Technology has always played an important role in education, but today it seems like the role of the various tech tools is greater than ever.

There are likely a variety of reasons for this. I would venture to say that the influence of mobile devices is a major driving factor. There really isn’t a time when we aren’t connected to the internet in some form. Smartphones, tablets, and the like keep us constantly plugged-in.

Children are exposed to these modern technologies at a very young age. It is not uncommon to see one-year-old kids working their way about a tablet. There are a countless number of educational games for children of all ages.

This being the case, it really doesn’t make sense for the K-12 institutions to be a void of this kind of technology. The better option (and the one most K-12 districts choose) is to harness the power of education technology to bolster learning.

The infographic below, created by TeacherPortal, provides compelling reasons for the continued use of education technology in the K-12 environment – particularly within the classroom.

That said, despite the positives, there are also some valid concerns to be aware of when leveraging this kind of technology. The one that seems most apparent is that the technology can become a distraction from the main learning points. This also doesn’t help given that students are reported to have shorter attention spans when educational tech tools are used extensively.

I think in the end the point is never to rely too heavily upon ed-tech for driving home the main learning points, but to instead use it to enhance the training.