Matteo Zanfanti
Staff reporter
School has changed in several respects, during the last decades, and has adapted to what is now the way of life of the new generations, which is mostly based on the technology. That is not only about the increasing use of the smartphones, but also about any other electronic device that changed and improved our way to get information and learn new things.
In Canada, technology has been introduced in schools since 1980s, and in 1999, the first “Schoolnet” program was established, connecting 16,000 students to the Internet. In 1981, only 18 percent of schools in USA had computers; in 1991, 98 percent had them. This gives an idea of how rapid this digitization process has been.
Obviously, this technological revolution has led to significant improvements in the speed and quality of students learning, and simplified teacher’s work in some respects. On the other hand, however, there are negative aspects as well. Sometimes people say that new generation do not learn grammar properly anymore, for example, or they cannot write a handwritten text in cursive. Impossible to deny, however, that the ability to do research on the internet about anything, and to be able to go considerably deeper into a topic, are a great improvement in modern schooling.
Now technology has been introduced in almost any school in Canada, and is used to teach any subject, students would find boring a lesson based on just reading a book or writing on a paper, and the best way to make them more interested, is to take advantage of the technology they use every day. So, they feel more involved in what they are studying and learning. Thanks to technology students can also make up topics missed in class, looking at the material that the teacher can upload on Teams, or any other website used by him or her.
Technology does not mean simply the use of computers during class or to do homework, but it improved the school services as well, a clear example is the school website, thanks to which students can always be informed about news concerning the school.
Technology is constantly evolving, and schools will still change in the future, always trying to be as modern as possible, to provide students with the best learning opportunities.
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