Roles and functions of educational

technology in the 21st century

The term “21st century” has become the central part of educational thinking and planning for the future. Administrators and Teachers are actively searching for ways to prepare students for the future, and the educational system has been evolving faster than ever before. Creating a 21st century education system is about making sure that all students are prepared to succeed in a competitive world – a world with plenty of opportunities for highly skilled individuals and limited options for everyone else.

Globalization has opened up the world and allowed people to connect in new and exciting ways. We blend traditions and create unique belief systems and also transmit our values and cultures without the expectation of them being adopted by our audience. As always, at its core, the role of education is to prepare students to become active, successful, and contributing members of society.

Instruction should be student-centeredInstead of passively receiving information, the students would gather information on their own, under the guidance of their teacher. Different learning styles are encouraged, and students have an enhanced sense of motivation and responsibility. They engage in many different types of hands-on activities, as well as demonstrate learning in many different ways. Learning is about discovery, not the memorization of facts.

In order to prepare students to play their role in the 21st century society we are a part of, the following can be considered when deciding how education will look in our schools and classrooms.

Education should be collaborativeStudents must learn how to collaborative with others. Students should be encouraged to work together to discover information, piece it together, and construct meaning and should learn how to recognize the different strengths and talents each person can bring to a project, and change roles depending on those attributes. Schools should also be collaborating with other educational institutions around the world to share information and learn about different practices or methods that have been developed.

Learning should have context

Students are encouraged to learn in different ways, the teacher still provides guidance as to the skills that need to be acquired. The teacher can make a pint of helping students to understand how the skills they are building can be applied in their lives. Students will be so much motivated to learn something that they can se the value in. We need to take a more general approach and teach them the skills that they are useful in any situation.

Technology is a tool, a way for fact-based learning and allows students to do a lot of the research using the internet and various tools. The Role of Technology in 21st Century Learning:

1. Technology allows for24/7 access to information2. Constant social interaction, and3. Easily created and shared digital content.

It is important for our students to learn in a global classroom, acknowledging that the classroom extends beyond the physical walls. Our students are more inclined to find information by accessing the internet though cellphones and computers or chatting with friends on a social networking site. As our digital capacity expands and our training in technology grows, teachers will begin to utilize technology to better meet the needs and interests of students though technology application and instruction.

There is a call for action to integrate technology as a fundamental building block into education in three broad areas:

1. Use technology comprehensively to develop proficiency in 21st century skills.

Knowledge of core content is necessary, but no longer sufficient, for success in a competitive world. Used comprehensively, technology helps students develop 21st century skills.

2. Use technology comprehensively to support innovative teaching and learning.

To keep pace with a changing world, schools need to offer more rigorous, relevant and engaging opportunities for students to learn – and to apply their knowledge and skills in meaningful ways.

3. Use technology comprehensively to create robust education support systems.

To be effective in schools and classrooms, teachers and administrators need training, tools and proficiency in 21st century skills themselves.

Important functions of Educational Technology

1. Improvement of TeachingEducational Technology analyses the process of

teaching thoroughly. It tries to find out the different variables of teaching, their interlinks, effects upon each other, relationships, theories of teaching, phases of teaching principles of teaching and etc. By developing the theories of teaching, it helps in improving the quality of education.

2. Analyses of the Teaching- Learning ProcessEducational Technology aims to analyzing the

process of teaching-learning thoroughly. It tries to find out the different variables of teaching their interlinks effects upon each other, relationship etc.

3. Improvement of LearningEducational Technology analyses the process of learning and the related theories. It facilitates more and more of learning in less time. It takes the help of various empirically established generalizations from psychology, sociology, and etc.

4. Enhancing Goals of EducationThe objectives of education are being reviewed and revised with the passage of time. Educational Technology helps in finding out the right objectives.

5. Training to TeachersThe changed type of environment with new curriculum and new materials is to be handled by the teacher.

6. Development of CurriculumKeeping in view the objectives of education, which have been finalized by education technology thereafter, comes the question of developing right type of curriculum

7. Development of Teaching-Learning MaterialsTeaching-Learning materials are also as important as anything else in the teaching-learning process. They have to be in accordance with the environment of the learners.

8. Teaching-Learning StrategiesA strategy plays an important role in the hands of teacher in every teaching-learning situation. The strategy has to be the right one, which should be according to the materials and is able to bring about effective teaching learning.

9. Development of Audio-Visual AidsAudio-visual aids have always played an important role in the teaching-learning process. They need be used according to the times.

10. Help in Overall ImprovementEducational Technology helps in locating the problems in the different areas of education. It also helps in remedying the draw-backs.

11. Identification of Need of the CommunityEducational Technology identifies the needs of the community. It helps in providing equal education opportunities to backward people, disadvantaged students and deprived sections of the society.