ince its inception technology has made major strides in terms of advancement. This has seen its use for many purposes such as communication, leisure and education. Critics have argued that technology is blessing in disguise when it comes to its use in education system. The logic behind such arguments is that there are merits and demerits of its use in education at all levels. One of the major concerns is that technology has reduced the contact hours between the teachers and the students. How can technology obstruct or destruct the quality of education? This is the question that this paper wishes to address by looking at the pros and cons of education. The use of technology in education mainly revolves around the use of computers (Sather. T. 1999).
To begin with, the main advantage of using computers in education is that it provides practice and drill for the students. Teacher instruction may become tedious over time unlike computers which provides motivation to the students to continue learning. Computers provide an alternative for students who may be discouraged from learning by making abstract material visible to them.
The other advantage is that the internet avails monumental information to students because it allows them to interact with different cultures and has information on any imaginable thing. GLOBE is an example of a program that allows students to participate actively.
Exploration is also another merit of technology on education. The act of researching papers and searching for information on the internet with extensive resource keeps the students engaged in learning and projects for a long period than they would with sets of encyclopedias.
In addition lesson integration is another advantage of technology on education. Students tend to be more exited and engaged in the subject at hand. Tedious lessons such as social studies become more interesting with streaming videos and virtual trips. People with special needs get the required attention as computers allow them to learn at their own pace. It allows the teachers to achieve more while feeling less stressed because the students receive direct instructions from the computer. Handicapped students are also aided in communication by use of assistive technology (Savage. J. 2012).
The cost of acquiring the equipments needed is also cheap because schools are able to access grants from external sources. The training that is required by the students and teachers operating in technology classrooms comes in handy because they can use it in part time jobs and future career jobs.
Another advantage is that the use of technology, computers, has made record keeping easy. Schools no longer require stores to keep files as this is easily achieved by creating database systems in computers. This makes retrieving and managing students information easy and relatively fast.
Technology has also helped teachers to combat students cheating when they are given assignments. This is achieved by the use of programs that detect plagiarism in any piece of work. This makes students do their assignments diligently even under minimum supervision.
Video games and music can also enhance performance of students unlike the prior belief. Research has shown that music alleviates depression and anxiety (Carland-Adams). Music increases cognitive functioning and enhances mood as spatial awareness. In addition, use of video games has allowed players to ‘track the movement of a third more object on the screen’. This improves the ability of the player to pin point details amid clutter.
Online education is another field that has proven beyond reasonable doubt the advantages of technology on education. Self motivated students who are self disciplined, matured and have high degrees of managing time have been able to access high education via online lectures. This has made it possible for learners to study and at the same time under take other economic activities (Maddux. C.D, 2005).
However technology has some pitfalls on education. The first demerit technology on education is on exploration. Some students may explore beyond the set parameters living them more confused than they were. The end result of such a venture is that it degrades the students’ ability to distinguish between what to take and what to ignore.
Secondly special needs education has proved to be very expensive to put up. This can lead to drainage of massive resources that could have been used for more integrative purposes. In addition acquiring computers for individual students, laptops, may be very expensive more so because a replacement is needed after two to three years of consecutive use. More teachers are also required to meet the needs of students using technology. Besides many teachers still remain skeptical on taking extra classes that enable them to acquire the necessary skills because its time consuming. All these factors put together may consume a lot of resources.
Due to presence of junk information finding the right information online may be tedious. This means that teachers may take more time preparing for lessons than usual. This has proved to be a setback for the use of technology in education. This is also strengthened by the fact that if the failure of effective use of computers may make the students to loose on good educational experience (Konig. M. E. 2007).
On a more general outlook, technology has been known to have negative impact on the minds of individuals. With the emergence of social networking sites like Facebook, video calling and instant messaging learners tend to spend more time on them at the expense of constructive learning. These sites also have an addictive effect on the users which makes it hard for the users to refrain from them.
The internet has also made students to be lazier than ever before. This is because students use it whenever they have hard assignments to attend to. It’s through the internet that students are getting exposed to pornographic material. This has eroded the morals of many teenage students and has also led to short concentration spans.
Another setback of using technology is that traditional instructors find it difficult to adopt the new system especially because they were used to hand outs and one on one lectures. This makes them ineffective instructors in the modern world.
The prolonged use of computers has also been said to have negative health impact on the user. The harmful electronic rays produced by the computer screens affect the eyes of the users. This has seen many users spending a lot of money on purchasing visual aids such as spectacles.
In conclusion the advantages seem to outweigh the disadvantages by great margins. For one, the 21st century heavily relies on technology for all its aspects. This means that everybody has to meet the standards if they must get some gainful results. The education sector is no exception to this phenomenal; it has to produce students who are well trained and imparted with basic technological skills. Teachers should also be on the forefront on educating the students on the proper use of technology. They should prepare guidelines that will ensure that students know what to look for when using the internet for research. The curriculum developers must come up with methods of ensuring proper use of technology in education. This will go a long way in ensuring that students and teachers alike benefit extensively. (Lytras. M. D. 2010)).
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