As a Digital Entrepreneur, technology is a very big part of my life. It’s how I learn and it’s how I teach.
I find that kind of funny because I don’t really see myself as tech-savvy. I struggle with technology. It’s not second-nature to me.
Whenever I’m learning a new skill online that involves some new technological tool, a new piece of software or an app, I always go aaaargh first. Because it’s a battle for me to figure out how to use any new tech.
Sometimes, I don’t win the battle. If it’s taking too long to figure out how to use a piece of technology, I’ve been known to let that tool go and try another. But when I click (excuse the pun) with a new tech tool, when I get the knack of it, my life online gets a whole lot easier.
Get Your Scholarship
Today’s post is sponsored by Tech Live Connect, who are offering a $2500 Scholarship to High School students who have been accepted into College or University or students who are still studying at a College or University in the States.
Students have to write a 500-word essay on “How tech has impacted your life positively.” in order to be considered for the scholarship.
How Has Technology Impacted Education?
Taking their lead, in this post, I’ll explore how technology has impacted education.
I’m not going to speak from an Educator’s perspective, or the Education System’s – but from my own – as someone who’s learning, researching and teaching online. Because I don’t believe that education begins and ends at School or University. I believe it’s ongoing. We are continually learning, growing and developing.
It’s our thirst for knowledge, for growth that drives us to be more, do more and create more.
As the famous motivational speaker, Jim Rohn was fond of saying:
“Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.”
Information
Imagine this for a second. When I finished High School in 1990, Google didn’t exist (it only started in 1998). Neither did YouTube (1995), Amazon (1994) or Pinterest (2010).
Can you picture a world without any of these search engines?
A world where your only option was to either be taught from a textbook or go to a library to find a book or encyclopedia that contained the exact information you were seeking? (Wikipedia only started in 2001).
I lived and studied at that time and I can barely remember how we coped without the ability to research online.
Now we can get instant answers on a laptop, a tablet or our smartphones.
The speed and accuracy and sheer volume of information available at the stroke of a key, the touch of a button, the swipe of a mouse or via voice search, has grown exponentially in the last 30 years.
According to Analyst, Mike Doria, (though the Information Age is still evolving), we have now been catapulted into a new age, the Age of Innovation.
Innovation
When I started my first job as a Junior Copywriter in 1991, straight out of school, I wrote articles on WordPerfect – MS Word was around but it wasn’t the program of choice in those days.
Now almost everyone I know (including me) uses MS Word. Or some version of it. (Here’s how to get MS Word free). I used Libre Office for a while (Open Source Software) until I bought a new laptop and upgraded to Office 365.
Open Source has changed the game. So has Cloud Computing.
Innovation in technology makes learning much more freely available than it ever was before.
Thanks to all the new innovations in technology, you no longer have to physically be in a lecture hall or classroom to earn your degree. More and more parents are turning to homeschooling their children and more and more students are turning to online learning environments.
YouTube is fast becoming the go-to platform to learn a new skill.
For longer online courses people are turning to top online platforms like Thinkific, Teachable, Udemy, Kajabi, Skillshare and Podia.
As new learning software and apps are developed every day to make, our learning environment is constantly changing.
Our children live in a new world
Virtual Reality (VR), Artificial Intelligence (AI), 3D Printing and Robotics are making learning more interesting, enjoyable, interactive and engaging. Which is why students the world over welcome the new age of Innovation.
Now to figure out how to harness this new wave of innovation in my own online business – as a Digital Entrepreneur. Any ideas?
Could we live without all these advances in technology? Well, we did. And it wasn’t that long ago. But would we want to? I think not. We’ve come to depend on our tech for communication, knowledge and our livelihood.
Over to You
How do you feel technology has impacted education and your life in a positive way?
