Technology is taking over a school near you! Well, not exactly, but slowly but surely, steps are already being taken around the world and education is undergoing a massive shift. Textbooks and whiteboards and the occasional DVD-based class are now making way for tablets, digital content, and 3D printers.

While the message remains the same, technology is changing the medium. Students don’t go browse for a book on the shelves in the library, they do so with a search through their library’s app. From the cloud-based Chromebooks by Google to Amazon’s e-reader Kindle, for the average student learning is more and more tech-driven.

While there’s still a long way to go before every 2nd grade student has their own tablet or laptop to work with in class, the change is underway. The tech-based educational model is not a distant possibility any longer, and what was once science fiction is becoming daily reality. And here’s why that’s a good thing:

Efficient Research

The web offers students access to academic databases and the Internet itself, making the research process easier and more efficient than ever before.

Collaboration

Students can now interact and collaborate through Personal Learning Networks, dedicated forums, and other online school communities to share their thoughts, pose questions to teachers and each other, and work together.

Project-based learning seems to have found its ideal mate in modern technology. Students can continue collaboration after school hours, emphasizing the importance of working together, something that helps students in their education and prepares them for a team-driven workforce.

Independent Learning

With fundamental computer and Internet literacy, students as young as 8 and 9 years old can study independently and at their own pace.

A student can go back to what a teacher said by re-watching a class or lecture. Asking questions via Twitter, creating a blog post for what they’ve learned, or linking to sites that show how that knowledge complements and provides solutions to other issues are but a few more ways technology facilitates education.

Active Learning

Interactive games, instant communication, access to class notes and other media content – everything is more easily and quickly available to students these days through technology.

Students that miss school can join the rest of the class through an online video conference and even participate with questions.

Technology has transformed, and will continue to transform, education. There’s immense potential in new ways to make learning more efficient and successful for the younger generation, and these well-educated students will become the innovators of the future.