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The world is an everchanging environment, and we must adapt to it whether we like it or not. Recently, it has come to my attention that technology makes teaching more difficult, however, I have heard other persons say that technology is a useful tool, so how do we determine the benefit of including technology into a lesson? To me, it is very simple, we are the masters of how we teach a class and we can choose how we do it, however, the times are changing and if we really know how to use it, technology can become an extremely useful tool. For example, now students can carry online dictionaries on their cellphones and they don´t have to carry a big heavy book everywhere, yes, some of the old fashioned teachers might say that having a cellphone is a distraction, and well, it can be, but that depends on how you manage the class, if the students are really engaged in a class a text message or notification should not affect the student´s attention to you. We can also send material through WhatsApp groups for further studying, or share powerpoint presentations or PDF files in a Cloud or Drive without having to print them out or making students carry a USB flash drive. You can all of your files in an online drive and if by any reason the classroom´s computer does not recognize your USB you can just download it on the spot. Globalization is an unavoidable change, and we must adapt to our client´s needs. Let´s say businessmen from a foreign country want to have a quick training session to prepare for an important meeting, you can perfectly do that over skype, zoom or other applications, of course, this would only work with students with a higher level, but it definitely is a very possible situation. Also, there are a lot of activities that can be recorded for further study or to be able to make the students see themselves and provide positive feedback amongst each other, and honestly, having an old video recorder is no longer something we see. It´s way easier to record it with a smartphone and than share it immediately to every student, it´s faster and easier. Most young adults, teenagers and now even children are familiar and comfortable with the use of technology, so why not take advantage of it and use it to make our lessons easier? In conclusion, it is my belief that it is not the technology the one who will determine the amount of attention paid by students, it is us as teachers and the way we teach our lessons. Technology can be such a useful tool when used correctly, in fact, a very obvious example of how technology can make the learning process easier is this course. A few years ago, taking an online certification would have been impossible, nowadays I can learn this way, and we can also adapt technology to our everyday lessons in order to make our everything easier and to help students understand things better. Last but not least, let´s not forget about the environmental impact that we have, we need to be able to avoid the incredible amount of paper use we have, plus, it is easier to provide some material in a digital version rather than have to print out 40 copies of a 3 pages text. Most students nowadays prefer to read everything on their computers or tablets, and if one of them wants it printed out he can just go and print it, but it would be an exception. I finish by saying that at the end of the day, it is us who have the ability to use technology in our favor, we just need to be modern teachers and be able to adapt to the changes that our world is going through.
