Some people fear changes: they don’t want to use new technologies either in language teaching or in running of the office. Why is it so? How does the fear of the new, limit our professional development? What do you lose this way? Let’s see:)
You have surely met a person whose computer still has Windows 98 operating system and Office 2003 office suite (a hint: that’s the one with smiley Clippit office assistant) installed 15 years ago. Or: during a meeting you hear the legendary Nokia Tune ring sound and a person sitting next to you takes a Nokia 3210 out of their pocket (hey! who still remembers when this handset debuted? Let me answer: in 1999! 15 years ago!). And an answer to the mandatory question: “Why don’t you replace it with something newer?” is „Gee, why mend something that ain’t broken”.
If humankind had not looked for new things, we would still ride hay wains instead of cars ;). Henry Ford claimed that if he had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses, so he offered cars without asking them instead. Why are we so reluctant to changes? Why are we stuck in old patterns instead of trying modern tools?
It turns out that this is not only our fault. We should blame so-called emotional brain, an area in our brain that tries to protect us from danger. Hundreds of thousands years ago a danger was for example a choice of a path through a forest different than the one taken usually – a predator might have couched there. That’s why at any time the emotional brain suggests: “stay in the cave, don’t leave it, but if you have to go, take the beaten path”. And in today’s version it sounds like: “come on, a new computer can crash and I’m sure software is complicated; you’d better draw up the lesson plan on a piece of paper”. Certainly humankind had not always listened to those whispered prompts, owing to which can discovers new inventions and go to deep space.
The truth is that most of our fears, including those concerning the use of new technologies, are related to negative projections. We don’t know if something is good or bad, whether we will cope or not but we already imagine the failure and trouble. “This new programme is sure more complex to use so it’s better to stay with the old one”.
What’s else do we lose by not using new technologies? First of all, time. Can you imagine doing business today without a mobile phone? Do you still remember the times when you could only make a phone call from the office or home? Do you remember that just a little over ten years ago documents were typewritten and any error made it necessary to start retyping them? Does this sound like hours of wasted time? It sure does.
But even if you have a mobile phone and a computer, the world is already ahead. Take any random example: you are using the merge mail function to prepare a large number of documents fast or you are developing 100 documents to send one copy of each? Viewing e-mails only from the office? Why don’t you replace Nokia 3210 with a smartphone and check e-mails on the go without wasting time? This is so cheap now and lends a lot of dynamics to your business.
Secondly, by avoiding new technologies you may lose potential clients. A language school without a nice-looking website simple cannot be reliable for offer-seekers. No e-mail address? Another negative marking – perhaps a potential student prefers to send e-mails with questions instead of making phone calls? If a student can choose between a school they only know about from a crumpled leaflets and a school that has a comprehensible website with good info and additionally provides access to online learning tools, which one do you think they will select?
Thirdly: you are frustrated. You are wasting time to do things an application could do for you. You are upset waiting for the old inkjet printer to print your class materials. You are angry because preparation of a report in a spreadsheet takes ages. Don’t waste your energy. Instead of getting upset, reach for the tools that will help you and your staff in work. You can do with the spared time whatever you want.
So far we have operated on a quite general level. Let’s get specific now. For example, LangLion Platform makes such time- and effort-consuming activities of language schools as creation of contract much easier and simpler. What is this solution about? With a single click we can add several variables, such as personal data of a course participant, group type, payment method etc., to a ready contract template in a Word file. On this basis, the Platform will automatically generate a ready-to-sign contract, without the need to sit for hours over a sheet of paper with a ball-pen. The process is greatly facilitated through online registration, owing to which new course participants can fill in all required forms on their own from anyplace and the queues that scare clients away will disappear from the secretariat. Schools also praise the functionality offered by the Platform to handle correspondence within the system, without the necessity to remember and copy e-mail addresses or phone numbers. It is equally easy to send individual or group messages to students, teachers, parents. Equally helpful are SMS messages, whose sending will take no longer than 15 seconds regardless of the number of contacts. The platform analyses and calculates the number of planned classes on ongoing basis, owing to which it guarantees continuous control over the dates of the end of classes across particular groups. Those are just a few of the functionalities. They draw a picture of the scale of facilitation offered by such new technologies in education as LangLion.
So take courage: technology can be your ally in running a modern language school. Share your fears related to technologies in the comments – we will try to help.