Just as our students use technology regularly in their daily lives, these tools are also understood as a common and everyday aspect in the classroom. The Best Schools in Spain consider technology to be yet another instrument in our students’ daily education.
Thanks to our students’ digital skills and the continuous training of teachers, when the COVID-19 pandemic sent us into lockdown, which consequently led to distance learning and online classes, we were able to adapt to this new context overnight and our students did not miss any days of class. We can speak of a process of adaptation to the change in location (we went from being in the classroom to being at home), but with regard to the use of technology and devices, it would be more correct to talk of continuation.
Overnight, coronavirus forced us to attend online classes, hold distance tutorials and use different applications to share activities, level tests and teaching resources with students so that they could continue learning from home.
Overnight, coronavirus forced us to attend online classes, hold distance tutorials and use different applications to share activities, level tests and teaching resources with students so that they could continue learning from home. Ingenuity and creativity, such important aspects in our education, once again occupied a fundamental role in the use of technology as a means of contact and direct connection, with the purpose of personally monitoring every one of our students and ensuring that we were all connected and motivated, from one home to another.
From this unexpected situation, we can draw the conclusion that technology was, is and will continue to be an essential element in the classroom, and is an aspect that we should keep developing in our schools. At the Best Schools in Spain, we approach technology as a tool; firstly in response to a labour market that demands professionals qualified in this area, and secondly to make it possible for our students to continue learning in exceptional situations such as those created by COVID-19 or prepare them for situations in which autonomy, confidence and curiosity (skills that are developed by using technology) are essential elements.
We believe that this pandemic has illustrated the importance of having students with excellent digital skills and the need to keep up with technological advances, stay up-to-date with digital resources and continue creating contents and contexts where students feel comfortable with using technology as part of their own education. As both schools and teachers, this leads us to continuously renew and adapt to constant advances in the world of technology and entails a daily exercise where technology and methodology must undoubtedly go hand in hand, taking students into a field where autonomy and investigation play a key role. Our challenge is to awaken their interest during this process.
