Impact of Technology on Education
Madushan Rajendran
Student at Sheridan College, ON
Canada
rajenmad@sheridancollege.ca
Abstract—This article overviews the advancement of
technology and how it is has revolutionized the world
mainly in terms of education. Technology without a doubt
is the greatest invention of humans that has changed our
everyday lives in all perspectives. Use of technology in
education has risen with time especially during the
COVID pandemic. Everything in this world has its
positive and negative so does the technology. This article
briefs about the positive and negative impact of
technology in education too. 21st century became the era
of technology.
I. INTRODUCTION
Technology has overtaken the world and all industries,
wherever we go we see technology is been used. Computers
are the major success of technology which has turned our lives
completed different. As technologies became advanced so did
many industries, slowly with time many industries adapted
their workstyle with technology. From healthcare, finance,
food service to education technology usage gradually
increased to the point where without the technology these
industries could no longer operate. A country with poor
technology can no longer grow in economy. In aspect to
education traditional on-class has been the most effective way
of learning for a very long time. It was the most preferred
method and proven to produce results until Covid-19
pandemic put a halt to meeting in person. Pandemic was the
time taken when education systems actually went through a
revolution. If we look back in history, it is clearly visible that
as computers advanced so did the use of technology in
education.
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
If we consider the impact of technology on modern students,
latest insights reveals that using modern technological
devices has increased the learning and interactivity of
students. When there is an involvement of technology our
interests have always been higher than traditional method and
this applies signifacntly in education. Knowledge transfer has
become very convenient, effective and easy as our focus
increases when aided by technology. Use of technology not
only has higher influence in students but also in teachers too.
Kaite J.Carstens et al.,2021 [3] states that flipped classroom
approach is being used by most teachers now and students are
able to study the notes in home and engage proactively in
discussions, activities and exercises occuring in school.
Obstacles in education such as fulltime job and illness is
technically no more an obstacle due to virtual classrooms
happening via modern technologies. Technology has
provided the students the flexibilty to maximize their
studying time. Nethra R quotes [4] that operation of
classrooms has changed vastly when compared to decade
before. IDPD (Interactive Flat Panel Displays) to smartphone
and laptop are being used with interconnection among them
via bluetooth and WiFi are being used in classroom’s today.
Balwinder Kaur
Professor, Sheridan College, ON
Canada
balwinder.kaur3@sheridancollege.c
a
Furthermore, multiple cloud relying applications are also
supporting the students which is specific to the educational
institute.
Today’s generation is growing with technology constantly
in their fingertips, the internet and social media spikes an
interest in the youth which supports the insight mentioned
previously. According to Klopfer, et al. (2009) [3], “Every
day, many students are spending countless hours immersed in
popular technologies—such as Facebook, MySpace, World of
Warcraft, or Sim City”. The impact of technology in education
is not only for students but also for teachers too. In order to
connect student’s passion in learning teachers work hard to
integrate technology into the everyday teaching. According to
Harris (2016) [3]: Today’s educators are under great pressure
to provide 21st century students with a quality education based
on 21st century standards. Those standards include providing
students with the technological and informational skills
needed to compete in an ever-changing, technology-driven
world. Technologies that enhance learning of students are
constantly sought by institutes.
Even though technology is considered a valuable resource
in education it too have negative effects on students and their
learning. In a study conducted by Sülzenbrück, et al. (2011)
[3] that examined the effect computer use has on motor skills,
they discovered that using modern technology could effect
changes in basic psychomotor and cognitive skills. This
includes using tools such as computers, electronic organizers,
navigation systems, etc. This can cause concerns in student
growth in the classroom. Modern students are not capable of
doing what students were able to do a decade ago as they rely
too much on technology. Robots, videos, virtual classrooms,
augmented reality and other tools does not only increase the
interest of students but also develop more effective practises
that foster cooperation and intellectual curiosity while
teachers can gather data about the student’s performance.
Internet is the very start of the technology in education,
computers were just a device until internet was found that is
when it reached its peak capability. Its importance and needs
have grown into multifold over the decades that a minute of
outage in internet has so many major impacts globally. Even
though internet is known for its drawbacks and scams it is also
a blessing for the students and teachers. Students before the
origin of internet in education was required to go libraries and
bookstores to do their researches and thesis. This was a time-
consuming task as they were needed to travel and also was a
difficult one as they had to go through so many books. Not
only this finding a particular context in a book was also not
easy as we do now by simply doing a google search, there was
no place where you can find all related resources relevant to a
particular topic under one place. All resources such as
journals, books, articles, videos and more are available in
palm of our hand via internet now. Accessibility and
flexibility were also a major issue before internet as libraries
and stores are closed after a specific time in earlier days so
students had to make sure they visit during the opening times
and preplan their day accordingly but after internet these can
be accessed anytime and anywhere by the students at their
flexible time. The other great thing about online resources is
these can be accessed completely for free; students do not
need to spend money buying books or CDs anymore. Teachers
are also benefiting greatly from internet as they can prepare
their notes going through resources in internet,
communicating with other educators across the world, playing
videos of lessons in class so that students are more interactive
and interested and more. Graduates before internet had double
thoughts on their PhDs as they needed to do thesis which
required great amount of researching but now most graduates
are opting for a PhD without any worries. Not only has social
media has connected many families around the world together
specially during the time of pandemic but it also helps students
work on their homework easily with the help of social media
apps such as reddit where they can post their homework and
ask a member of it to help them with it. Students are also able
to get help from their seniors or experienced people from
social media. Not only this if they find to understand a lesson
taught on class they can look up for notes from a different
student in a different institute through internet. There also so
many virtual classes available online now so that students can
learn from different people who they are able to understand
better. Internet in education has broken the geographic barrier
too as a student in India can now connect through internet to
an institute in Canada to study. Internet without a doubt has
made a huge impact on education now.
Pictures, video and audio always had a stronger appeal in
contrast to text so with the help of technological devices such
as visuals and projectors learning has become more interesting
and likeable for students. From kids to teenagers show more
focus in studying when the lesson is shown as a video in class.
This means their level of interaction and interest increases and
improves motivation. Students prefer engaging graphics and
content that encourages them to think for themselves as
opposed to just reading text. With regard to technology, the
learning process also becomes quite effective. Teachers in top
universities and colleges do not hand out notes in papers but
instead they are using PowerPoint Presentation so that they
could gain the attention of students during lessons. This not
only enhances learning but also reduces deforestation as usage
of paper is reduced. Students can also access their notes via
mobile phones on their preferred time instead of carrying the
notes around with them all the time.
Many educational applications were developed in recent
times which ease the life of students and teachers. There are
applications for tuitions, discussions, institute specific and
many more. Virtual classes are done 1 on 1 via applications so
that teachers and students can work in their comfort at home
at a flexible time. As mentioned earlier social medias allows
students to connect and communicate with other peer students
around the world. Universities and colleges use applications
such as MS Teams to conduct virtual classes professionally
and also to help students if required without the need to meet
in person. These applications also have tools such as screen
sharing, whiteboard, notes so making virtual classes more
convenient than traditional classes. Classes can also be
recorded so students can watch them whenever they wish to.
They also have institute specific applications such as LMS,
SLATE so that they could upload notes, announcements,
update calendar so that students are aware of the future
academic plans and more. Exams are conducted online under
special applications such as LockDown Browser where
students are prohibited from accessing external resources and
blocked from any means of communication similar to tradition
in-class exams. Assignments are submitted in Turnitin which
scans the entire internet for plagiarism to check the
authenticity of the student’s work so that teachers do not need
to check every work for authenticity which would be a
nightmare. Teachers are also greatly benefitted from software
such as above and furthermore they do not have to correct each
and every quiz done by students anymore instead they can
simply upload the answers online in the systems which
automatically corrects the students’ answers by comparing
with uploaded answers. Use of email has made
communication between teachers and students easier too,
students can mail their teachers with any doubts and teachers
can reply on their convenient time. Students can make
professional notes using applications such as MS Word which
provides many options and neat work in note taking. More and
more applications are being developed as per the requirement
with time for education.
Online degrees are currently a very prevalent
phenomenon. People educate themselves more often for their
certifications and learning in online courses now. Almost all
prominent institutions provide reputed online programs and
this will continue to surge as time goes by because more and
more people prefer to study in online globally due to the
flexibility of this. There are multiple platforms both paid and
free that offers so many online programs. Due to the online
programs age is no more a barrier in education, a 7-year-old
kid can learn to develop an application or a 70-year-old adult
can still graduate from a degree right from home. R.Raja
mentions that “Thanks to technology; education has gone
from passive and reactive to interactive and aggressive” [1].
In the recent times data analytics has been a hot topic, data
analytics is collecting data and using it to make useful insights.
To make education even better data analytics is being used in
few institutes. Data of the students such as marks, topics they
are weak in are being collected in order to understand the
strengths and weaknesses of the students which is then later
trained and developed.
Modern technology in education also motivates students.
Students are always curious and eager in trying out something
new and they are more likely to retain it. Millar [3] conducted
a study on motivating students in classrooms and the difficulty
of it. She said that “technology is, like giving each student
their own smartboard”. They can show what they know, and
teachers can be comfortable knowing learning is occurring.
The use of technology allows all students the opportunity to
participate, “It's hard to be honest when you have to put your
hand up in front of the room”. Students feel proud and
confident too when they gain knowledge using technology and
complete tasks.
Accessibility to education has never been this easier,
thanks to the modern technology that students with disabilities
too can study their preferred program and be part of the regular
society. There are many specialized devices for different
disabilities so that everyone receives good education equally
in this world. There are other devices made specifically with
education in mind such as amazon kindle which is more of a
digital version of a book where thousands of eBooks are
available online for users to read. Interactive white boards
allows students and teachers to collaborate and comment on a
single surface so that the entire class can see and participate
actively simultaneously.
 Use of technology in education also means that students
are learning to use them ahead before they are exposed into
industries. Today all industries rely on technologies heavily so
if someone does not know to use a technology will be declared
as an unworthy candidate so using technology in education
can be highly beneficial for the students’ future as they gain
the knowledge of using them before they actually start
working.
Although education and technology together have so many
benefits there are drawbacks too. Day by day advancement of
technology is rising and this demands that teachers will need
to learn how to use these new technologies every once in
awhile. Gressard and Loyd (1985)[1] asserted that teacher's
attitudes toward computers are a key factor in the successful
implementation of ICT in education. They pointed out that
teachers do not always have positive attitudes towards
computers and their poor attitudes may lead to a failure of the
computer- based projects. A study by Fernández-Batanero,
Román-Graván, Reyes-Rebollo, and Montenegro-Rueda
(2021)[5] found that the use of new technologies can be
detrimental to teachers because it implies changes to their
instructional strategies or pressure to pick up technological
know-how, leading to consequences like physical, social, and
psychological issues. Teachers will also be lack of time as they
have focus on their career and family whilst trying to learn
something new. Due to their busy schedule, they might also
be unable to attend training sessions held to learn the new
technology. Teachers always try to give their best to students
and they sacrifice a lot while doing it and using technology for
education only means more and more sacrificial from them.
Lack of resources and accessibility is another barrier of
technology. In order to learn the technology both students and
teachers should have access to it and not everyone is fortunate
enough to buy the latest technologies so this means the
institutes will need to purchase them so that it is available to
access in school/institute. Number of resources available also
matters as teachers and students who wish to learn them will
need to wait for long hours in order to use if it is very limited
in number. This could also be a time-consuming task and no
flexibility at all as they need to travel to and for from school
in order to utilise the technology. Another major factor is
finding a suitable trainer who could teach to use the
technology, if it is new to the market, it also means less users
who knows to use them well so arranging a well-suited trainer
for it is also a hassle. Another barrier given by Butler and
Sellbom (2002) and Chizmar & Williams (2001) is
reliability[1]. Reliability included hardware failures,
incompatible software between home and school, poor or slow
internet connectivity and out of date software which are
available mostly at school while the students/educators are
having more up-to-date software at home. Technological
delay such as slowness in WiFi ends up with classes getting
delayed as contents takes time to load, servers breaking down
during submission of assignments and students end up with
low grades, computers shutting down in middle of the exams
and much more. Getting latest technology is expensive too,
from buying the hardware to getting a trainer will cost the
institute significantly.
As many students nowadays prefer to use laptops in class
instead of writing down notes, there has been a significant
decline in writing skills. Not only this, students are using
exercising online chatting in social media with shortcuts for
typing that they tend to do the same when it comes to writing
too as a result their writing skill is tremendous. Due to the
support of autocorrection students do not know how to use the
grammar correctly, how to write cursive or the spelling of
different words. Use of laptops in class has made the students
feel that writing is a burden and they have become lethargic.
This has negatively affected the fine motor skills of students
too. Katie J. Carstens et al.[3] states that Teachers “encourage
their students to do at least some writing by hand...because
they feel students do more active thinking, synthesizing, and
editing when writing by hand, and writing by hand
discourages any temptation to copy and paste others’ work”
Advancement of technology is resulting in advancement
of cheating too. Students find new ways and technology in
order to pass the exams. Technology advancements like
graphic calculators, high-tech watches, miniature cameras,
and related tools have developed into effective exam-cheating
tools.
Even if technology motivates students, teachers
sometimes feel hard to gain students’ attention in classes as
they text messages or play games even during the classes.
Students do not spend adequate time focusing on their studies
at home as they are addicted to these things resulting in poor
academic performance and sometimes even in sports and
extracurricular activities.
Physical health and technology are like the north and south
pole because they are opposite to each other. As technology
rose so did the health issues. Nethra R [4] says “All electronic
devices emit radiation which is harmful for human body”.
Main reasons of headaches, eyesight problems and back pain
is laptop screen or mobile phones. We tend to look at them for
long hours even without blinking our eyes unconsciously.
Unique experience of music or video is given with the usage
of earphones but it ends up with hear loss in the long run.
Obesity and stress are the end result when students are seated
in the same place for longer hours using technology for study
time. Screens emit blue light radiation independent of the
device, Harvard University’s Health Department (2012)
conducted an experiment comparing the effects of 6.5 hours
of exposure to blue light to exposure to green light of
comparable brightness. The blue light suppressed melatonin
for about twice as long as the green light and shifted circadian
rhythms by twice as much (3 hours vs. 11⁄2 hours). Melatonin
and circadian rhythms are key factors for receiving quality
sleep[5]. If sleep is disrupted at a very young age this means
they are putting themselves at a greater rish of severe health
concerns in the future. Not only this, few studies as shown that
exposure to blue light in night increases the chances of cancer,
obesity, depression, diabetes and heart diseases. Students
prefer to stay home and play games instead of playing sports,
this means their body is becoming physically unfit.
Social skills of students or in generally humans has been
majorly affected by technology. Key of social skills is face to
face interaction although technology has brought the entire
world together through networking apps such as social media
it has replaced the real-life communication resulting in
isolation and social rejection. Nonverbal cues like eye contact,
voice tones, and facial expressions help people feel more
connected to others during interpersonal conversation, but in
digital communication, these indications are absent, which
lessens kids' sense of confidence, empathy, and personal
connection. Addiction to games and mobile phones has
increased the screen time but reduced the family time.
 III. CONCLUSION
John [9] quotes that “Looking back at the history of
technology in the classroom it seems that the future of
technology in education is an ever-changing landscape”. The
current databases and software will undoubtedly change or
become obsolete in a few years. Technology can help teachers
do their jobs more effectively by providing students with the
means to develop their talents and learn more than was
previously thought feasible. It has provided students to learn
in their own pace and maximize their skills specially for the
slow learners. Education has become globally accessible
thanks to the technology that has interconnected everyone
making the world smaller. “Our imagination is the only limit
to what we can hope to have in the future.” Said by Charles
F..Kettering is definitely true in terms of technology. Teachers
have become facilitators rather than an instructor leveling the
students’ thinking skills. Although covid has slowed us back
in time it has opened many possibilities in terms of education
which was not possible previously. It is impossible to ignore
the flexibility and convenience that technology provides as
well as the compelling need for change it has inspired.
Technology has both its goods and bads in education, it comes
down to the user to use it in a meaningful way at the end of
the days. Its effectiveness in terms of student outcomes when
compared to traditional education, however, is still debatable.
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