IMPORTANCE AND EFFECTIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGY AS A LEARNING AID

Earlier being tech-savvy was only referred to the computer geeks or internet wizards. But today with the enhancement in the field of technology, you may spot a cell phone even in a toddler's hand, your 8 year child may know it's use and operation better than you! It now has also been a medium to play and binge watch the cartoons they like.

This may bound you with worry as parents, but if channelized their interest in this right direction, this can prove beneficial even in the learning and educational front.

Sometimes it can be hard to make your child sit down and complete a homework which is of mere 2 pages. With the magnifying energy and excitement, all the kid wants to do is play, play and only play. Writing slate's, blackboard, book and pencil method can be sometimes a bit overwhelming and potentially drive his/her interest down. This may also make them cranky and unwilling. Children always paint an imagination of the things told or said to them, in their minds and that even applies while studying. Each person on earth has been born with some uniqueness and that uniqueness lies in one's personality, in a way where he understands, grasps and acts upon a particular thing or situation. While growing up, the process of understanding is subject to how much a child could imagine about it. Observation is the second contributing factor in the process of understanding.

A child can understand 'A for Apple' or the 'process of seed germination' only because he has seen the apple his mother fed him or has observed a sapling growing in his surroundings. But a child who is taught 'Solar System' would rely only on his imagination he generates with the help of description and images in the textbook.

With the enhancement of technology, the existing technology can prove as a boon giving wings to imaginations. The implication of the effective use of technology depends on what your child watches. This may also be imperative in one's personality. We come from a generation where we grew up watching the arguably famous National Geographic channel on the television, which may have assembled the interest in a way which turned some among us into Wildlife Photographers, Zoologists, Naturalists etc.

Similarly, today in the technologically competent era there are platforms that enhance better understanding of academic content, informative content, art and craft content, scientific content and also leisure content in a visually appealing manner. This enables the children to learn, understand and try that particular thing themselves. For example, a child watching a channel that is dedicated to Science and experimental contents, would inculcate an interest towards the subject and better understanding when he is trying that himself which would also enable him to implicate the learning on the academic grounds. A famous educational website states that this kind of learning enhances the understanding, grasping abilities of children and helps in evolving the child's personality. The internet today has also been a medium to provide numerous academically backed up content, providing visual content, books,experimental kits, tests etc. Learning today has now been fun and easy.

Children tend to learn things by interacting with the physical surroundings, other humans being the major part of interaction, it's most likely that the early interaction with the device may hinder the physical interaction.

But as a matter of fact, there are always two sides of a coin. We must always build our understanding on both the risks and benefits, with benefits being the most important and more focused one. The device or the internet is just a one way medium that has replaced the other one way medium i.e Books. Books cannot be an interaction medium as well. You as a parent can draw the line where the human interaction and productiveness of your child begins. The simplest way to do so is to encourage and enable the child to do, try, express and implement what he/she has learned from the virtual world into the real world that form the basics of his/her interactions and development. To simplify this down let's take an example of learning English, we learn and then communicate. Here forms of learning can be through books, DVDS, internet, YouTube etc. But to practice and implement, you'll need to communicate with another human. Similar is the case with children, the technology is a massive platform to learn, but practice enables the child to express that learning in a physical form as well. 

Let's list down the basic points to ensure that we take the most from the concept of E-learning.

1. Give yourself and your child an exposure to the world of Internet 
2. Understand E-learning 
3. Motivate your child to indulge into it as per his/her interest 
4. Involve E-Learning as a medium of academic as well as informative content.
5. Let your child take up a skill.
6. Encourage your child to implement the learnings into the real world 
7. Make the virtual learning environment pleasant and encouraging.
8. Understand when and how to enable your child to strike the right balance between the two and teach them so as well

This would enable the child to also inculcate values like prioritization, absorb the understanding of a real and virtual world, personality development and intellectual growth. With enormous adaptation of E- learning in schools, classes etc; let E- learning be a boon for your child, enabling him/her to take the most out of it.