Technological advancements have made the world a great and convenient place to live. We have seen this in fields such as science and medicine. For years, policy makers, teachers, parents, and students alike have been weighing the potential benefits of technology in education against its risks and consequences. On one hand, using technology in the classroom allows students to experiment in pedagogy and better engage students; on the other hand, it can be distracting and even foster cheating.
Incorporating technology into the classroom means that students have exposure and access to different ways of learning. Educational apps allow for students to progress at their own pace. Many are adaptive, meaning that questions and problems will get easier or more difficulty, depending on student performance. Programs can adjust to meet students at their precise learning levels.
In addition, the multitude of apps and software available means that students in the same classroom might be using different systems to learn similar material, depending on their interests and learning. Giving students the choice of different ways to learn means they’ll likely explore and try different techniques, and in the end, learn the best strategies for themselves as individual learners.
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By far, the biggest problem with using technology in education is how distracting it can be. While many great educational resources can be accessed, things that are not useful and waste time can be as well. Games, videos, and music all distract students from what they are supposed to be doing with their technology.
Furthermore, in this present generation, social networking sites are literally ruling the world with its attractive innovations students and learners are busy in checking their posts and updates, counting the number of likes, checking the status that they themselves or friends have updated, engaging in commenting on social sites etc. all these activities create a huge distance between them and their education.
Plagiarism and other forms of cheating has plagued teachers forever. While having an easy access to information may seem like a great thing, it can become a real problem in a test taking environment. Cell phones have made cheating easier than ever.
You no longer have to figure out how to write all of the answers down, you can just look them up! Students today can easily access essays, reports, class notes, tests, etc. online, making it that much more difficult for teachers to know if the work their students hand in is original. Though there are tech tools to help teachers discover if the work is plagiarized, no system is perfect.
References
- How to Integrate Technology in the Classroom – Common Sense Education
- 10 Benefits of Technology in the Classroom – The Journal
- NEA’s Top Tech Tools for Connected Teachers – NEA Member Benefits
- Seven Reasons to Use Technology in Education – Association for Computing Machinery
- Tablets Add Value to Education But Budgets Limit Use – The Journal
