A few weeks ago, a fellow Odyssey writer wrote about iSchool Initiative, a program that implements technology in schools to help educational development. She described the benefits of the program, offering different apps and websites for students to use. While they are very good points, there are also many downsides to implementing technology into education.
1. Fun and Games > Educational Learning
Recommended for you
One example of new technology in schools is the Ipad cart which serves little use in any classes. Students use the Ipads, which are loaded with gaming apps, mostly to kill time. A vast database, the Internet can be easily accessed for non-educational purposes. When distributed throughout the schools, the technology was supposed to serve as an advantage to learning. Not using devices as they were intended to be used destroys the whole purpose of implementing technology. In the current generation there are so few educational apps or websites avaliable to replace textbooks and worksheets that implementing technology in classes is not beneficial to students' education.
2. Trustworthiness in kids
The schools are utilizing technology by providing students with their own device. In Georgia high schools there is an average of 1161 children and 150 teachers per high school. Not every student in high school will be honest with their technology use and will abuse the resource, searching up answer keys to worksheets and researching tests that teachers distribute in class. In particular, younger students tend to play on these devices in class while the teacher is speaking, a show of disrespect towards the educator which exemplifies the failure of trusting younger students with technology.
3. Less effective classes and wasted time
These devices that schools are giving to children are also distractions for teachers, who use the devices to show their students their assignments. While trying to navigate websites and understand the technology, teachers deviate from the lesson, losing the focus of the class. Using textbooks or showing a PowerPoint in class would be more effective than trying to use an electronic device and screen sharing. Also technical difficulties, such as internet connectivity, wastes even more time in class.
Technology is expanding the generation, but it also has its downsides. Giving technology to students would create more distractions and decrease the effectiveness of class time.
