Digital Technologies Trending in Education

Sarah from FIRST® LEGO® League demonstrates how Spike Prime™, the latest LEGO® robot, can be programmed to travel along a set path, pick up an object, and bring it back to the quadrant.

Trends in Digital Technologies

Here at ATA many of us are digital immigrants who grew up before computers and the internet, and even though we work in the online education space, it is an ongoing challenge to keep up with the trends in digital technology.

So, when the opportunity arose to attend the EduTech conference to showcase how ATA use digital technology to provide online professional development to schools, we jumped at the chance.

This two-day education event is the largest of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and seemed like the perfect place to, not only share what we do, but to learn from others, too.

We were interested to find out how students are engaging with digital technology, and to learn more about the programs and systems available to schools to help them implement the Digital Technologies Curriculum.

Our favourite digital technologies

Here we have shared some of our favourite digital technologies from the EduTech conference which are being used in schools to teach students to solve problems, collaborate with others, be creative, and importantly have fun.

FIRST® LEGO® League is a competition for students in grades 4-8 designed to inspire young people to gain confidence using technology.

Each year has a different theme, and the 2019 theme is City Shaper. Teams design, build, and program a Lego® robot to compete in a series of challenges and develop solutions to a real-world problem they have identified.  We like that this competition encourages teamwork, develops students’ critical and creative thinking skills, and that it is also lots of fun.

Altino the Robot Car teaches children from early primary school through to tertiary students to code using different programming languages.

Both teachers and students can learn to program the intelligent educational robot using basic coding languages, and then easily move on to more advanced languages. We like that the robot car looks great, is durable, and makes coding a fun learning experience.

Neuranext: Artificial Intelligence in Schools programs are designed to teach students about Artificial Intelligence. Students can learn about AI applications such as face recognition, and image matching technologies through school-based workshops. We like that students not only learn about the science behind AI, but also how AI is already impacting on our lives, and the implications for the future.

SMARTfit is a gamified approach to improving health and fitness. The equipment can be programmed to combine physical and cognitive tasks into fun and challenging exercises. Although this technology is not designed to teach digital technologies, we liked the fact that it can be used in schools to engage students in multisensory activities that trains the brain as well as the body.

Keeping up with digital technologies in schools

If like us, you are a digital immigrant, who is striving to keep up with digital technologies in schools, and you would like to get your head around topics such as coding, robotics, artificial intelligence and augmented reality, you may be interested in our video: An Introduction to Digital Technologies. We were inspired to produce this tutorial following our visit to EduTech.