I wake up in the morning and the first thing I do is check my phone. I snooze my alarm, and after it snoozes, I get up. While I get organized for the day, I check social media, email, and digital newspapers from the same device. All before I’ve even had breakfast. On my way to work, I listen to music based on Spotify’s daily recommendation and open the digital map, which shows me the best route to avoid rush-hour traffic.

Back at work, I start teaching my students online and then get ahead on my administrative tasks. Since time is always short, I open my trusty friend ChatGPT and ask for help composing the email I’ve been putting off writing for so long. With its help, I manage to put together a message that contains detailed information yet is still understandable.

And so, we spend our daily lives using and assisting ourselves with technology. There it is. This is how we live. More importantly, this is how we learn. If my daily life looks like this, as a teacher, what will my students’ daily life be like?

A daily presence also in the educational space

Today, technology is an integral part of daily life, and it’s essential for virtually all ages. It’s normal, and expected, that this is reflected in educational and learning processes.

Having internet access facilitates communication among all stakeholders in the educational community (teachers, students, families, and administrators). Regarding learning, it offers innovative resources and customization possibilities: it extends experiences beyond the traditional classroom, offering access to simulations, virtual labs, interactive media, and global resources.

But just as technology can enhance learning and enhance students’ abilities, if it’s not used properly, it also runs the risk of having the opposite effect. It can become a limiting factor that creates dependency and, consequently, a decrease in the development of students’ critical skills.

Experiential learning

Experiential learning promotes students’ active participation in purposeful and reflective experiences, with the goal of strengthening knowledge, skills, and abilities that have a social impact.

Inspired by the American educator and psychologist John Dewey (1859-1952) , this approach maintains that true education arises from structured experiences that encourage critical thinking and decision-making, where reflection is key to giving them meaning and applicability.

Experiences and technology hand in hand

In this way, technology can be intentionally integrated into experiential learning processes to complement them rather than replace them. For example, augmented reality can be used to develop early math skills.

In an experience with 5- and 6-year-old children , incorporating augmented reality into number teaching helped strengthen early math skills. Through interactive and visual activities, students were able to better understand concepts such as counting, the number-quantity relationship, and logical thinking, making learning a more meaningful and engaging process.

An active and critical use

As mentioned above, experiential learning seeks to give students an active role in their learning processes . With this in mind, technologies are a key element to consider when designing learning experiences, viewed as supporting resources.

Technological tools like artificial intelligence can be “coworkers” that enhance capabilities. When used actively and critically, AI and other technologies can enrich learning processes, so it’s crucial that we prepare ourselves and learn to work together with them.

Artificial intelligence in the classroom

Preparing to work with artificial intelligence means viewing it as an ally with whom we learn by exploring, giving clear instructions, critically evaluating, and improving together through trial and error. This applies both to how teachers use it when preparing and developing their lessons and to how students integrate these technologies at different academic levels.

A support rather than a mistake

Just as the cell phone alarm has replaced most alarm clocks, and digital platforms now allow you to segment content according to your personal taste on streaming platforms , or choose the most appropriate transportation route in real time, technology is sending a not-so-silent message.

For the field of education, it’s clear: technology isn’t a risk or threat; it’s a contribution that allows students to be the protagonists of their own learning story. From those just starting out to those well-versed, everyone can benefit from these increasingly advanced resources. The key is to prepare to take advantage of them and to use each tool intentionally, allowing them to fulfill their mission: to support the process of learning for life.

Author Bio: Laura Bermúdez Jurado is Head of Experiential Learning at the University of La Sabana