Modern Gadgets in Education: Pros and Cons You Need to Consider

Written by a Guest Contributor

Pros and Cons: Modern Gadgets in Education

The use of technology in education has proven to be too invaluable and has created many opportunities for both a student and a teacher. Teachers have found innovative ways to integrate technology into a classroom and the students are more inquisitive about learning through technology.

The use of technology has eliminated barriers and boundaries that existed before as students and teachers can collaborate with others from different geographical areas. It has also facilitated long distance learning and has enabled teachers to reach students from different places of the world. Many higher learning institutions have embraced technology and have created online virtual classrooms.

Learning online is affordable and flexible for both a student and a teacher and each can learn or teach at their own time.

These advancements in learning through technology have yielded many advantages and disadvantages. These platforms support both teaching and learning, classrooms have been digitized through technology and learning tools like iPads and computers have really facilitated this.

The Advantages or Pros

1). No boundaries

Technology facilitates online learning, and unlike the traditional classroom setting, online learning is flexible and students from different parts of the globe can access the same content from anywhere without having to travel long distances. The advancement in virtual technology has helped students and teachers to communicate from far apart geographical areas in real time. This way, students can ask questions and get answers easily from their teachers through tools like Skype and other online video calling tools.

Online education is something that has come and made things much easier as universities all over the world are publishing their content online for students worldwide to access easily.

2). Access to Resources

Technology helps students to access open educational resources from the highest ranked universities in the world. These resources are published on a public platform and can be accessed for free by anyone that has access to the Internet. These resources include e-books, podcasts, videos, and tutorials. Most teachers have embraced such platforms like YouTube as they make it easier for students to access the content and they can post it with ease.

Use of smartphones has also helped in this quest for making education much accessible through apps like Edtech. Teachers are also learning through other educators on how to use different teaching skills through videos on how to do this. These tutorials are uploaded by other educators for them to be accessed by other teachers so as to facilitate self-training. Such platforms where this content can be found is TeacherTube, YouTube, and 02learn, and they just happen to be available for free.

3). Student Motivation

The use of technology makes students feel like they’re in control of the information that they are consuming. Furthermore, students are more comfortable learning through computers as they can learn at their own pace as compared to been taught by a conventional teacher who might not have the patience required to teach a student who learns at a much slower pace as compared to others.

Teachers can publish classroom content on the school's web platform where a student can access the content at their own free time and learn at their pace and the notes can be sent via email. In such a setting, a student can be free to make mistakes and learn without the fear of been scrutinized.

4). Facilitates Writing and Learning Skills

The use of technology has helped many students come across many learning materials that have helped them to master writing proper sentences and punctuation techniques. This can be done through the word processing tools found on computers such as Microsoft Word and OpenOffice. These applications have the much-needed dictionaries built into them that highlight any mistakes and offer suggestions on the right way to write a word or a phrase.

Students have also used apps like BUSUU that help in learning many different languages and also help with grammar. Technology has also helped many improve their writing through the publishing of blogs where students get a chance to test their ability to become writers.

5). Makes Subjects More Interesting

Different digital platforms help in making it easier for students to learn various things. One of the many subjects that students may have hard time learning is math, but with technology, this has become a thing of the past with apps like BrainingCamp that makes learning math more fun. Students apply their mathematical knowledge and try to solve different math problems.

The Disadvantages or Cons

1). Technology Can Be a Distraction

When technology is used in a classroom setting, it may be a cause of distraction as the students’ attention may be drawn away from what’s being taught and to other things like playing games on a computer or an iPad.

The best way to curb this problem is by creating some rules to govern the use of the gadgets in the class with punishment for those who go against them.

2). Withdrawal from Society

This is a possible situation for a student who has an obsession with technology even though it doesn’t have to happen. Whenever assignments are given in classes, teachers should ensure that some of them involve interaction between them and the students, or students interacting with each other. Some assignments may also be structured as presentations or debates so as to make it easier for students to learn to communicate with others instead of hiding behind a computer. This also ensures that students are able to engage with others – a skill that will help them in their future personal and professional lives.

3). Technology Fosters Malpractice in Classrooms

Students can decide not to come up with original content for their assignment, thus they end up copying from on online source or communicating with someone during exams to feed them answers. Students should be taught to have integrity while using technology inside the classroom.

4). Poor Quality of Online Resources

Most of the content accessed online by students online hasn't been approved or fact checked. Anyone can just post anything that they have to say about the matter without a care if it’s factually correct or not. Students should be sure to fact-check the content that they find online.

5). Planning Can Be Labor Intensive

Those who lack the skills to operate a computer may relate to this, especially teachers. With all the benefits that modern gadgets bring to education, if a teacher is not conversant with their use, they’ll find it hard to administer lessons or share content with the students or fellow teachers. Everyone has to be taught on how to use the gadgets, be they computers, tablets, or mobile applications, in order to make it a worthwhile venture. There’s no need in implementing a system that the users cannot operate.

Conclusion

Modern gadgets in education are like a double-edged sword – they can make or break learning activities in a classroom. A gadget may be used to send an entrance essay for college or to cheat in an exam. However, with proper structures put in place to govern their use, the pros far outweigh the cons.

Author Bio
Christina Battons is a blogger and freelance writer, who researches and writes student-focused content on behalf of Thrivingwriter.com. As a trained and published writer, I love discovering new ways to use my writing as a tool to further the education of others. You can find me on Twitter and Facebook.

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