There’s no doubt that education without technology is unthinkable in today’s world, so when we come across teachers who are still reluctant to use technology in the classroom to augment and add to their teaching experience, we wonder why. But if you think a little harder and try to understand why their reluctance comes to the fore, you’ll know that it is because:

  • They are scared of their ignorance: Most teachers, especially the ones who have been in this field for a good number of years, don’t know how to work technology and because of their fear of anything that’s labeled hi-tech, they don’t even try to learn. They prefer to do things the old way because it is familiar and they’re used to it. For them, making a change to something that is totally new is frightening. They fear to even attempt to learn it because they think they will not understand it and that this will cause them to lose face amongst the students and their peers.

  • Kids understand technology better: Children pick up anything easily if they put their minds to it, and so it is with technology. Kids these days have a radar that is intensely tuned into technology and they learn how to do things faster and more efficiently than adults. So when teachers think that the kids are going to know more about technology than them, they feel inadequate and are nervous about looking like fools in front of the children they teach. They fail to have confidence in themselves and let their inadequacies overtake them.

  • Not enough effort goes into training: Most schools impose the technology on teachers without adequately training them to use it. It’s like being thrown into a swimming pool before you’ve learned to swim – you panic and flail and want to rush out before you drown. You fear going near the pool again because you don’t want your mouth and ears full of water before you make it to the edge. But if you learn swimming the proper way, your fear disappears and you get the hang of it. You learn how to breathe underwater and how to float using your limbs, and as time goes by, this becomes routine and something you don’t have to try hard at. Technology is similar – the more training given initially, the more likely it is to be understood and mastered.

  • They don’t realize its advantages: Teachers don’t understand that technology, when used in the right way, can help their work and aid their teaching efforts. It makes their job easier and quicker. But because they don’t realize the advantages that it holds, they turn against it.
If teachers are prepared for technology in the classrooms and given adequate training in using the equipment and various applications, there’s no reason why they should exhibit reluctance to use it to the advantage of the students and themselves.

This guest post is contributed by Shannon Wills, she writes on the topic of Online Engineering Degree. She welcomes your comments at her email id: shannonwills23@gmail.com