Technology's Effects on Education
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/education/technology-is-changing-how-students-learn-teachers-say.html
As technology is constantly being improved, it brings many benefits for modern society but at the same time it is causing many of problems. For instance, while statistics show that children are becoming more advanced in most aspects of better education, technology still have several drawbacks for learning. Reduced attention spans and the need for immediate satisfaction are detrimental to student's work ethic, believed to be caused by overexposure to electronic devices. According to the article, though 75% of teacher think that the search engine and the internet had a “mostly positive” impact on student research skills, yet 90% said that digital technologies were creating “an easily distracted generation with short attention spans.” Search engines provide information almost immediately to students when looking for references, however may too easily grant immediate satisfaction when finding information for their work.
So how can we help to eliminate those habits and help students become more engaged both inside and outside the classroom?
For example, if the topic is presented in an interesting way that it is more likely to catch student's attention such as making an activity out of it. It is important to note that the "gamification" of educational topics is very risky because it feeds into the habit of a short attention span. How can we even grantee that lecturers will teach that way?
Sunny Chen
As technology is constantly being improved, it brings many benefits for modern society but at the same time it is causing many of problems. For instance, while statistics show that children are becoming more advanced in most aspects of better education, technology still have several drawbacks for learning. Reduced attention spans and the need for immediate satisfaction are detrimental to student's work ethic, believed to be caused by overexposure to electronic devices. According to the article, though 75% of teacher think that the search engine and the internet had a “mostly positive” impact on student research skills, yet 90% said that digital technologies were creating “an easily distracted generation with short attention spans.” Search engines provide information almost immediately to students when looking for references, however may too easily grant immediate satisfaction when finding information for their work.
So how can we help to eliminate those habits and help students become more engaged both inside and outside the classroom?
For example, if the topic is presented in an interesting way that it is more likely to catch student's attention such as making an activity out of it. It is important to note that the "gamification" of educational topics is very risky because it feeds into the habit of a short attention span. How can we even grantee that lecturers will teach that way?
Sunny Chen
In the modern world, technologies are widely used in different schools, especially colleges. Most students would bring an electrical device with them going to classes. In fact, many high school students, instead of writing the notes out on a notebook, are taking notes on an iPad in the recent days. Although it might be more efficient doing so, many students get distracted from their devices. In some high schools, school officials limit the access to certain websites, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube, to try to make their students focus on coursework, but students can just easily download games on their devices to play in class. College students mostly have no trouble visiting any websites they want, so the problem even becomes more severe. There was a report saying that students are more likely to remember what they write down instead of typing on their computer. Although writing everything down by hands may not be as fast as recording on an electrical device, it, in some ways, is better off for students’ learning.
ReplyDeleteTechnology has influenced society both positively and negatively. The positive influence is that people can even access the Internet on their phones without depending on a larger device. The negative influence is that people use their phones when they're not supposed to, such as for entertainment purposes, which can result in addiction. Addiction could be permanent. People will learn less and have less face-to-face conversations if they just look at their phones for unnecessary things.
ReplyDelete