We are in a modern era where technology seems to be advancing quickly; some see a bright, new future in education because of technology, Digitaltechlife.com (2013) stated “the younger you are right now, the more likely you feel comfortable with technology and look forward to future changes it brings”.What would this mean for teachers and parents of today?
Do teachers and parents alike look at technology differently to how children look at it?
These are questions that some of us are asking, with the new generations that are born into this age of touch screens, internet and social networking.
The Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference in 2010 expressed this concern and
hastily came to the conclusion: “While today's teachers use the internet for information, today's children use the internet for gathering”. However if teachers and pupils learn to use new and emerging technology together and correctly it can be a useful tool.
With teaching younger generations, the teacher is needed to motivate and encourage pupils learning; which, when used correctly learning can be enhanced via the technology available today.
Spencer, J. (2012) had mentioned in his book "Can you teach without technology" ‘At this stage, technology isn't truly transformative. It's simply a faster way to do much of what we would already be doing.’ Which is very true; before pupils had to look through books (spending a considerate amount of time searching for a answer to their questions) however now with a simple Google search the answer to their questions can be found within seconds. The same question is answered, however technology gives easier access. This is the digital age, it is today that we are living in, why not embrace the technology available.
If schools are to prepare pupils for their lives to come, there is no use hiding technology away from our pupils; it is important to get pupils to use technology. What we should be teaching the younger generations is how to use the technology of today appropriately.
