Does technology help or hinder learning?
Majority of our lives, technology has dominated our lives, for better or for worse. We have seen the evolution of technology and how much it developed in the last 10-15 years. We have seen how people are always buying the latest new gadgets and always talking about it with their peers, families and everyone they know. People always talking about how they are loving their new laptop or MacBook Pro and enjoying every minute of it. Over the past 4 decades, technology has advanced immensely and every time they are released, more and more people start to use them. But the real question here is, does technology actually improves or hinder our lives?
Personally, I believe that it all depends on how you use it and how often you use it. For example , If you use your laptop for your own amusement, then clearly you are wasting your time and are not benefiting in anything. However, if you use it in the correct manner such as completing assignments and revision then it can be very usefully . In today's society, many of our educational tools evolve around technology . Schools today, are using smartboards and even tablets to help make learning more interactive interesting for students to engage and learn. Both staff members and students are able to access more resources easily than the traditional teaching method. As well as this, students are now able to gain information from different resources rather than just one method. The library. Previously , staff members would only be able to teach lessons only through their notes and worksheets . Now, teachers are able to access a wide range of interactive methods that will not only improve the teaching of staff , but it helps students become more engaged with their learning and helps broaden their imagination, something they would not have done previously.
As for the students, they are now able to communicate with their teachers through the internet outside of the classwork. I feel like this is very beneficial for them because not matter where they are, whether they are in the classroom or not, they can still access support anywhere. These days, teachers are too busy with other students, that you barely have the time to talk to them face to face and the only way to talk to the is through email. This way they are able to ask them any question they like without having to be rushed by other students and still get the help they need for their assignment.
However, despite the positive aspects of having technology in our educational lives, I also believe that if used incorrectly , it can turn into a huge problem. The reason being is that , technology such as mobile phone and tablets can be very distracting in a young person's life to the point where they become inseparable with it. This could also affect students' grades due to the fact that they are too busy focusing on the fascination of technology and not enough on actual school work. As well as this, a study shows that heavy use of technology whether it is in a classroom or at home can easily hinder performance of students. This may be due to the fact that schools today have many computers and laptops and students tend to use it incorrectly. In addition to this, I have found out that even though good technology can amplify good teaching, it does not replace poor teaching. This means that regardless of having great technology in schools, having well-trained teachers who are able to teach is what the students need in order to achieve good grades. Technology only enhances the teaching and learning, depending on how a student or teacher uses it.
I have also found out that one of the main reasons why students tend to fail in school is the use of social media. I feel that social media plays a huge role in how they spend most of their time and how this later reflects on their performance. I feel that social media in general can sometimes put out false and unreliable information and this can easily cause panic and misinformation in society. As well as this, people are now becoming more addicted to social media and this can easily affect their personal at work, school and at home. In addition to this, a study shows that mobile phones now make up 72% of internet trafficking which means that many people in the world are addicted to social media.
In conclusion, I believe that technology can improve learning due to the fact that it is more interactive for students and it offers more reliable information for both staff and students are able to use. In addition to this. As I said before, technology can easily enhance the teaching and make teaching more interesting for students to learn as well as students being able to connect with their teachers outside the classroom. However, this depends on how one person uses it and whether or not they use it effectively , is up to them. In addition to this, I strongly believe that if we were raised to believe that technology is the answers to everything, we would be very much mistaken due to the fact that whilst technology does help us with our school/university work , the only person who will need to put in the most work is ourselves.
