Indeed, technology has been the central driver of the society as well as the industrial world. However, this does not tell the whole story; the effects of technology do not simply stop at societal transformation or industrial revolution. Rather, the education sector has also been a significant beneficiary of this advent and phenomenon. In contemporary society, one needs to look no further than the proliferation of the online classes or the digitalization of institutional libraries. Technological advents such as Skype as well as other video calling platforms have enabled education to advance beyond the initially anticipated parameters. Currently, with video calling and Skype, students and tutors in two different corners of the globe could communicate real time information and fulfill their class objectives without physically attending traditional classes. Nonetheless, technology in education has not come to replace the traditional classes but rather to give viable options as well as support these classes as the society and the world in general moves towards a technological era. The most fundamental tenet that makes technology in education so desirable is the flexibility and simplicity it provides, and this can be attested by a myriad of students taking online classes while employed.
Notably, technology has always been the frontier of human education. Indeed, this assertion started to become evident in the 1920s when technology initially began to influence education. In essence, it began with the radio, and then came the overhead projector, followed by videotapes, the Skinner Teaching Machine, the photocopier in 1959, the Scantron testing system in 1972, and ultimately the portable computers in 1981 (Purdue University, 2018). Particularly, it was the advent of the personal and portable computers that made educators realize that education was truly on the brink of greatness. In this regard, this paper seeks to highlight the main effects of technology on education such as access to online degrees, the transformation of the student-teacher relationship, improved academic performance, and assistive technology among others.
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In the education field, among the proliferating trends at all levels is the use of mobile devices, tablets, and laptops. In essence, these devices have gradually phased out some of the manual and analog educational materials such as handouts (Gall, 2018). As a result, this trend has given rise to one of the greatest effect of technology on education, online classes and degrees. According to Kole (2016), the Sloan Survey by Elaine Allen revealed that approximately thirty percent of American college students take at least one online course. The author further contends that the number of accredited learning institutions in the United States offering online degrees is increasing by the day. As such, this demonstrates the increasing trend of technology and particularly the internet on education.
The above transformation offers significant benefits such as flexibility, especially to the non-traditional students who now do not have to commute to school to attend the respective classes. As a result, these students have more time on their hands to fulfill their employment needs and objectives and those of their families. Besides, online courses and classes are characterized by video tutorials, lectures, updated class notes, and additional online study tools, which jointly allow the students to learn on the go. This phenomenon has had an immense effect on education in general with educators embracing and supporting the concept by providing platforms for testing and assessment. As such, online-learning has not only redefined the learning process but also fostered teaching of new subjects and courses corresponding to the current technologically advanced job markets.
Moreover, the effects of technology are not singularly restricted to online-learning and courses; its effects also touch on the relationship between students and teachers. Newnam (2012) notes that technology is hastily transforming how instructors teach and how students learn. One fundamental way in which technology is fulfilling this effect as the author postulates is through social networking. However, Newnam cautions the double-edged nature of social networking pointing to its ability to either promote or hinder the learning process. This aspect, he notes, depends on how the piece of technology is used; if properly integrated, it yields positive results where students and teachers can positively share their ideas in both a formal and informal manner. Otherwise, the technology could be a detrimental distraction to the education process where the students are distracted from the educational objectives and goals thereby breaking the crucial communication link between students and teachers.
Social networking could also result in unwarranted behavior such as bullying and the violation of privacy. These effects trickle down to the educational performance of the victims (students) who could get affected psychologically and socially resulting in poor performance and class engagement. According to Ritchel (2012), a Pew research showed that seventy-six percent of the teachers believe that students have been conditioned by the internet to access quick answers without really putting efforts to research. Educators call this phenomenon the “Wikipedia problem,” (Ritchel, 2012). As a result, this phenomenon has made the student-teacher relationship fragile and full of trust issues towards the students regarding the answers provided to assignments and tests. To this end, Lisa Baldwin from Great Barrington while speaking on behalf of teachers noted that there is a need for students to do more than just google and get answers, a concept that has been militated by technology, particularly the internet.
On the other hand, social networking is particularly beneficial to the introverted students as it helps them interact comfortably with teachers and other faculty members as opposed to face-to-face communication due to their shy nature. In rebuffing the sentiments by Baldwin, the College Board and the National Writing Project report that the internet and search engines have a positive impact on student research skills and that these tools have made students increasingly self-sufficient researchers (Ritchel, 2012). All the above arguments indicate the volatile effects of technology on education. Ultimately, either positive or negative results will depend on the applicability of the technology and the objectives.
Education is not only limited to the healthy and able students or individuals alone. Indeed, under the American constitution specified under the civil rights and protections, every individual has the right to education regardless of age, gender, race or disability. In addressing disability, assistive technology has been effective in bridging this gap thereby leveling the learning field and process. Lynch (2016) states that assistive technology has developed a world where special education students acquire knowledge similar to every other healthy student. As defined by the author, assistive technology is any device or equipment that aids to compensate for an individual’s disability. The impact of technology in special education thus is in the form of audio books and screen readers for the visually impaired students as well as visual learning materials and hearing aids for hearing impaired students. Further impacts of technology on special education is observed through Dragon Dictation for students with disabilities that hinder them from writing and the Draw Free app for iPad that is efficacious to students struggling with fine motor skills, especially those interested in art.
Corroborating with the previous assertions regarding the positive effects of technology on special education is Raza (2017) who contends that despite the effective nature of traditional classes, most often than not they will fail to meet the individual and unique needs of some students. However, regardless of this challenge, the author stipulates that technology through digital learning provides a crucial intervention regarding the challenge. Digital learning offers a superb milieu for individuals to learn in a manner that suits their individual needs, challenges, and capabilities. Through digital technology, teachers are also able to use different technological applications at their disposal to assist students with particular needs to learn better than before. The most notable way that technology has had a substantial impact on special education is its ability to increase access to materials such as applications and other useful technological tools in education. In the same vein, technology offers flexibility in special education whereby the student with a specific disability is not restricted to a single tool or application. This aspect has particularly been made possible by the fact that there are numerous and different competing developers who produce different products. To this end, the competition has led to the emergence of variations and alternatives.
Despite the numerous perils associated with technology as applied in the educational field, it has notably improved student performance in school, a concept that has been backed by several types of research and studies. One such study is by Al-Hariri & Al-Hattami (2017) whose investigation and discussions concluded that the use of technology can produce a comparatively better academic performance as opposed to non-usage. Since the study was specific to physiology students, the results cannot be generalized to students of other fields, but they are representative of the efficacious nature of technology on education. The technology represented in the study includes laptops, mobile phones, tablets as well as tablets with their frequency of use and popularity among students in the order provided above. The efficient nature of technology in education stems from the reliance of students on technology for their academic needs such as research.
Moreover, the effect of technology on education is not only through the direct use and application by students but also educators in the teaching process. Computers and other smart devices enable the use of tutorials and further provide a platform for simulations and analysis, precepts that would be extremely difficult if illustrated on the board. Thus, according to Gall (2018), teachers are employing these pieces of technology to replace old standardized models as well as rote learning thereby developing more personalized and self-directed experiences for students. Besides, the above technologies including tablets or laptops could be carried along to the traditional classes as a means of providing further understanding or completion of projects. The biggest secret behind the improved academic performance by technology is the fact that it has created a platform where students have control over material and tools they prefer to use in their learning process. In the process, innovation and creativity are realized.
Conclusion
The rate of technological advancement is rapidly growing with the biggest players in the educational field being smart devices such as laptops, mobile devices, tablets, and the internet. The development of technology-based learning resources has affected education for the better by making information more accessible, formatting the information in a way that is easier to understand thus allowing students to take classes from home, and to get familiar with technology thereby easing their transition into the technologically-savvy job markets. As discussed in the paper, the most significant effects of technology in education include access to online degrees, the transformation of the student-teacher relationship, improved academic performance, assistive technology, as well as bolstering or distraction of learning. Indeed, despite the positive impacts of technology, there are also unwarranted effects of its application in schools such as distraction and bullying or victimization, especially in social networking platforms. Nonetheless, pedagogy should be hinged on the type of information to be accessed online and the information to be disseminated on a more traditional face-to-face basis.
References
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