Technology: Three Pros and Three Cons
Author:
Santosh Kumar Biswa, Sr. Teacher, Damphu CS, Tsirang, Bhutan
Abstract
Today, with the advent of science and technology and the gaining popularity of social media, every curriculum revision by the education department discusses the integration of ICT through the curriculum. The use of technology in the classroom system is given higher priority today due to the increasing popularity of technological usage in every corner of the world. Kalpan (2017) put forward by saying that any kind of learning through the use of technology is vital in their own way because technology is essential to the present existence of humans. He added that access to knowledge through interaction and creative accessibility is an urgent call in any educational process. Thus, Prensky (2008) insisted on providing skills in using technology skills to students for individualized help. But, the use of technology in the school has its own pros and cons.
Three
Pros of the Integration of Technology
For a successful educational environment in the
school, all students are to be given equal access and opportunities to use
technology (The Leadership and Career Blog, 2021) because by using technology
during the learning process students are going to achieve success. Three pros
of the integration of technology are:
i.
Technology enhances learning in new ways for today’s student
Away from the traditional way of learning, with the
use of technology in the classroom, students can boost their learning in a new
way in a more creative manner. In fact, as new tools, students will be able to
assemble a variety of concepts meaningfully with the help of the internet
through analysis and creating new knowledge and ideas, creativity, and critical
thinking (Prensky, 2008).
In my milieu, more than me using the technology
myself, students are trained and involved to use technology and learn during
the classroom learning processes and also at home whereby students are involved
in peer activity or group in finding knowledge based on the content learned. It
is observed that students enjoy it and yes, it proved to be worth it because
apart from learning alone, they are also found building leadership and
independent learning skills. On the other hand, technology has made learning
easy even during off hours because students can easily interact with their
subject teachers using social media. Even with their friends, they can interact
in seeking on-the-spot feedback and suggestions based on their learning
outcomes. Mostly, in my milieu, we use Google Classroom, Padlet, messenger
group, and WhatsApp group to communicate with my students so that I can check
their work, provide constructive feedback and suggestions instantly, and based
on their convenience. This has proven to encourage them to learn better and
have better teacher-student relationships.
ii. Technology enables learning efficiently
through easy access to information and data from one location
In the past, access to information and data for
learning wasn’t easy as students were required to go to the library quite
often, and sometimes they even struggled due to the lack of proper resources in
the library. Only a few library books and references will be available in the
library. Research learning and writing assignments were difficult tasks at that
time. But, with the use of technology at present time, they hardly need to go
to the library because they can google it for the data and information needed,
making it easy to access any kind of thing from their location. Now they don’t
need to go to the library and wait in lines to get the books. Since the library
is right at their fingertip, they are now able to exhibit a variety of skills
through their technological literacy filtering the media bias and ethics in
preparing themselves to be an informed person (Ledward and Hirata, 2011).
In my milieu, mostly, students are mostly engaged
through research learning and project writing using technologies. As it is
integrated into the learning process, mostly, they will be analyzing the
contents through research and finding so that they make connections to their
own life deriving values for themselves. Moreover, students are also gaining
skills like critical and creative thinking, cooperative and collaborative
skills, media literacy, technology literacy, social skills, etc. that enable
them to gain 21st-century experience during their learning process.
iii.
Technology improves Collaboration and Communication
Unlike in the past, teachers can now take advantage
of technology during the teaching and learning process to achieve different
levels of success. Through the application of technological tools in the
classroom, the teacher can provide extended opportunities to the students
through increased engagement and guidance (AU, 2021). Technology promotes
effective collaboration and communication skills among students in which they
will be helping each other while using the technology. They can at any time
seek help or provide help to their peer (Walden University, 2021). Thus,
technology improves students’ collaboration with people around the world for
fruitful discussions and learning.
In my milieu, students are mostly engaged through
online games or quizzes where they solve problems in collaboration with their
peers. They share their ideas and support one another while collaborating to
solve the given tasks (AU, 2021). Technology enables fruitful interaction with
their subject teacher for suggestions and feedback. It keeps students engaged
at home with their home tasks and uploads them later for corrections, evaluates
peers’ assignments, and provides them with constructive suggestions and
feedback with the help of their mobile or laptops.
Three
Cons of the Integration of Technology
Having said that, technologies provide advantages to
all in various ways, but they also have their own dark sides. The following are
the three cons of the integration of technology.
i.
Technology makes Students Addicted to the social media and its Reality
One of the disadvantages of using technology by
students is that they get addicted to social media like Facebook, WhatsApp,
TikTok, Instagram, etc. whereby, instead of studying meaningfully they may
waste their time updating their Facebook or Instagram profile. In addition,
they also become addicted to online games that waste their time and keep them
away from using the internet to gain knowledge and learning or learning through
using available journals or books on the internet.
In my milieu, it was observed that students quite
often miss submitting their assignments on time and are seen online busy
chatting through social media. Sometimes, students are busy watching YouTube
when the class is going on. Some even misuse the technology and can become
victims of cyberbullying that ultimately affects their studies.
ii.
Technology can be expensive and cannot be afforded by all parents.
The affordability of acquiring computers, laptops,
or mobile by some parents can be difficult due to their work and financial status
and the lack of facilities in the school may cause disparities among the
children in the school because there won’t be enough equipment in the school
too. Students coming from wealthy families continue to use the technology, but
those coming from poor families have disadvantages over it and may make them
lower their self-esteem seeing others possessing it.
In my milieu, most students come from the villages,
and it is observed that only a few students can afford to buy it. What about
those parents who cannot afford to buy any gadgets for their children? This
makes the system think a lot about their self-esteem and motivation towards
learning.
iii.
Technology can Disconnect Students and Open the Forum to Cheat.
Gaille (2018) stated that technology has captured
the classroom a lot by keeping them away from face-to-face interaction and
relationships. Thus, it would keep them away from their families and remain
disconnected from their teachers, peers, and any form of interaction with
people and they may not be able to communicate verbally due to their increasing
habit of online interaction (Nguyen, 2019). Moreover, technology would open a
forum for them to cheat easily. Quite often students may not submit their
assignments or may cheat by sharing their work with their friends, especially
in the absence of the teacher monitoring the class through sending messages.
Thus, learning would be replaced by cheating.
In my milieu, it was observed that students who are
vigorously engaged in social media participate less in classroom activities, or
sometimes they remain lost in class. Moreover, it was observed that students
don’t do the given task sincerely by themselves, instead, they share ideas and
answers. Thus, similar responses are found away from the expected multiple
answers for the collaboration of ideas.
Conclusion
Technology has both pros and cons. Success occurs in
the learners if they are taught to handle it wisely. According to Johnson
(2015), he stated that any kind of learning depends on how students are made to
do things well. Several safety measures both at home by parents and by teachers
in the school should be taken into consideration in guiding students to handle
technology carefully and meaningfully. Technology helps students in many ways
in preparing them to face the challenges ahead in their lives. But, parents and
teachers should take a lead role in making students understand that technology
should be used only as a tool during the learning process, and not depend
completely on it.
Reference
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