It is an age-old question that every family needs to choose that puts them in a hard position. Traditional education is the education that follows the practices of teaching students in the tested but difficult old methods. Smart education on the other hand relies on technology Education improve lots of aspects of teaching. Smart education has been certainly tested in the elite population for years. By this, we mean the university-level education of the most developed countries, as it has been going around for many years there. But the recent pandemic has forced many educational institutions to adopt the smart education method. In this article, we will discuss Traditional vs Smart education in Kenya.
Smart education is in a lot of ways an extension of the traditional education method. Although it is certain that some methods given by technologies have rendered some traditional methods obsolete. Smart education is designed to assist both teachers and students, and sometimes the tools that smart education gives helps the administration staff as well. As globalization has also impacted Kenya, Smart education in Kenya has become a necessity so as to not let the country fall behind. Remote learning, high-security attendance management can be easily made available through the new system and studies have suggested that it consistently makes students perform better.
Comparison between traditional and smart education in Kenya
Although smart education may not look different from the surface, it offers various advantages to the traditional learning system. Traditional learning systems simply lack the range and flexibility and hence the usefulness of traditional education in Kenya is limited. Following are some of the differences between traditional and smart counterparts, and a discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of each type of education method.
Infrastructure
The infrastructure required for both of the education methods differs. Traditional education can make do with very little equipment, since most of the learning is human-centric, and students learn the most important skills through books and teachers. Smart education on the other hand demands a more sophisticated infrastructure. In schools and universities that practice smart education, there often are various tools like projectors, whiteboards, and interactive tools to teach students. This is the first and the most noticeable difference between traditional and smart education in Kenya. However when one looks under the hood, one is likely to find more differences between the methods.
Data management through Smart Education in Kenya
This is one of the main differences between traditional and modern education. The modern way of approaching education is from a data management perspective when the administrators are concerned. The administrators and staff in the traditional education system are always stressed because their work keeps piling up. They have even more work during peak times like admission and events of the school. This can lead to errors and sometimes the students and parents end up feeling frustrated. Smart education in Kenya uses things like school management software to handle the data. Such software can easily store and handle incoming data both at peak times and normal times. The software only requires minimal supervision and works automatically, saving a lot of time and energy for the school staff.
Easy Communication with Smart Education in Kenya
Communication is one of the things vital in school systems, and the traditional education system in this case heavily relies on the time in and between classes for the students to communicate appropriately. As the student body increases and the depth of education increases, the communication problems increase in schools. This is because teachers get busy with their work and students who feel left behind or those who are shy lose interest in communicating their thoughts. Smart education trumps traditional education in Kenya by making communication easy and extending its range. The software can be installed on phones which helps in sending secure and useful messages between teachers and students. Automatic and custom notifications can act as another medium to increase communication efficiency.
Learning material
The traditional education system relies on books and oral learning methods as its main two types of learning mechanisms. It has been a tested mechanism that has proved itself for generations. But the present era presents itself with various challenges that these old learning materials take a long time to make the students understand. This is besides the fact that making traditional learning material and making them available in each school itself is a hassle. Smart education uses globalization to its benefits and presents the students with interconnected information from the web. The only job of the teachers is to verify that the information is correct and taught correctly. Students are also encouraged in the new method to self-learn, which proves helpful to them in the long run.
Costs involved
Traditional education in Kenya consumes a lot less revenue than smart education. This is for a simple reason that the traditional education system needs less to work with than the newer system. Although this is the case, the students who use smart education and its tools actually gain more from the educational system than the traditional counterparts. This is because they get exposed to more knowledge and better knowledge handling tools. From the school perspective, smart education is costly in the short term but actually reduces costs over the long run. This is because the school software that makes smart education possible comes with finance management systems.
Social education
There are differences in socialization in smart education and traditional education in Kenya. Generally, the traditional education system focuses on actual socialization and is more beneficial when it is considered in this perspective. But socializing also occurs in the smart education method, but it occurs online, across a wider variety of students. The socialization achieved in this manner is more academic and cannot be compared to the traditional education system. This is simply because of the structure of the smart education system that cannot encourage such group activities and socialize.
Extracurricular activities
Extracurricular activities are more emphasized in the traditional method of education, Although smart education has its own part in improving extracurricular activities. The traditional education method is simply more suited towards such activity as there are clearly accepted ideas of what kind of activity can be accomplished in what manner. Smart education can encourage creativity in a different manner. Digital skills can be considered extracurricular activities that are only possible due to smart education and its practices. With the discovery of new practices, smart education may encompass more extracurricular activities.
Although the differences listed here can be seen as limiting, the true fact here is that the two systems actually complement each other. Smart education can be complete with the integration of traditional group study practices to increase socialization, and the traditional education system can be helped enormously by integrating smart digital solutions into it.
Conclusion
To ensure efficient education, it is necessary to implement smart education in tandem with traditional education practices. Thus both the human element and the benefit of technology will be made available to the students. JibuSMS is a leading school management software in Kenya. It is an ERP software and hence easily capable of handling enterprise-level activities. It easily encompasses all the smart solutions that are discussed above. It can even run hostels and libraries with ease and sometimes such services are necessary for an education system that wants to concentrate more on the students.
