in class.
Clevertouch has made an effort to tackle precisely this by launching its own curated app store, which contains only educational apps without any in-app purchases or built-in advertising. As a result, we may well see commercial app stores come under increasing pressure to reduce the cost of educational apps and increase the standard of those that are free to use.
Interestingly, 43.5% of teachers and lecturers noticed increased activity within the classroom, and 42% better engagement of children in a subject, when apps were used. However, fewer teachers and lecturers are aware of the time saving benefit that apps can have on their own productivity. With ATL figures from April last year revealing that almost 4 in 10 newly qualified teachers will quit before completing a year in the classroom, increasing training that helps teachers to plan and deliver lessons more efficiently could encourage more to stick with the profession.
Future investment
Of course, training is an added cost associated with building a digital classroom, but the good news is that many schools recognise the need to prioritise digital resources, with the technology gap closing as a result. Today, 51% of teachers and lecturers feel that their employers are dedicating sufficient budget to digital tools – though a third still feel their establishments aren’t putting enough resources into educational technology.
Failure to sufficiently invest in digital learning will not just lead to under-resourced schools falling behind their technology-forward counterparts; it will also also have an impact the development of pupils’ skills and the career opportunities available to them.
The research also highlighted an apparent imbalance in the distribution of budgets across the educational spectrum. Key Stage 1 was identified as worst serviced educational level for apps – ironic, considering these children will have grown up alongside the growth of the app economy. Overall, the results point to a lack of understanding in the way that apps for this age group can be used to promote learning in the first two years of school
Classroom technology has the power to create a more level playing field, particularly when it comes to students with learning difficulties such as dyslexia, supporting new teaching pedagogies, or, as recent research by the OECD identified, helping to extend pupils’ knowledge beyond what they can access from a book.
In other respects, the survey is encouraging. It shows that technology is breaking new ground in education, and that the benefits far outweigh the negatives. However, it appears that schools and colleges still need to take significant steps towards effectively integrating technology into the curriculum. Enhancing the role of technology in education relies on investment in training for teaching staff, so that interactivity can be made an intuitive part of the learning experience. By taking steps towards achieving this goal, schools can increase the mental connections and digital skillset of the next generation as they learn, which will better equip them for later life.
The full report can be downloaded from the Sahara Presentation Systems website via www.saharaplc.com/whitepapers
