Technological
advancements are always being made and it is used in everyday life; work life,
social life and personal life. Technology in education today plays an important
role in improving children’s learning, enabling them to enhance their skills
holistically and knowledge. Technology is manifested through the use of
computers and iPad or Macs or Tablets etc and it can be of great use for
practitioners when planning lessons.
As well as
having many benefits to using technology within education, there are also some
negatives. One of the positives of technology within education is that it
promotes independent learning and students can use the resource as a source of
information as they have access to the world. Although, with such freedom,
there are also some challenges to this. Some content online may be explicit and
inappropriate for students. To overcome this challenge, it is important that there
are precautions made when allowing students to use technology. This can be done
by blocking certain websites and talking to the children and parents about internet
safety. It can also be beneficial to get external agencies in the school to talk
to the students, making them aware of the dangers and how to stay safe online.
As mentioned by Chang & Wang (2009); Kessler
& Plakans (2008); Sacristán, Sandoval & Gil (2007) technology has
obtained increasing amount of attention in education. It has become a big part
of education and is used as a earning tool. Graham (2008) agrees that in order
to teach children effectively using technology, both students and teachers need
to be in a technology- rich environment. It is also important to make students,
teachers and parents aware of the possible dangers and challenges that come
when using technology. Technology can be costly for schools, which may prevent
them from providing modern technological tools.
This is a
short video which shows us some of the positives and negatives of technology within
education.
Technology changes the way in
which students are taught and as Tapscott (2009) says, “DT has enabled education processes to depart from ‘old-
fashioned’ teacher delivery of content and instead to ‘focus on lifelong
learning, not teaching to the test’”(p 148). In order to use technology as a tool to educate children,
teachers need to be properly trained as
teachers need to feel confident when using technology because it will enable
them to gain full use of it. Nagel (2013) mentions that the “lack of adequate, ongoing professional development for
teachers who are required to integrate new technologies into their classrooms
yet who are unprepared or unable to understand new technologies.” Supporting this, Yeung, A.S. et al (2012) says
that “education
should reconsider training contents and approaches.” Agreeing
with Yeung, et al., Mcwilliam (2008), has said that in order to teach students
about and with technology, they need to develop their skills, knowledge and
confidence. Although, as technology is always
up dating, as it is becoming more and more costly, meaning that some schools
may not be able to afford it. This is mentioned by the
British Council as they also that “Schools
undoubtedly avoid using technology because they lack the sufficient budget
spending it entails” (Teaching
English | British Council | BBC, 2019). This would mean that children are
prevented from further enhancing their skills and knowledge because schools do
not have sufficient funding. Donaldson
believes that we need to be more than consumers of technology and to develop
the knowledge and skills required to use technology creatively.
Teachers play an
important role in education, it is a performance, and this is something that
technology cannot accomplish. This is recognized by Purewal (2016) as he states
that “teaching is a
performance, its reading the room and working it” which is something technology is unable to
do, as he also says, “empathy
is a key area of difficulty for technology and automation”. Technology is a good resource to find information
and to use as a learning tool, although, they cannot form emotions. Emotions is
what helps us to properly education and help children. Purewal (2016) also supports
this by saying “Technology can’t detect
emotional states, let alone adapt its behaviour to cater accordingly” and this ability to detect others’ emotions enables practitioners
to relate to and understand the children, meaning that they’re more capable of meeting
the needs of and educating the students. They’re also able to create a bond
with them, forming a relationship means it is more likely students will tur to
their practitioner and disclose to them.
In the life as a practitioner,
things don’t always plan out as they’re meant to; meaning that a member off
staff may not be in, or activities can’t go ahead and practitioners are
required to think ahead and have a ‘plan B’ or sometimes thinking on their feet,
which is something technology is unable to do. In agreement with this, Purewal
(2016) states that it is one of the key skills a practitioner has. Opposing to this idea that
teachers cannot be replaced is Kalia (2018) who believes that there is a high
chance that teachers will be replaced as she states that “the 2017 Oxford University's study estimated
that 47% of all U.S. jobs could be replaced by AI-Bots within 20 years”. Although this may be the situation, technology
at the moment is used more as a tool in education, to help aid practitioners. The reason for this may be because technology
provides wide range of information and introducing new technologies will, in some ways replace what practitioner
do, as It can “aid data-gathering significantly, freeing up
teachers’ time and allowing them to focus on more important aspects of their
work” (Purewal, H.,
2016).
Technology has
advanced greatly over the years and we are able to connect with the world. In agreement
to this, Purewal (2016) states that “technology has the
potential to reach those who don’t have access to a classroom”, for example, some practitioners contact external agencies, celebrities
or other schools around the world as part of their approach to learning and engaging
students. The effectiveness of technology in education is dependent on the
practitioners’ ability to integrate it into their teaching (Kent, T. W., & McNergney, R. F., 1999). As technology is
advancing and integrating in businesses, teachers’ jobs could be a risk as Michael
Trucano (2015) states that “Teachers who don't use technology will be replaced by
teachers who do.”
As mentioned by Hooper and Rieber
(1995), schoolwork focusses more on remembering, organisation of lessons and
ensuring that curriculum is followed, rather than making the information they are
providing meaningful. This is a video showing us the future of education and what
happens with the help of practitioners educating students to be life long learners
rather than teaching them to be good test takers.
As these
technological advancements are being made, it is also said that they are also affecting
the curriculum by Watanabe-Crockett (2013) who says that “Educators are taking advantage of open resources to expand their
curricula with media-rich tools and texts that can be used and adapted to
specific lessons," according to the report. "Formerly bound by the
framework of standardized course materials, teachers now have access to a
wealth of digital information that they can use to meet district
expectations." The LNF is available for practitioners
to use to develop curriculum content, which ensures that learners have the
opportunities to develop and refine their skills set.
As we are in the
21st century, technology is incorporated in everyday life, including
education. There are many benefits and negatives to incorporating modern technology
in lessons. When using technology in lessons, it can be distracting for the
students and the people around them, which is supported by Himmelsbach (2019) as he
states that “Laptops distract from learning,
both for users and for those around them”
and
this could lead to bad performances in class. Although, technology within lessons
can provide different opportunities for children as it can become more fun and
enjoyable, meaning that children are more likely to be engaged in the lesson. This
is believed to have a positive outcome for the students by Savvidis (2016) as
he states that “Students who are
engaged and interested in things they are studying, are expected to have a
better knowledge retention”. This outcome could possibly lead to the children having a
successful future with technology as “Students can
gain the skills they will need to be successful in the future” (Savvidis, P., 2016) as most organisations use modern
technology as it has now become a necessity.
Chang,
C. &Wang, H. (2009). Issues of inquiry learning in digital learning
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Graham,
L. (2008). Teachers are digikids too: the digital histories and digital lives
of young teachers in English primary schools. Literacy, 42, 1, 10-18.
Himmelsbach,
V. (2019). Six Major Pros
& Cons of Technology in the Classroom.
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Kessler,
G. & Plakans, L. (2008). Does teachers' confidence with CALL equal
innovative and integrated use? Computer Assisted Language Learning, 21, 3,
269-282.
McWilliam,
E. (2008). Unlearning how to teach. Innovations in Education & Teaching
International, 45, 3, 263-269.
Nagel,
D. (2013). 6 Technology Challenges Facing Education -- THE Journal.
[online] THE Journal. Available at:
https://thejournal.com/articles/2013/06/04/6-technology-challenges-facing-education.aspx
[Accessed 5 May 2019].
Sacristán,
A., Sandoval, I. & Gil, N. (2007). Incorporating digital technologies to
the mathematics classroom: in-service teachers reflect on the changes in their
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Tapscott,
D. (2009). Grown up digital. New York: McGraw-Hill.
TeachingEnglish
| British Council | BBC. (2019). Using technology in lessons.
[online] Available at:
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/nanashengelaia/using-technology-lessons-1
[Accessed 6 May 2019].
Watanabe-Crockett,
L. (2013). 6 Technology Challenges Facing Education. [online]
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[Accessed 5 May 2019].
Yeung,
A.S. et al., 2012. Mandatory use of technology in teaching: Who cares and so
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[Accessed 5 May 2019].
