May 07 (News about Japan) – Currently, Western society has an unhealthy view of technology. There are two extremes of thinking, and neither has a complete solution.
The first block thinks that technology will rewrite everything we know about society and human life. So everything low-tech and ‘old’ must be thrown away. This mentality is the living embodiment of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Meanwhile, others think that technological integration is foolish and that we should preserve everything that is old and traditional.
This battle of ideas spans the globe in almost every field, from activity to politics to entertainment. Yet nowhere does this mentality have as much impact as in education. Especially in this case, the world can learn from Japan.
Japanese innovation in education successfully combines the traditional with the mechanistic and technological.
Does education need an update?
Considering that education focuses primarily on teaching science and that science has spawned technology, you would think that education would be the most high-tech field there is. However, aside from the classroom movies and replacing handwriting with typing, we’ve seen very little integration.
To some extent, this fatigue is justified. IQ rates have fallen across the industrialized world, regardless of country, socio-economic status or race. Most education experts agree that this decline in overall intelligence is due, at least in part, to the abandonment of handwriting.
This is just one example of why we can’t just give up all traditional teaching methods, because many of them are actually useful. Recently, even rituals and memorization (once seen as outdated hurdles) have been proven to promote brain development.
So should education make progress? integrate technology? Almost certainly, yes.
However, that integration must be measured carefully. Technology should be treated like training wheels, not an automatic motor that pushes the bike pedals into place.
Another controversial area is the use of online resources. Some students would hire a writer from a essay writing service to handle some of their homework. Many people would take certain classes just for the extra credits, with no real interest in the subject.
As a result, when the students can afford it, the writer can handle the “filler homework,” giving the client more free time to recharge.
As a disclaimer, even if you are dealing with the best research paper writing services, you should never cheat yourself on a valuable lesson or lesson. This technology is best implemented when looking for ‘busy’ work.
Use of educational technology in Japan
Let’s say you live in an 8-story building and everyone is more or less in good shape because they have to take the stairs. Now imagine that someone has installed an elevator. No one would ever take the stairs again. It will be useful, but it also means that people will not exercise anymore.
This is a good analogy for technology and why we need to be careful about the ‘when’ and ‘how’. Japanese education seems to have found the balance between convenience and challenge.
Tablet and laptop use in Western schools was implemented incorrectly. As mentioned earlier, this technology was more or less implemented to basically replace notebooks and typing, which had adverse consequences.
Students in Japan are highly tech-savvy and use software to enhance their learning rather than outsourcing it. For example, technology in Japan is even used in gym classes to film students as they move.
Just as top athletes record themselves to view their mistakes, students are also recorded, with red dots correcting their form while exercising.
Also, the integration of tablets into classrooms was more planned and less rushed. This happened while cross-checking and seeking advice from IT companies.
Make things more efficient
In the business world, efficiency can mean two things. The first type of efficiency is seen as reducing costs while not changing anything else in the process. This maximizes profits and does little else.
The second type of efficiency is that you actually use the time and money saved in other areas where your attention is needed more.
Educational technologies will certainly make teachers’ lives easier. Even something as simple as paper grading software saves dozens of hours each month. These saved hours can then be reinvested in the well-being of the students. Some children need more attention than others, and generally speaking, the more time a teacher can spend with a child, the better the results.
We also have to think about metadata. Even in one country, millions of students will learn, take tests and interact with their classes digitally.
One of the most important examples of innovations in Japanese education is that they are starting to collect and connect these pieces of metadata and learn from them. Currently, metadata is collected around the world for advertising purposes and by government spy programs, and is little used in more productive projects.
Japan is a pioneer in data collection in education more broadly, and the rest of the world can learn from its efforts.
Combating the problems of public education
In 99.99999% of cases, personalized service is better. What would you prefer: a handmade table or a mass-produced table?
This issue of mass production fits very well with education. The quality is just not there because everyone in the country has to be educated according to the same curriculum. A teacher must memorize the needs of hundreds of students and try to keep up with the schedule, leaving little room for the exceptional students (both the very good and the very bad).
Just as the algorithm on Google learns everything about you to sell your products, education software can also learn what your weaknesses are and what you need to improve on. Japanese teachers use educational technology tools as a force multiplier, turning what would normally be a standardized curriculum into a customized teaching tool.
Why Japan?
Why is Japanese innovation leading the way in progressive educational methods? The simplest answer is that they want to.
In many ways, the country’s strong roots and traditions keep it grounded to an extent that is unusual. We have seen precursors of this mentality in the Japanese business and automotive world. The culture has never lost its discipline or seen technology as a way to cut corners or work less hard.
Edtech in Japanese education makes things more efficient and interactive without making learning less effective. It was carried out with care.
Conclusion
When misused, technology can very easily weaken its users. Technology should never be a substitute for real learning or a crutch to save costs.
This is why Japanese progressive education tools show positive results. The country’s traditional and discipline-oriented approach is less likely to drop the ball. They take advantage of the advantages of technology and minimize the disadvantages.
There will always be downsides to replacing natural processes with software, but if used wisely, the cost-benefit analysis will lean heavily on the benefit side.
