Gradual development of technology in Education
Industrialization is one of the greatest milestones that human has passed in the journey of arriving the day we live in. Even the oldest humans who lived before Homo sapiens wanted to develop their lives making their day-to-day activities much easier. The curiosity that burnt within the minds of people who lived in past caused the invention of fire. They learnt through their experiences; both successes and failures. Being the only species who can think creatively, humans have been successful in the development we have achieved today and still keep on developing. Looking at the current situation in the world, in comparison to the past, we have been developing technologically. The interest in science and inventions has kept us at a higher level in technology.
In the process of gaining knowledge, technology has made drastic changes over time. Education is a vital component in living in a well-civilized society since what teaches us to become better citizens is education. The success in the development process depends on how the process of education is carried on. Considering the current situation we can observe that technology has affected both positively and negatively on the education process.
The development in technology has changed the ways of transferring knowledge. New and creative ways of studying such as electronic
presentations, video clips, assignment submission via learning management systems have come on to the stage. The students and the educators who are interested in changes accept that as good and experience the new ways while those who are not ready to give up on what they have been doing for a long time and not willing to change their notions keep on blaming the changes and rot in their old ways without gaining the experiences. Use of technology in classrooms motivate the students in their studies and hence enhance the active participation in studying. Teaching and learning process has become more interactive since sharing knowledge and accessing the sources of information has been more interesting. It’s only a fingertip distance to gain knowledge with the use of internet where we can search for anything unknown. Internet is one of the greatest achievements in making this world a global village. Use of technology more and more helps in identifying the weaknesses and failures and as a result technology continues to develop day by day. Everything is easily done with the help of technology.
Role of technology in education during Covid-19 pandemic
In a pandemic situation where the entire world is facing a difficult time, being unable to freely go out of their residences, the typical classroom education system has failed its continuation. Instead, online education has come up with greater advantages. Without the developed technological platforms for education, the world would have been a real mess. The success the entire humankind has achieved over the years would have gone back with the discontinuation of the education system. The use of technology in education has been useful for many. Those who work during day time have taken this as an advantage and studied in the night using recorded lessons. Adapting to flexible time frames people have been able to manage the limited time they have got. Even, those who have paused their education have gained the chance to learn something in their free time. Because of time-saving and less traveling in the current education system, online learning is economic as well.
Is technology affecting us?
Even though there are so many positive impacts of using technology in education, there are some negative outcomes too. Considering Sri Lanka as an example, all the citizens are not wealthy and they do not have enough resources to access the new trends in development. Adapting to use technology in education is unbearable for some people in third world countries. How can we expect every student to have the necessary devices when they hardly make their families hardly make the ends meet? People who live in rural areas do not have necessary internet facilities and the quality of signal leads those students to a huge trouble.
Technology is a way of making our tasks easier. We should not be slaves of technology. Depending too much on technology will do a lot of harm. Affording little ones with smart devices will lose the real abilities they could get associating the nature. From their little age, they lose their natural creativity, love towards nature, humanity and all those great qualities robots lack.
If humans were to be robot-like, they would have born robots. Using technology in education from very small age will make humans a part of machines and they will start to think like machines with no emotions. Using technology as we are dependent on it can cause health problems as well. Working with digital screens and staying in the same position for long hours will cause eye defects such as short sight, skeletal and muscular problems. Lack of exercise will create a lazy set of people with obesity and other non-transmitting diseases.
Every coin has two sides and there are no perfect things. The balance between good and bad will decide the image it forms. If we look for the bad we will never see the good. What matters is what you are looking for. Moving into the future we will use technology in every little thing we do.
(Images taken from internet)
References:
Richie, K.S. (December 21, 2018). The positive and negative effects of technology on education reconsidered. Retrieved from http://www.dezzain.com/technology/technology-effects-on-education/
Sabharwal, S. (October 2, 2020). Matters of the mind: worrying about technology won’t help. Retrieved from https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/life-style/matters-of-the-mind-technology-social-media-addiction-6663247/
Hayat, M.S. (August 27, 2020). Remote learning for students who don’t have internet access in 2020. Retrieved from https://elearningindustry.com/remote-learning-students-dont-have-internet-access-2020
Five interactive presentation ideas that will engage students. (September 21, 2019). Retrieved from https://www.viewsonic.com/library/education/5-interactive-presentations-ideas-that-will-engage-students/
KRISHANI GUNAWARDANA
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
