How modern technology affects education: pros and cons

Until recently, teachers believed that using technology in the classroom was inappropriate and would contribute to a decline in the educational process’ quality. Many teachers feared that employing digital technology would decrease student attention, making it more difficult to learn content. Researchers offered evidence to support these statements, demonstrating that cell phones and laptops have an impact on social contact. Incorporating current technology into learning processes, on the other hand, provides numerous benefits. Let’s start with them.

Thanks to the Internet, almost any information has become accessible.

Online learning makes it possible to take courses from the world’s top universities for free or for little money. And a couple of years ago, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology put all its materials in the public domain on its website. Considering that education at this university costs more than 40,000 dollars a year, it is worth thanking modern technology for such a gift.

For someone who knows how to clearly select the necessary information and ignore spam, the Internet is a treasure trove of useful information. On its expanse there is an infinite amount of information that can develop a person in all directions. For example: raising the level of culture and cultivation of taste, learning multiple languages, learning to play musical instruments, acquire important skills in the field of medicine, psychology, cooking, design, sports, etc. There are millions of books freely available that people have only dreamed of before, as well as books by modern scientists, writers and poets with new perspectives on the world.

Professional Communities

You can find an answer to any study question on specialized forums. There are communities of mathematicians, programmers and even gamers. Thus, through various sites, forums and communities you can get into the environment of professionals and learn from them. In addition, you can take part in solving non-standard problems, competing with colleagues and thereby increasing your own professionalism.

Metrics provide a better understanding of student achievement

Teachers used to have to spend a lot of time analyzing each student’s overall academic performance, which was inefficient, especially in big classrooms with more than 20 pupils. Unfortunately, many students never succeed in rectifying incorrect learning stages that could improve their performance and help them find their abilities and affinities.

Instructors’ jobs of monitoring student performance and providing instructions and advice have gotten considerably easier since the advent of digital technologies and the Internet into classrooms, which is a win-win situation for both teachers and students. Teachers have strong insight into the areas in which students struggle or succeed because to systems that collect data on student performance in class, tests, and assignments. Furthermore, teachers can now alter classes depending on information about individual students’ or the class’s performance.

Lots of useful resources

Thanks to the internet, every student can take advantage of various homework help sites, such as a cheap coursework writing service, which can be useful in case a student does not have time to do the assignment or it simply does not interest him/her. This kind of help makes studying a lot easier.

Now let’s talk about the disadvantages of using digital technology in the classroom:

Procrastination

Any student knows: as soon as you have to prepare for a session, you want to watch all the new TV shows, play video games, find out what’s going on in the world, or read about the Mayan civilization. In the end, all preparation is reduced to clicking on links.

Who has not had this experience: was going to study, and then a friend dropped a link, so why not watch a five-minute video clip with kittens? The clip is over, but pops up ads like ten more. It’s easy to lose your sense of reality on the Internet. As a result, instead of productive learning, we swallow the hook of the advertisers, turning into Internet-addicted zombies.

The term “Internet addiction” has made its way into our speech. Some countries even have clinics that treat this disease, and in Finland they give Internet addicts a military exemption.

Memory impairment

Many psychologists note the deterioration of memory in modern people. The ability to “google” anything kills the desire to memorize anything. However, without memorization the learning process is impossible.

Younger students often do not understand why they need to learn the multiplication table if they can look it up. They don’t yet realize that they will have to peek their whole lives, so it’s easier and faster to learn.

Inability to concentrate

We think we’re doing several things at once, but in fact we’re not really doing any of them. To do a task well, you have to concentrate on it. Otherwise, we will be constantly distracted, waste a lot of time, and make a lot of mistakes.

A person can spend up to 20 minutes answering a message. Does that seem unbelievable? Do the math. Our attention span is inert, we don’t reach a high level of concentration instantly. If we were solving some important task, for example, looking for essay writing help, and suddenly we read a message, we are distracted. Then we think about what to answer, that is, we switch our attention to a completely different task. Having answered, we involuntarily think about the person’s reaction to our answer and subconsciously expect a new message. When we finally return to the original task, such as geometry homework, we need some time to reach our previous level of concentration. If you’re learning new material, it’s best to turn off your cell phones and stay off social media until you’ve completed the intended scope of work.

Whether modern technology is good or bad, we can no longer refuse it. You are unlikely to ask a friend to pigeonhole you in the evening. We have to live in modern realities and adapt to them. But sometimes it’s worth forgetting your cell phone at home or even turning off the Internet.