The Combination of Technologies and Holistic Education as a Secret of Success

Modern education strives to develop a student as a whole person. Packing brains with basics of all possible subjects is going in the past. These days educators strive to follow the principles of holistic development. This means students are to evolve mentally, physically, psychically, spiritually and acquire practical skills to succeed in adult life. Holistic development in education has never been nurtured better before now that we have the best suitable tools to implement it. Modern technologies make it possible for every student to develop a personality in all spheres while teachers can assist them and manage the process with no hurdles. Learn more about how the combination of holistic development and technologies enhances the qualitative outcomes of the educational process.

Basic Principles of Holistic Development 

Holistic education is aimed to nurture a student as a whole person. This means that a student is supplied with a safe environment and personalized tools to evolve the skills and knowledge at a comfortable pace and direction. Such an approach requires a lot of attention and effort from the educator. Due to this holistic approach didn’t use to be a common one in state schools but rather privilege at private ones.

These days the emergence of new technologies and accessibility of previously existing ones make it possible to implement holistic principles in almost any school worldwide. 

Educational Models and Technologies

Holistic education is implemented in modern schools with the help of a combination of educational models and technologies. Here are the most used ones:

• Experiential learning – students experience different models and environments of learning defining the most suitable for them. Such an approach often includes problem-solving tasks and project-based learning. In such processes gadgets and educational programs allow students to execute tasks independently and in groups, while teachers can freely administer and assess the operation without much time and effort being wasted. 
• Self-guided learning – the learning process is customized for every student, considering his pace, skills and knowledge level, preferences and talents. In ordinary conditions, such a model seems too complicated and time-consuming to implement. Still, with students having a personal device with access to the Internet and educational apps, it will be easier for a teacher to embody a personalized approach convenient for every single student.
• Community schools – in this case, school is turned into a community hub engaging students in social, development, and other community projects. Modern technologies and apps exploited in the school-hub enable students to establish connections with other professionals, plan and visualize their projects, and implement them easier. Whether students want a workshop from professionals from Pro-papers, a success story from city counselor, or pro tips from the local sports star, it can all be implemented on the base of their hub-schools either via personal meetings or technology-powered ones.
• Interdisciplinary coursework – the idea lies in teachers of different subjects cooperating to teach certain topics connected to both subjects. With modern technologies, teachers can participate distantly and create projects to be used by students of several years, so that the human and time resources are wasted less. 

Educators can use any of these models or test all of the available means. In any way, the use of modern educational technologies and applications will only make the holistic development models accessible for average schools with the possibility to spend less time and effort but better outcomes of them. 

Technology-powered Teacher Strategies

An open-minded and tech-savvy teacher is the main engine of holistic education. Using modern technologies as chief tools and holistic principles as key directives teachers develop their students as a whole and evolve their personalities to succeed in the upcoming future. Review the widely used holistic teacher strategies:

• Student-teacher relationships – teacher aims to develop a strong emotional connection with every student and a trustworthy relationship. With social media, chats, and messengers at hand, the teacher is always there with kind advice and support on academic and social issues.
• Nurturing self-confidence  – granting every student a personalized approach via AI-generated tasks and learning curriculums teacher nurtures a student’s self-confidence. Every student feels cared for, safe, comfortable, and cherished for the skills and talents he’s got. Such an attitude allows students to grow stronger as a person.
• Encouraging emotional reflection – holistic teachers always find time to allow students to develop emotionally and spiritually. Either with the use of appropriate apps or via personal interaction, they encourage students to observe and reflect their feelings, meditate, gain inspiration, and practice mindfulness. 

The practice proves that technological tools not only optimize academic processes leaving more time for development in other directions but also assist teachers and students in whole-person development.

Beneficial Outcomes

Teachers who manage to combine modern technologies and holistic principles of education grant their students with the top beneficial outcomes:

• Increased academic achievement – since every student is learning in a customized environment, pace, and learning style, it is expected that he will end up with increased academic achievements no matter his background and possibilities. 
• Mental and emotional balance – since the mental and emotional well-being of every student is cared about along with academic proficiency, students feel more confident, stable, and safe. 
• Problem-solving skills – both holistic approach and the use of modern technologies make students excel in problem-solving skills, which are crucial for successful employment and flawless performance of daily challenges.
• Reduced level of negative impact – equal nurturing of all facets of a person eliminates the cases of violence, bullying, harassment, and other negative impacts on students.
• Practical preparedness – conscious implementation of technological tools and evolving of practical skills and knowledge make students more prepared for real-life challenges and therefore more resistant and potentially successful in the nearest future.

The mixture of modern technological means and a holistic approach makes it possible for the school to nurture a student as a whole person, equip him properly to become successful in the nearest future, realize personality potential, and reach happiness.