What is EdTech - A Language All Students Should Know

What is the definition of EdTech?

Education Technology (also known as “EdTech”) refers to an area of technology devoted to the development and application of tools (including software, hardware, and processes) intended to promote education. It encompasses everything from the simple use of computers to teach maths and reading to children in schools, to the submission of homework online, entire online degree platforms, informal mobile learning applications, gamification or virtual reality techniques. For example, one of the most transformative edtech devices is in virtually every classroom. Interactive displays offer huge potential. Computeam and Promethean are working together to ensure that teachers can get everything from this powerful and flexible classroom centerpiece.

Benefits To Students

Engagement will improve

Smart learning software will offer lesson plans customised to each student’s specific needs. More engaging materials will promise to further improve outcomes.The integration of interactive software, gamification, mobile casual and informal learning apps and peer-to-peer learning platforms are all making content increasingly immersive and accessible;designed to not only attract students but also keep them engaged.

We work closely with our partners Promethean on providing schools with the most up to date advanced interactive screens that provide powerful lesson delivery and keep students engaged to a high level!

Progress will be more measurable

A large benefit  of smart learning software such as Go Formative is the ability to analyse data and monitor in real time giving teachers access to more specific and extensive insights into the achievements and progress of individual students. Go Formative is a free tool that allows teachers to create an assessment, assign it to students, receive live results, and give feedback in real time—literally as soon as students post their responses. It also has elements of a learning management system with features enabling educators to upload documents, videos, images, etc. for students to access. Not only can this help bridge any knowledge gaps, but this information can continue to be called upon throughout an individual’s academic and professional life. 

Learning becomes truly lifelong

EdTech isn’t something that stops once students leave the classroom. Access to connectivity and the huge range of access devices means that learning is available formally and informally at any time The incredible success of  services such as the Open University ‘Open Learn’ platform (http://www.open.edu/openlearn/)  have transformed access to learning. Education technology has been the medium through which this transformation has occurred and delivered, starting with key, core skills at primary through to lifelong access to learning.. Technology is continually advancing so preparing children at the start of their education will make growing up in this ever changing environment, that much easier.

Developing the EdTech Classroom?

Just as technology has disrupted and improved most sectors of our economy and lives, education and training are also undergoing a tech revolution. EdTech is mostly technology that is in mainstream use in other areas, carefully deployed in classrooms to enhance learning or do things that even a few years ago were too expensive or impossible to do. For example, using the simple free (to schools) app, TouchCast, pupils can use an ipad to create a full tv programme complete with titles, scripts, an autocue and even live green screen. The educational benefits of this are enormous. Yes, pupils learn to use techno9logy productively, but also have to have to produce scripts, communicate clearly (visually, in writing and speaking) and work together to deliver the project. In the hands of good teachers, these tools are invaluable and the technology almost becomes invisible, delivering learning across a range of subjects and key skills. True edtech gold. Partner that approach with the enormous capabilities of an ultraHD promethean touchscreen and the we begin to see the ideal edtech ecosystem coming together. Computeam are expert in creating and maintaining a rich edtech mediated learning environment and our ‘Engage’ packages can help you achieve amazing results in this way.

Pupils have access to a huge range of technology outside the classroom and ensuring that EdTech is mainstreamed in the classroom will ensure a much stronger link between the use of technology at home and in our personal lives and ultimately, in work.

Extra Benefits Of EdTech

EdTech isn’t just something to benefit the students, by changing the traditional architecture of education, EdTech also has the power to create efficiencies, cut costs and enable new levels of standardisation and democratised access.

By saving on educational or training budgets in this way, more money can then be allocated to educational elements such as smart learning software which provides tailored lesson plans, or innovative digital content such as engaging video materials which will improve outcomes.

The Importance Of EdTech

The knowledge economy that we invest in for our children via the schools system and right through to higher education and ongoing, professional development and training is a fundamental support to the rest of our economic lives. It is set to transform the future of how education is resourced, taught, consumed and, ultimately, the results that it can then yield – both for the individual and for society as a whole as we continue to build the knowledge economy.

If developed and applied correctly, educational technology has the potential to become truly industry-changing for educators–streamlining time-consuming processes (like lesson planning, reporting, and record-keeping) and simplifying communication–with even farther-reaching implications for educational institutions themselves.

At Computeam we have several EdTech packages as part of our Computeam Engage offering that are affordable and suited to each schools individual needs. We want schools everywhere to be able to afford and use EdTech to it’s best ability and that’s why we work with schools closely to determine exactly what they want to get out of having the equipment and services.

See more about Computeam Engage here.