Introduction
In the recent past, rapid changes in technology have led to many new discoveries. Education is one of the sectors that have been impacted positively by new technological developments. The technological advancements witnessed currently in education sector have resulted in gradual development of new teaching and learning methods. A wide body of literature has investigated the impact of technology on education and research development. The studies highlight that even though there exist a few disadvantages in the use of technology to educate including the fact that it has made students lazier, the benefits of using technology as an aid in the educative process far outweigh the drawbacks as it provides greater access to education even for those who could not access it previously due to health and other complications and also as it provides easier access to information.
Literature Review
Technology is significant since it provides a greater access to education for those students who previously could not access these facilities. Hot on the heels of the proliferation of technology in schools and education is the concept of online education and long distance learning; this is the concept that allows students to access education for anywhere, even at the comfort of their homes, through the internet without ever needing to physically attend a classroom lesson (Hasselbring & Williams, 2013). This positively impacts the environment as it leads to less travel by students who now do not need to go to a physical classroom and also due to the fact that it help reduce the amount of paper that is consumed leading to an accompanied reduction in the cutting down of trees. Technology also provides access to education to those students who would have previously had trouble accessing physical locations especially students that have health complications and those who are physically challenged, that is, children with special needs (Hasselbring & Williams, 2013). These children may also have a disability which may negatively impact their participation in a classroom and hence affect their psychological growth. Technology can now help these students to not only access quality education at their comfort and convenience but also allows them to participate effectively in learning sessions without fear even amongst their more able bodied classmates.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Technology’s greatest and most important contribution to the field of education has to be the fact that it has made access to a wide range of relevant information that much easier. Teachers can now engage students in a wide range of important activities like problem based learning activities and also pass on information to students in an easier manner (Sabizan, & Pourhosein, Sodouri, 2013). Research assignments and presentations can now be more thoroughly researched and better done due to the fact that there is vast amounts of relevant information that exists in the internet. Also, technology has led to better student and teacher interactions as questions and suggestions by students can now be put forward to the teachers via mobile phones and online via emails which means that the students does not have to physically meet the teacher in order to gain the required information
The use of technology in education prepares students for the job market. The significance here is that the continued interaction by the students with technological devices and the internet in the search for required information produces students who are better prepared for the demands of the professional world where physical office and communication systems are being replaced by computers and online communication techniques like emails and social media (Thomas, O’Bannon, & Bolton, 2013). Thus the use of technology in students' education results in a well-rounded student who is tech savvy and comfortable with its demands. This can only result in added benefits for the students themselves. So it falls upon the teachers to ensure that they keep in touch with the latest in technological breakthroughs concerning education. It is also up to the teachers to ensure that this innovation is applied in ways that are only beneficial to their students and not detrimental.
Technology can be integrated at the classroom or school to boost the students’ score. First, the school should combine online instruction for individual learners and tailor them to suit the learning needs as well as interests of the students (Bates, 2015). In other words, embracing a blended learning is likely to boost the score because the lessons are customized. Secondly, at the classroom, teachers who are accessible to technologies should integrate them into their lessons such that when students browse the internet, they can get everything that the teachers captured in their lessons. Through this, the teachers can give interactive lectures and class instructions, and give assignments because the powerful electronic devices can support such activities. Finally, the school can embrace mobile learning. In this case, the students can use mobile devices like smartphones, cellphones, e-book readers, tablets, and MP3 players (Hasselbring &William, 2013). When used effectively, the students can get access to rich information that would help them improve their scores in various subjects.
It has been contended that incorporation of technology in the area of learning may be a problematic affair after all. Teachers and professors feel they are required to accomplish definite levels of technology expertise of which they lack the capability due to lack of training ( Eiland & Todd, 2019) . Some teacher professionals remain reluctant in incorporating technology simply because they lack the necessary resources, time, and self-confidence in their capacity to apply the available know-how. In other words, the reason why technology integration may not be beneficial in the classroom is because teachers feel they have been left out in this digital advancement. They argue that their schedule is tight and are managing a variety of tasks thus, no time to learn the skill. Critiques have a valid reason why technology should not be applied in the classroom and the issue can be identified by looking at how the curriculum is arranged. More time is allocated to training the student rather than the teacher ( Neira, Ibá, & Crosetti, 2018) . Though there is some truth on the problematic part on the knowhow, introduction and application of electronic devices in the education sector has been viewed as a promising move in maintaining efficiency in the classroom. As such, it is an advantageous approach both to the teacher and the student. A good example is that traditional method of taking notes is quite slow compared to students using laptops in the class. Consequently, a teacher is capable of progressing fast in the course outline ( Loring, 2019) . Teachers that incorporate technology in the classroom are likely to see their students excel by getting good grades compared to those who do not apply the expertise
One of the most important things in enabling the effectiveness of technology in education is changing the perception of stakeholders, particularly instructors and teachers. The study by Sarfraz et al. (2015) confirms that a positive association between teachers’ attitudes and technology training exists, and for this reason, there is a higher probability that such attitudes can have negative impacts technology implementation. For example, training alone is enough to have an influence on the manner in which an instructor endorses digital devices in the classroom . An attitude can be explained to mean a comparatively enduring system of beliefs, feelings as well as behavioral dispositions towards socially important events, groups, symbol, and items. In any learning setup, perceptions harbored and expressed by educators and learners play a crucial role in the accomplishment of key educational goals. More specifically, when innovations are applied in the classroom, the conventional methods of teaching might be forced to accommodate incommensurate innovations. Mostly, the feelings and attitudes of the instructors play a key role in learning interaction and choices for instruction, and therefore, they are crucial when it comes of evaluating the effect of innovations in the education (Sarfraz et al., 2015). Actually, studies show that the attitudes exhibited by the teachers toward IT are among the fundamental variables that assist in predicting the successful application of technology when carrying out educational activities. In fact, a number of variables have been identified to explain the correlation of teachers’ attitudes with IT, and they include teaching models, support level of school authority in integrating IT, teaching preparations of the undergraduates, teaching experience, financial aid as well as accessibility to technology training.
Conclusion
The review of literature reveals that the incorporation of technology in education produces significant benefits. Technology enables greater access to education and enables more inclusive instruction for students with disabilities. Besides this, one of the greatest contributions of technology to education is that it has made research easier and more impactful through the abundance of online resources. Also, technology has enabled students to be more prepared for the job market. It is important to include teachers and instructors in the planning and implementation of technology in education to enable effectiveness and a substantial positive effect.
References
Bates, A.W. (2015). Teaching in a Digital Age . BC Open Textbooks.
Eiland, L. S., & Todd, T. J. (2019). Considerations When Incorporating Technology Into Classroom and Experiential Teaching. The Journal of Pediatric Pharmacology and Therapeutics , 24 (4), 270-275.
Hasselbring, T.S &William H. G. (2013) Use of Computer Technology to Help Students with Special Needs. Children and computer technology
Loring, S. (2019). The Impact of Instructional Technology on Lesson Effectiveness and Obstacles to Incorporating Technology Into Lesson Design as Perceived by Elementary School Teachers.
Neira, E. A. S., Ibá, J. M. S., & Crosetti, B. D. B. (2018). Model of incorporation of emerging technologies in the classroom (MIETC). International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (IJET) , 13 (06), 124-148.
Sabizan, F, Pourhosein, A.G. & Sodouri, S. (2013). Use of Technology in Classroom for Professional Development. Journal of Language, Teaching and Research
Sarfraz, S., Mansoor, Z. & Tariq, R. (2015). Teachers’ and Students’ Perceptions of the Communicative Language Teaching Methodology in the CALL Environment: A Case Study. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences , 199, 730-736.
Thomas, K.M, O’Bannon, B.W, & Bolton, N. (2013) Cell Phones in the Classroom: Teachers’ Perspectives of Inclusion, Benefits, and Barriers, Computers in the Schools . Interdisciplinary Journal of Practice, Theory, and Applied Research
