No one can deny the fact that the use of technology in education is having a tremendous impact on the learning process. How technology is changing education, though, is a topic that is being hotly debated right now by educators. Some believe that it has a positive impact on education while others believe that its impact is highly negative. That is why we have come up with a list of ten ways the latest technology in education is affecting the learning process.

Five Positive Impacts of Technology on Education

1. Education is more accessible :

In recent decades, one had to go to a university in order to learn new information, but with the advent of the internet, information is becoming so accessible and widespread, that you can now learn for free what would normally cost $50,000 to learn at a university.

In addition to free information, many educational institutions, from Harvard to the Naval War College, offer distance learning for busy professionals who would otherwise be unable to further their education. This type of learning certainly is not free, but it does make learning easier for a large number of people who want to better themselves.

2. Getting access to information is faster and more efficient :

Accessing educational resources is no longer a slow, painstaking process thanks to search engines and online databases and libraries. Technology has even made going to the library to find an actual book easier. Google has an application that allows you to find out which libraries have the books you are looking for almost instantly.

3. Multiple Ways to Disseminate Information to Students :

Thanks to Blackboard and smartboards, teachers are now able to present and disseminate information to students in a number of ways. Blackboard enables teachers to keep students apprised of their grades and upcoming due dates, while smartboards allow them to enhance the learning experience by giving them the opportunity to use everything from videos to interactive presentations in the classroom.

4. Technology makes it easier to stay organized :

Before hard drives and Blackboard, students and teachers used multiple paper folders, binders, and filing cabinets to stay on top of homework and grading. Now students can save their homework on a hard drive and turn it via Blackboard when they are finished, while teachers can use this same technology to organize their time, make lesson plans, and keep parents apprised of their children’s grades.

5. Technology is preparing students for the future :

Many of the devices and programs being utilized in the classroom, such as laptops and Microsoft Office, are used in the workplace, as well. While not all students will learn how to write code, many will be able to gain valuable user-level knowledge of these programs so that they can use them effectively in the future.

The Five Negative Impacts of Technology in The Classroom

1. Technology is making students lazy :

This is one of the major complaints teachers have about students these days. Rather than spending the time needed to do good research on a topic, many students will simply google the answer, and when they can’t find what they are looking for in the first few search results, they give up and invariably say: “I can’t do it. I don’t know.” Full report and statistic that you can find on the internet. Thanks to search engines, these students think that the answer should be available to them instantly, and when it isn’t, they give up.

2. Technology is making students stupid :

Since many students now expect to find answers instantly, they have forgotten how to engage in critical thinking that would ordinarily allow them to find answers on their own. Another impact technology is having is that it is shortening the attention spans of students. According to Pew, 90 percent of teachers believe this to be true. Many more students cannot differentiate between valid and non-valid sources of information; as a result, many students believe Instagram posts are valuable sources of information when doing academic writing.

3. Technology is Distracting :

“Turn that off” is now a common phrase in the classroom because students are constantly on their cell phones or laptops playing games and texting when they should be listening to the instruction of the teacher. Students are losing a valuable opportunity to learn, while teachers are losing their patience with the students.

4. Technology is seen as a solution to every problem :

There are many problems in classrooms across the country, and technology is expected to solve every one of them. Technology can’t solve them all, and in some cases, it only exacerbates the problems. But, technocrats in Silicon Valley are insistent that they can bring about a utopia devoid of problems, and they lobby Congress frequently to force unwanted technologies and curriculums on schools across the country.

5. Technology isn’t preparing every student for the future :

“Technology prepares students for the future” is popular slogan politicians love to throw around, but it is not completely true. Not all students can grasp how to properly use technology other than to play games and listen to the music due to variables ranging from parenting to IQ. As a result, much of the money spent on tech in the classroom is wasted.

As you can see, there are many benefits and drawbacks to using technology in the classroom. Like most things in life, we have to take the good with the bad.

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