Countries all over the world have been striving to provide the best possible educations to their citizens for hundreds of years. One of the most important factors in this endless competition to the top is the modernity of the technology in classrooms. Having the latest and greatest technology accessible to students puts them at a sizeable advantage. The most important factor, however, is the quality of teachers in schools. Great teachers without great technology can still teach classes very well and provide their students with a great education. Conversely, students with access to great technology can learn a great deal, yet never reach their full potential with an average or subpar teacher. Great teachers and cutting edge technology together in the same classroom, however, can provide students with a top-notch education and endless opportunity.

The best teachers are able to find a healthy balance between incorporating older styles of teaching and newer style with the deliberate addition of certain technologies in their classes and lectures. An example of this could be utilizing PowerPoint slideshows to better structure and organize class time or presenting the class with relevant YouTube videos to better explain a topic. Many times it is much easier to explain topics through videos rather than the traditional text and pictures format, such as a cell duplicating during mitosis in a Biology class or a video of a bridge collapsing in a civil engineering class.

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An extraordinarily valuable, not to mention very innovative, technology being used in the classroom by great teachers is virtual reality. Teachers can take their students to field trips anywhere on earth (and beyond!) right from the comfort and safety of their classrooms. Many students are bored by history lessons of ancient civilizations that existed thousands of years ago and quickly begin to lose interest. Teachers are able to combat this by incorporating VR in their lessons, allowing students to see virtually recreated cities as if they are actually standing there a thousand years prior, and then comparing those prosperous and bustling cities to their ruins or their massive cities that exist now in the same place. Virtual reality is a very valuable and simple way to keep students’ interests high in a traditionally less engaging subject or topic, and good teachers are able to provide their students with lots of benefit from this technology.

Other teachers that utilize today’s technology to its full extent are able to make the experience for students that have to miss school due to a sickness or other unfortunate circumstances much easier by utilizing cloud storage and online streaming services. Teachers are able to post full-length lectures online to be able to be viewed at any time by students. This allows for students that are sick to be able to tune in and have a much more effective and productive time making up missed work, and in some cases are actually able to ask questions during lecture while not even being in class.

These services are also beneficial to students that aren’t sick, as they can go back and rewatch past lectures to gain a better understanding, not to mention taking much better notes as they are able to pay more attention in class to the board, and then afterwards pausing lectures to take notes at their own pace. Another popular use for these services is the revision and submission of essays. Whereas before, students had to wait for and come back to class every day with another draft of their essay, today teachers are able to revise essays throughout the day and get them back to students quicker than ever before. This streamlines the essay writing process a great deal and the best teachers are able to allot the time saved using this system to cover more material in less time and provide their students with the best possible learning experience.

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A fairly recent advancement in technology that has the potential to revolutionize schools across the country is the digital hall pass. The current hall pass system is dated, easily exploited by ill-willed students, and frankly unsanitary. We at SmartPass acknowledged this problem and set out to handle it in the best possible way. The best schools today are able to utilize a digital hall pass system to its full extent, and this is shown very clearly when their students reap the benefits. In the unfortunate event of an emergency such as a fire or a school intruder, this system enables teachers and administrators to quickly locate students and ensure their safety. In everyday use, the system empowers teachers to keep their hallways free of disturbances, in turn allowing students in class to be as productive as possible and be able to focus on learning, which the SmartPass team recognizes is something that happens in the classroom, not in hallways.

The teachers of today’s day and age that are utilizing this amazing technology are putting their students at a great advantage over those whose teachers are not. However, as more and more schools recognize the potential of a well-rounded and intuitive digital hall pass system, the playing field will soon be leveled. As the adoption of this hall pass system grows, we at SmartPass will out front leading the charge and guiding schools and students toward a brighter, safer future.