The use of Audio Visual (AV) technology in education has become essential. Technology has transformed the way we approach activities, engage with services and consume content, it has become an integral part of everyday life. With the average student’s attention span decreasing 25% in the last few years, creating an engaging learning environment in school, college or university is more important than ever. AV technology can play an essential important role in educational facilities. Learning via AV can create a stimulating and interactive teaching and learning experience, which is more beneficial when it comes to learning. Living in an Audio Visual age also means that having the skills to use AV equipment is vital when it comes to future employment prospects. As a result, exposure to AV technology in schools is vital.
AV Technology
As children and adolescents are exposed to a range of AV technologies from a young age, from communicating with their peers to completing everyday tasks, involving technology in teaching practices at schools, colleges and universities seems like a natural step to take. The key to creating a successful learning environment is ensuring spaces inspire and engage. It has been proven that advanced audio-visual technology can increase engagement in the classroom, improving concentration and overall participation.
Children learn differently, and AV equipment provides teachers with the opportunity to improve their teaching abilities, and stimulate each child’s learning process with a combination of engaging and attention-grabbing media. Growing numbers of schools are taking advantage of AV technology to teach their students. This equipment can be used to present information to students, but interacting with AV technology in school, college or university on a daily basis also ensures the students are proficient in using technology.
The importance of AV technology in education for future career prospects
AV skills are crucial in the world of business today. A research report conducted by ‘Prospects’ (a United Kingdom graduate careers company) identified that:
“There will be an increasing need for employees to possess higher level IT skills to cope with the demand for producing more innovative IT products. These skills need to be continually refined if the UK is to remain a significant player in the IT sector in the future.”
This solidifies the necessity to educate children with the AV skills that are necessary to perform the jobs of the future.
The future of AV technology in schools
AV technology will play a vital role in the future of schools, colleges, universities, and other educational facilities, thanks to the continuous development of technology and the increasing body of evidence which proves its ability to improve teaching, learning and future employment prospects.
There are numerous benefits of embedding technology in the classroom, in ways that set students up for life, including:
- Students can learn at their own speed and receive real-time feedback, as well as engage at a pace that suits them. Clevertouch’s IMPACT Plus permits up to fifty devices to be connected at once, so everyone is getting a degree of personalised learning, and a level of individualised instruction. IMPACT Plus supports collaboration with the inclusion of instant messaging, video, voice, and desktop sharing, ideal for schools, or smaller classes in colleges and universities.
- Resources are readily available and accessible from anywhere, which makes taking learning out of the classroom and into the home or library environment much easier. There are many benefits of AV technology to teaching, as teachers can share resources with students when they are ready and allow students to go back and refresh their learning if they need to. Cleverstore is home to apps, resources, plans and content that can be accessed wherever teachers may be and made available to their students. Knowing that they can access resources when they need to helps make students more responsible for their own learning.
- It teaches young people to be thoughtful consumers of content. We live in a world saturated with digital content, and having the skills to understand what is worth reading, and what should be approached with caution is essential. Teaching them this in schools is a great place for children to learn how to behave responsibly when it comes to the internet.
- Students can learn on a continuous basis, and get the latest information. Instead of text books that may out of date or worksheets that need refreshing, technology offers instant access to fresh information that can supplement the learning experience, benefitting students at all levels of education, from primary and secondary school, to university.
- Research skills are built. Technology gives students instant access to a vast amount of information so they can learn faster. They learn how to access information in various different formats and styles, finding out what they need. Teaching these skills in schools will benefit students as they move on to colleges and universities, or into the working world.
To summarise, digital skills and capability will be crucial for today’s young people as they move into the workforce. Approximately 65% of children entering primary school today will ultimately end up working in jobs that don’t yet exist. Ensuring their ability to use technology in an empowered and informed way is vital to developing their skillsets for the future, and introducing them to AV technology in school and carrying this method of learning through to third level is fundamental place to start.
If you would like AV assistance for your educational institution, contact Fitting Image today on +353 (01) 460 2112.
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