Abstract
The research examines the concept of technology and how it influences education. It involves the examination of the fundamental methods and systems applied and utilized in teaching and how it has been shaped and influenced by technology. The research indicates that technology has generally shaped and modified the system of communication in and around the world. Due to that, education has had to change and be modified in order to include and integrate technology as an integral part.
Education has various direct applications including platforms and communication methods and models that are important and vital towards the conduct of interactions and processes. This include the procedures and systems that promote the best and most appropriate methods of meeting educational objectives and goals. Many of them include the ability to understand and appreciate the actual setting within which education is being actually carried out.
Furthermore, it is postulated that in future, education will be fundamentally based on technological systems and platforms. This will include the process whereby the different organizations and frameworks will be skewed to fit into dominant and vital technological packages and systems. This will lead to the provision of various activities and processes that will provide optimal results and systems.
Introduction
Technology is an important and fundamental part of the lives that most people live in the 21st Century. It has changed the way people do things including communication, social interactions and acquiring and transmitting information and data. There are many elements and aspects through which education has changed and has been modified in the modern society because of technology. The purpose of this paper is to critically analyze and review the ways through which technology has revolutionized education in the modern society.
The paper will commence by identifying the general process and system through which technology is affecting education and having an impact on learners and instructors. This will be followed by the examination of educational concepts and theories that have been influenced significantly by technology. Finally, modern trends in education that have changed on the basis of modern technology will be examined in-depth.
General Impact of Technology on Education
Technology has a major impact on the learning and acquisition of new information about almost every subject in the world. Technology provides a basis through which people understand and evaluate the way they do things and carry out various processes in order to make meaning of life and transmit information from one point or person to another.
“Studies show that there is a strong link between the utilization of technology and the achievement of results in current educational pedagogy because people tend to think within the context of an educational framework defined by technological tools and equipment”. This means that people are expected to have some basic knowledge and understanding of various elements and features of communication in the digital and technological framework. This provides the basis for the conduct of affairs and procedures in ways that ensure the best results are achieved in operations and applied in various forms of operation and activities.
“The Internet has had the greatest impact on higher education and paved the way for many new ways of education. The further development of Web 2.0 tools and social media has changed the landscape of recruiting and job searching even more.”. This is an obvious fact that shows that communication and discussions are carried out within the context of the Internet and its related activities and processes. This provides a platform and framework that influences and is influenced by education. This is because education provides a way of getting people to integrate and optimize their activities in the society. Therefore, if people are thinking in one particular context, there is a general trend towards education picking up that trend and utilizing it in transferring knowledge.
Other scholars hold differing views on how technology has a way of connecting with education. Disciplines and institutional cultures, time investment and beliefs towards employability are influenced by the approach and methods of training.. This argument indicates that if people tend to think in ways whereby technology is seen as an essential and a central part of transmission of information and culture, there is a natural tendency for professionals and experts to learn and understand and appreciate different pointers that are conveyed over technological systems and processes.
Technology is an important element and feature of shaping the way people connect and communicate. Therefore, all the authorities seem to agree that there are push and pull factors through which education is given a center-stage and importance and vitality in everything that is done and instruction is therefore changed to reflect the needs and desires of people who are in institutions of higher learning and other organizations that are adapted to the utilization of computerized systems and methods for the teaching and dissemination of information and data.
Educational Concepts and Theories Influenced by Technology
There are numerous educational concepts that are relevant and applicable to the utilization of technology in changing modern education. Concepts like culture and its related practices are necessary and relevant to educational institutions and their utilization of technology in teaching and learning.
First of all, Nye (2015) identifies that the use of technology create distinct educational platforms and systems that are utilized in the teaching and learning of new things and concepts. This leads to the creation of a distinct culture of learning and understanding information that is coded into the online platform . The creation of this kind of distinct cultural system and methods of communication and interchange in the learning environment involves the use of computers and other information technological systems and processes.
Secondly, some authors identify that the use of technology causes the redesign and the transposition of normal and standardized educational concepts and theories to a different context that can work with the online system and environment. Therefore, there is a transition of the normal concepts and ideas that education is known for and this is used as a basis for the conduct of evaluation and analysis of matters and processes. This has led to many procedures and aspects of life that have been completely different and the Internet creates a new environment in which education is changed and modified for the best goals and ends.
“Higher education has evolved over the years to utilize new technologies as an integral part.” . This perspective implies that higher education cannot be conducted today without the utilization of computers and other related materials. Thus, there is the need for the presentation of various techniques and systems like typing assignments, conducting research and other things that are now seen as an integral part of getting a degree. It is almost unthinkable for anyone to graduate from a degree program without having a familiarity with the utilization of computers for the completion of projects. Therefore, it can be said that electronic and electrical technology is a vital and inseparable part of education in today’s world.
Modern Trends in Education that are Based on Modern Technology
There are various activities that are based on modern technology which is essential and adds up to the learning and application of new concepts and ideas. This includes various enhancements and procedures that enriches learning and makes students appreciate the content of a new course. Therefore, it is necessary and vital for technology to be considered a part of education in institutions of higher learning and this provides an important procedure to appreciate new methods.
Tools like “ e-modules, sophisticated simulations and serious games, to online collaborative learning”. This is because they provide situations and create settings whereby people can get more enriched experiences. This include the playing of strategy games and other procedures that are of a level that improves the experiences of a person and enhances the way people interact with each other and communicate and see the world outside society.
Future Trends of Technology in Education
Computers and their implications to education are not likely to die any time soon. Most writers agree that technology is only going to increase and its impacts on the educational community is going to increase significantly. Therefore, most of these writers argue that there is going to be a technological revolution and just as paperless offices were luxurious in the past but are very common in today’s world, it is possible that education will become paperless altogether at some point and things will be done almost solely electronically.
One prediction is that, “in the future, the common goal will be to create connections that lead to strong working relationships.”. This implies that the network and social media and other things which transcends distance and limits is going to be a norm rather than an exception. Students are going to seek to connect with their professors and instructors and learners can have anytime-anywhere access to educational materials and use it to reinforce their knowledge and improve their views of how education should be carried out.
Another view is that technology in education is going to promote more independence and autonomy. This is because in the past, learners just took instructions and they had nothing to do but to accept everything they were taught as absolute without questions. However, in the era of computers and technology, there is a major change in the way things are done and how communication is conducted.
“Research shows interactivity, practice exercises, feedback and repetition are important instructional features to stimulate learning outcomes” . The implication is that there are more enriched activities and learning is more focused and entrenched through technology. Multimedia outlets allow for different activities to be carried out in ways that ensure that there is a wide array of options that can be applied and utilized in learning and understanding information and data. This helps to enrich the educational methods and processes of companies and allow learners to appreciate and understand the best methods of concepts and ideas and apply them in the best possible framework and procedure.
Conclusion
Technology has had three main impacts on education and the teaching and learning of ideas and concepts. First of all, technology has shaped the environment within which people learn understand and appreciate new information. Since education affects and is affected by the trends in a given society, it provides a framework within which students and learners can organize their thoughts and their knowledge in order to internalize and appreciate new information. Technology has also changed the way information is exchanged. This has led to the inclusion of multimedia and technological processes into the teaching and learning system of educational processes and systems. Finally, it is evident that in future, more interaction and more technological cooperation will make technology a central and integral part of education.
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