Part II : In what ways might this be a positive development for schooling and student learning?

There are a number of ways in which these developments in the use of new technologies are positive for both schooling and student learning.

Firstly is that education is available to a wider scope of students, that are neither affected by their location or disabilities they suffer from in terms of their learning. This is positive from a teacher’s perspective, given that the impact and value of knowledge will be felt by a greater amount of people – which will benefit society in the coming years.

Research has also shown that the future developments in the use of technology in the classroom have “the potential to support and enhance lifelong learning with an emphasis on learner-directed learning and adaptability.” (McKavanagh et al. 2002, p. 49) This is especially important and positive, as the role of school’s are changing in that we are not only preparing students for the workforce after school – but aiming to ignite a passion and love for lifelong learning – and the use of new technologies in the future will only assist in this.

Research also suggests that both the designers of software and teachers “need to take advantage of the capabilities offered by technology in ensuring that content materials encourage rich ‘conversational’ interactions and that student self-directedness and reflection are encouraged.” (McKavanagh et al. 2002, p. 49) This is positive in that the nature of learning is changing – with the emphasis for students being on directing their own learning, learning in a language that is meaningful and using reflection as a means for seeing how far they have come – and in what ways they can improve.