There’s no denying that edtech has come a long way since the beginning of last year. There’s been an irrefutable shift in culture and the use of technology in schools has rapidly increased during what has been a challenging, complex and unpredictable time for educators and students. The increased use of edtech has given schools more perspective and a chance to review more traditional teaching and learning practices, and subsequently develop a more inclusive approach.
The facilities and strategies put in place during the pandemic have laid strong foundations for learning in the future, and the importance of future-proofing has become more apparent than ever. Schools have invested extensive time and effort into upgrading their use of EdTech and embedding it within their schools, and it’s therefore vital to ensure these efforts have not been in vain. Having well-established home-learning practices is now a no-brainer.
Post-pandemic it’s essential that we understand what really works for schools, and how technology can support and enhance teaching and learning outcomes. Promethean’s sixth State of Technology in Education Report asked educators from across the country to share their experiences and comment on their schools’ priorities. The results showed that attitudes towards tech use in the classroom remain consistently positive, with 77 percent believing that edtech is a great way to engage students, and 76 percent saying it enables them to do their job better. Following the last eighteen months, 95 percent believe they are better equipped for distance learning when needed. When asked about the biggest trends in the future of edtech, 61 percent said that online content and resources will see the biggest growth in the future.
The silver lining…
The silver lining of the pandemic has been an accelerated use of technology as well as more ‘out of the box’ thinking; schools have had no choice but to get on board. It’s clear that teachers need to work smarter and not necessarily harder. Educators are as always increasingly time pressured with workloads on the rise and budgets being increasingly stretched. At the heart of education during the pandemic, teachers have been fundamentally instrumental in maintaining children’s motivation and boosting their morale.
Another silver lining has come in the form of increased parental engagement. While it can take some adjusting, edtech can be incredibly effective in giving parents more confidence to support their children with learning. We’ve also seen increased parent communication with teachers and more collaboration among teaching colleagues.
Promethean is committed to investing in its development to ensure schools can access the very best experience in line with their needs and priorities. Using over 20 years of experience working with the education sector, Promethean designed the award-winning ActivPanel Elements Series to deliver innovation and ease-of-use that matters to teachers and students. The ActivPanel is purpose-built to make teaching more efficient and enjoyable while enriching student learning experiences. The intuitive Unified Menu makes access to the most commonly used tools quick and easy, allowing teachers to smoothly navigate and support learning in the moment.
Teachers also benefit from the Promethean Locker, the single ‘go to’ place for their favourite apps. The ActivPanel can be used in collaboration with a range of inclusive classroom devices such as tablets and laptops for functionality such as device mirroring or activities such as quizzes that require class participation and provide instant assessment. Multi-device mirroring allows teachers to move more freely and teach from anywhere in the classroom and observe different students and understand their needs better. The ActivPanel Series comes with a choice of software supplied free as standard, including ActivInspire and ClassFlow.
Designed by teachers, for teachers, award-winning ActivInspire software can be used to create and deliver lessons that are interactive, engaging and geared for breakthrough moments. Teachers can seamlessly leverage and enhance existing content and resources and respond to student insights in real time. The ActivInspire Screen Recorder enables teachers to record lessons being delivered on the ActivPanel in class and share with students away from school. If a teacher is away from the ActivPanel because they are working at home, they can use ActivInspire on their laptop to share lessons, saving them time and duplication of effort. They can record their voice and actions on the screen and talk to their students through the key learning points as if they were in the classroom with them. ClassFlow is a cloud-based teaching software that delivers real-time interaction for remote and hybrid learning with advanced collaboration tools for student engagement. These software solutions help provide more inclusive opportunities for less confident students and give students positive recognition. Seeing questions visually can also be hugely beneficial to some students.
Allowing teachers to plan for the future…
It’s time to solidify edtech practices and embrace them as an enabler for teacher support, student engagement and personalised learning.
The pandemic has taught us that preparation is key and having an infrastructure in place that allows for remote or hybrid learning when needed, is a crucial cog in any educational strategy. Ultimately, EdTech is about what it can do to support teachers in their vital and irreplaceable role. We should not forget the lessons learned during the pandemic and instead we should use these as leverage to create real change. Moving forwards we need to find a way of continuing to use EdTech to complement in-class learning in order to enhance teaching and learning, and in turn create the best outcomes for students.
We now have a teaching workforce that are fast becoming experts in EdTech with more knowledge, skills and understanding than they have ever had previously. Educators have embraced change and evolved during a challenging time, and this evolution has laid a promising foundation for a stronger and more robust education system.
To learn more about the trends identified in the Promethean State of Technology in Education UKI Report 2021/2022, please visit stateofed.tech.