Essay Outline:
Introduction
Background
Education technology is currently widely used to aid learning in institutions
Thesis- The use of technology in the classroom has many benefits and demerits as well; to avoid negative impacts on education, Ed Tech use should be limited.
Body
Can misused by students
-Students end up spending more time on entertainment than class work
- Social media being prone to abuse
Can be expensive
Education Technology is widely used to enhance classroom learning in the modern classroom. Schools and parents have invested in various forms of technology like tablets, laptops and whiteboards for students’ use. Through these gargets, students are able to access other online education forums like Google classroom and social media as well. The use of technology in the classroom has many benefits and demerits as well; to avoid negative impacts on education, Ed Tech use should be limited.
Technology can be misused by students. When tablets are used in class, for example, students end up spending more time on entertainment than class work (Shockley 1). It is hard for a teacher to monitor what each student is doing on his/her tablet. Like Soraya puts it, “if left unchecked by teachers, there is no telling what kids are doing behind their screens” (1). This inability to monitor activity may mean students end up losing on the lesson.
Interactive education media is prone to abuse. Even though social media has a huge teen presence, using it for education is tricky and dangerous because unlike an actual classroom, a teacher has no control of online conversations. It may end up with undesirable effects like cyber bullying (Shockley 2). Other sharing platforms like Google docs can also be sabotaged by malicious students (3). These possibilities for failure make education on interactive platforms uncertain.
Many teachers are not well informed on use of technology. According to Shockley, many teacher websites are hard to use and look outdated which hinders or makes learning boring (2). Paignton Academy in its advice to teachers, advocates for teacher use of social media for collaborative learning but in a controlled official set up where the school sets up official social media accounts (Academy n.p). To ensure that social media is properly used, “boundaries and professional practice need to be considered at all times” (Academy n.p).
Ed Tech usage is not all negative; it has several advantages. To begin with, it is easy to track homework and discussion through forums like social media, Google docs and Google classroom. An example is Google Classroom which offers teachers and online classroom. Technology supplements whatever is done in the classroom through media like Khan Academy which has videos for lessons, which according to Shockley, I highly beneficial(Shockley 3).
Education Technology is yet to achieve effectiveness in the classroom due to limited ability to monitor and control misuse by students. Other challenges like of skills on teachers’ part also hinder effectiveness. However, to a large extentent, ED Tech can be used to supplement classroom teaching, benefiting students in a positive way.
Works Cited
Academy, Paignton. What Teachers Need To Know About Social Media. 'Paignton Community and Sports Academy | Paignton Community and Sports Academy'. Paigntonacademy.org. N.p., 2015. Web. 23 July 2015.
Shockley, Soraya. 'A Teen Take On Ed Tech'. The Huffington Post 2015: 1-3. Print.
