As with the majority of posts on this blog, the post
How Technology has Changed the Way We Learn focued on the positive aspects of technology as an educational tool. This post aims not to move towards the negative, but rather, highlight some of the ways technology is prevented from being as effective in education as it can be.
Changes
“Technology changes faster than teachers can keep up.” (Roblyer & Doering,
2014, p. 20)
To adapt to the changing technology the teacher must continue to learn
about new technological advances and how to incorporate them into their
teaching. This, added to the already
busy schedule of a teacher, takes time and effort.
New gadgets and ‘fads’ are often introduced to a classroom
setting without assessing if the technology is actually the best tool for the
job at hand. “…teachers must be careful,
analytical consumers of technological innovation…” (Roblyer & Doering, 2014, p. 20)
There is also a risk that as technology becomes more and
more advanced, the human element of teaching may become lost. Ager reminds us “We still need excellent
teachers who, by their infectious enthusiasm make us change the way we think
about a subject.” (2000, p. 3) Naisbitt
further supplements this view by saying that “Whenever new technology is
introduced into society there must be a counterbalancing human response…” (1984,
p.35 quoted in Roblyer & Doering, 2014, p.20) This is especially pertinent
for students taking distance-learning options.
Students may start to miss the human interaction of being in a
classroom, so it is important to create on-line discussion groups to bring the
social aspect back into learning. (Armitage, et al., 2007)
Funding
With so many potential technological learning and teaching
tools available, educational establishments have to choose where to spend their
money. Funding is not always available to provide top-of-the-range equipment to
teachers and students. Extra training
may be required to ensure teachers are skilled enough to use new pieces of
technology, which again costs money.
Not all computer rooms have enough computers for all the
students in the class. Putting students into pairs or groups is a good way to
overcome this, but it might take longer to complete the task. In some colleges and universities, computer
rooms for teaching may have to be booked out in advance, making accessibility
difficult. (Ager, 2000) Further to this, technology that can help students with learning disabilities have
equal access to learning are often difficult to purchase.
Skills
In adult education the computing skills levels can differ
greatly. Within adult education there is also the
problem of the ‘digital divide’. This
refers to the accessibility people have to technology, and how they are able to
use it. (Roblyer &
Doering, 2014)
Armitage et.al. point out that mature students are often “fearful of using a
PC.” (2007, p. 122) Ager
illustrates that in order for a particular use of technology to be effective,
the students must be able to use it, or be familiar with the particular
function. Without this prior knowledge,
some time must be spent teaching the student how to use the piece of technology
before they can undertake the activity. (2000) This may dissuade teachers from using the resource.
Reliability of Internet Resources
The Internet is an invaluable resource for information, but it must be used correctly. Anyone can publish online and there are no quality or fact
checks in place. Some students may find
Internet searches quicker than finding information in books and journals, but
it in some cases sifting through all the sources acailable may take
several hours before a source of academic value can be found. Worse still,
not all students area aware of how to be critical of Internet sources, and may
use inappropriate sources. Armitage et.al. argue that while there is a lot of
valuable information on the Internet, “much of it is repeated from site to
site, some of it you have to pay for and some of it you can’t trust”. (Armitage, et al.,
2007, p. 124)
Technology as a distraction to learning
Evidence has suggested that students are more likely to be engaged in learning when interactive, multimedia tools are used. (Armitage et.al., 2007) However, when using technology for learning, whether in a classroom or at home, there is a risk that students may wander away from the task at hand. “For many students, use of social networking takes so much
of their time that it could prove a distraction” (Goodman, 2011 cited in
Roblyer & Doering, 2014 p.26) This suggests that even when tasks are directed and focused, there is still the temptation to 'check Facebook.'
Conclusion
Technology, when used properly has vast potential in the learning environment, but there are a number of barriers to its full effectivness. With proper training, and a full understanding of how particularly peices of technology work, many of the problems can be overcome.
References
Ager, Richard.
The Art of Information and Communication Technology for Teachers (London: David Fulton Publishers, 2000)
Armitage, Andy, et al. Teaching and Training in
Post-Compulsory Education. 3rd Edition. (Berkshire: Open University Press,
2007)
Roblyer, M.D., and Aaron H. Doering. Intergrating
Educational Technology into Teaching [New International Edition] (Essex: Pearson, 2014)
