Nowadays, more and more businesses are going digital and implementing TEL within their learning. But what exactly is it and what benefits does it have to offer? Let's find out.
What is Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL)?
Put simply, technology enhanced learning is the use of technology to elevate a student’s learning. The term refers to both analogue and digital technologies, however in most modern organisations it refers to a range of educational software.
How Does Technology Enhance Learning?
Provides More Flexible Ways of Working
Technology is becoming increasingly essential in education as it provides more flexible ways of working and learning, helping students to find a method that works best for them (including visual, auditory, reading, writing and kinesthetic.)
This means more students' learning needs can be accommodated compared to traditional learning styles.
In the past, ‘education’ meant a teacher, a curriculum and a lesson plan. If a student was unable to grasp content straight away, they were often left behind to avoid disrupting the lesson plan.
Now, technology provides greater opportunities to explore topics in greater depth and students can avoid being left behind with more open lines for communication as well as using alternative learning methods that work best for them.
For example, some students may learn best from listening to an audio book, while others prefer taking part in interactive activities on their devices.
Teachers can also get a better understanding of how their students are doing with an overview of how well the students are doing with the subject material. This allows them to offer additional help to those who need it in specific areas.
More Interactive
Technology helps to make learning more interactive, making it much more engaging and sharpening critical thinking skills– which are fundamental to the development of of analytic reasoning,
Additionally, more interactive learning through technology can quicken the educational process from between 25% and 60%, speeding up the learning process.
Allows for Collaborative Working
When students collaborate, they often learn more efficiently. Technology opens up hundreds of doors for more collaborative learning, whether it's as simple as having a chat box open during the lesson to collaborate as teams or connecting students from home and in the classroom.
This helps them to share their own knowledge and receive knowledge from others in different ways.
Supports Life Skills
School is designed to prepare students for life in the adult world. A huge part of this is developing technological skills as the world becomes more and more digital.
By teaching students how to align their learning with technology, they will know how to use the same skills in the future when it comes to using technology in the workplace, household chores and managing their money.
Technology Enhanced Learning in the Public Sector
Technology enhanced learning is a key tool used within public sectors such as the National Health Service (NHS). The NHS uses technologies to help the delivery of clinical and healthcare training, making learning more interactive and accessible to all with:
Custom built eLearning solutions tailored to meet each subject’s specific training requirements
Multimedia recording and production
Technical advice on all things associated with online learning
How DMS Supports Technology Enhanced Learning
At DMS, we believe that technology is becoming more and more essential in today’s learning. That’s why we provide affordable and easy-to-manage technology bundles to help your classroom thrive, including:
Laptops
Tablets
Interactive Screens
Cloud Services
For more information on how the DMS Group can help your school, college, university or other educational organisation, get in touch with our team today.
