Do you think that technology impacts the student’s lives? What are the pros and cons of technology in schools? Read more about its impact in this short article!
No aspect in today’s lives is not affected by the impact of technology and advancements that make everything easier and convenient. Although the classroom might look the same way as it was looking back in the earlier centuries, it would not be fair to say that technology has not affected the education system and students. If anything else, the students have a lot faster and easier access to education, by using any of the online services like Google or any other search engine for example. Instead of rushing to the library to gather the appropriate books that could be useful for writing the master thesis, students can download almost any book from the Internet in just a few mouse clicks. So, is the technology good for education and students, or is it bad?
There are many things that technology can offer to students, even things that no one would ever think that would be able. For example, in the traditional education system, a teacher is literally the main source of valuable information and knowledge, while at the moment the teacher can be replaced with the technology that would provide extensive knowledge to students. In this case, the teacher is there just to guide students in the right way, as the focus is on self-paced learning. This is a double-edged sword as some students will not have enough will and enthusiasm to learn on its own, while the teacher could have more “free” time to devote it to other classroom issues. In a nutshell – it is definitely a new age of education where online services like Oxford Dictionaries help students.
Besides the fact that teachers can be an additional guide to students, today’s education system stresses out the importance of self-development. Anyone, almost anywhere in the world with the Internet connection, can start learning on its own, as there are many online courses that offer knowledge. Once the student finishes school, he is able to enroll at the university he wants through the online platforms that are designed for distance learning. A lot of these platforms are free to use, for example, Duolingo is one of the best applications/platforms for learning foreign languages. The application is designed, so the student advances on its own, through the self-paced course where the student tests his knowledge without the teacher’s contribution or assistance.
While this can be a great thing, it can be a bad thing in the same amount. Some students simply cannot work on their own, especially the younger ones as they have not developed some work/ethic habits. Instead of having a teacher to test your knowledge, now you have the specially designed AI systems that work with you. A lot of students also opt for the professional help when it comes to writing and the next time you ask what is edubirdie, be prepared for an answer that reflects your incompetence to speak about the modern things in the education. If you are the older generation, you could not even think that someone else writes you an essay on a certain topic, simply because it was not “moral” neither did exist such a service that would do such thing.
The technology is useful, in any sense, and no one doubts that. Among the main pros that offer to education, there is one thing that no other education system can offer, and that is the ability to learn almost anything you want. Some of the pros that technology gives include:
These are just some examples, as we need a long piece of paper to write down all the pros that students get from the technology. The fact is that education is totally different from what it used to be in the past, but the degree of difference is equal to the importance of technology in education. There are a lot of researches that predict that traditional works like carpentry or tapestry will cease to exist. Instead, these jobs will be performed by automated robots, and you already have automated tasks, which are made by students, thanks to technology. Again, no one else but students will learn how to make those robots, and you see that the technology is a simply inevitable part of the education, simply because it is going to be needed in much more amount in the future.
Instead of having a teacher preparing and giving a test quiz to each student, all students can use a PC to access the test and solve it with a mouse and keyboard. This not only cuts down the expenses for papers and everything else, but it also prepares them for the IT sector in early ages. Some 40 years ago, not too much people had access to computers, and the It world was literally “the end of the world” to more than 90% of people/students. Today, the students make acquaintance with computers from an early age, and that enables them easier transition to programming or any other work that is related to computers. This is just a small example of how technology changed education and how it impacts students.
Since we are heading to the modernized age where computers and IT have one of the main roles, technology does not have a lot of cons to offer to students. It is not that our kids will not be able to live on their own without technology, it is just a totally different school system that we cannot understand yet fully as we had different principles and concept. One of the main cons are:
The truth is that the technology did squeeze out some of the essentials that were taught in the traditional school like orientation in nature, lighting a fire and building a basecamp, etc. However, the students will probably never have to perform these as they will always have a tech-gadget that will do this for them. This is not good in the same amount as it is a good thing. Generally, the biggest problem is that students tend to have less social activity as they can communicate through social networks and apps, but that is an entirely different topic to talk about. Essentially, the general opinion is that technology offers a lot more to students than it takes from them.
