Pros and Cons of Technology in Education
The days where students carry tons of books or go to the library for research are gone. Today, all that students need is access to the internet and there they can access everything through their laptop, tablet and even a mobile phone. Such gadgets have become essential for academic purposes, especially currently where millions of students across where forced to take online classes due to a world health pandemic. Technology has positively impacted the education system by enabling interactive learning and bridging the gap between students and professors.
On the other hand, it has a negative effect where students lose focus in the classroom and have become less analytical problem-solvers regarding critical thinking questions.
Order custom essay Pros and Cons of Technology in Education with free plagiarism report
450+ experts on 30 subjects
Starting from 3 hours delivery
Technology makes interactive learning at any place and at any time in a safe and inexpensive manner. It has allowed the students to make use of applications, learning games, virtual labs simulations, coding and more. They have access to virtual libraries therefore less need of carrying heavy books with a positive impact for the environment. They are able to get instant access to information which makes it easier for them to study, complete project works and assignments from school more efficiently and faster. Virtual technologies provide visual and virtual hands-on experience that can have a positive impact on the entire learning process by helping students understand complex concepts and theories with more success. Students can take advantage of taking courses over the Internet at their convenience helping students with disabilities, working and many more that can’t attend in-person.
Major technological advancements have overcome the communication gaps that existed in the past between students and Instructors which allowed the flow of knowledge to keep running and become smoother and improved. Students can communicate via email or boards directly with their instructions and established a more personalized relationship. Online collaboration can allow the teacher to assign projects and students can ask for clarification and instructions. Instructors have also benefited tremendously as many of them can teach from their home offices. Technology can also enhance the flow of information among the peers through group chats, boards or forums open for discussion or research.
Many educational experts have agreed that, though technology has brought many positive impacts on education, it has also brought some unwanted negative effects. Though technology can instantly bring a variety of information to the classroom, it cannot replace teachers’ knowledge, skills, personal touch and inspiration to students, and these can lead to students uninterest in a subject. In the past students did not have a way to escape from listening to the teacher; however, in today’s culture, students can turn to a tiny, pocket-sized treasure chest of games or social media on their cell phone when they get bored in class. Cell phones have made it easier and more accessible for students to become distracted from learning. Students have less time to socialize with peers in person and also have difficulty when communicating with people face-to-face. Many of them become addicted to the internet because they do not have strong self-control and restraint.
Teachers have been noticing a degeneration in students’ ability to focus since the introduction of technological devices in student possession. Many students use their devices on non-educational sites therefore leading to lose of focus on academics while distracted by technology. This has also been shown to lessen the amount of critical thinking done by students in complex problems. On subjects like math, science, English there will always be challenges for students that they may not feel confident on how to solve a specific issue or problem. Instead of focusing on a step by step approach to work through them students have become more enabled to use the internet to find the answers, which will in turn, cause them to slowly lose the critical thinking skills necessary for their development and extremely useful as adults not only on their professional but personal life.
In conclusion technology and education go hand by hand. Positive effects include interactive learning making it more accessible to students, creating a bridge between Instructors and students. Negative effects include the distraction leading to lose of focus and becoming less analytical in problem solving. It is up to the parental and teacher figures to be aware of the negative effects will give educators more motivation and ideas to improve the effectiveness of the use of technology in education. Effectively used technology in education will be one of the most important driving forces to catapult education to a higher level in the future.
Pros and Cons of Technology in Education. (2023, Mar 14). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/pros-and-cons-of-technology-in-education/Cite this Page
Run a free check or have your essay done for you
