Written assignment unit 6
Master of Education
University of the People
EDUC 5220: Curriculum design and instructional decision making
Dr. Kimberly Doerflein
May 19, 2021
Since the first-time schools tested technology as a tool to enhance educational and raise students
skills, it helps making frog leaps in teaching procedures and teachers’ strategies. Technology
enable pupils to gain deep understanding and connect what they learned with their daily life
experiences. “Technology can actually be a major tool, both in terms of pedagogical resources
and in terms of connecting with the younger generations.” (Lynch. 2017)
Although technology seems to have many advantages, but it also has negative effect weather on
education, students or teachers. Here are some pros of technology.
1- Support active learning
Using interactive strategies in teaching make students more interesting to learn and have
deep understanding in addition to activate student’s ability to think and implement what
they have been taught, for example, students in KG2 who easily can be destructed and
hardly staying concentrated more than 10 minutes, it is best choice to adapt Spelling City
application, educational program with animation characters, this application consists
of many levels, each level has Math, English, and Science tasks student has to do
in order to go to next one. learners spend more than 20 minutes playing and learning
using this technology, while they do not spend same time in traditional ways.
2- Discover opportunities by facing real challenges
using internet in classroom encourage student to model real-world problems, students
can research any current problems, have a deep understanding of it then start forming a
clear opinion about and study all possible solution to choose one.
3- Make a worldwide discussion
using internet or technology features help students creating and making virtual social
group which allow student to have access to any educational discussions. Also, some
teachers offer a free session or consultations in many certain topics, this help spread out
the knowledge internationally. By listening to and reading about others’ opinions and
feedback, students refine their thinking, reaching higher levels of comprehension and
deeper understanding” ((Lynch. 2017).
keep relying on technology can have negative effects for students and teachers, here are
some important cons;
1- Reduces students’ face to face relationships
we saw in our lives many kids do not know how to begin direct conversations or feel
shy when they talk, while they are good at virtual communications, there is no filter
over their words. All that because of spending most of time on internet and smart
devices. “That is why technology should be used as a tool in the classroom. It cannot
be the only component of the learning process for students”. (Gaille,2018).
2- Easy to cheat and ignore individual differences
internet considered as an open educational resource, it is easy to get access to any
information in a moment, this can count as an advantage, but basically it affected
students in two ways. First, teacher can not define individual differences between
students as long as all student are able to find the answer quickly, finding online
solutions will depend on whose expert in using internet and completely ignore the
hard efforts from some students in order to find the solution by themselves. Second,
using online tests and assessments do not give accurate feedback about students
educational achievement, student could easily cheat by asking each other or even
asking any other person, furthermore, I know some students who deal with teachers
from any other country to attend the test instead of them. How can these students
success in their life if they used a good tool for cheating purposes.
3- Brings medical problem
Using computers, smartphones or I pad for long time cause eye strain. Student feels
fatigue when keep staring to monitors, if parents disregard this situation it leads to
“Computer Vision Syndrome”, eye discomfort increases with an increasement of
using digital screen.
Using technology has pros and cons not only for K-12 students but also for educators,
graduates and undergraduates. No one can deny how technology steer education’s
wheel, assess teachers in their career life and entertain students while doing them
tasks, but on the other hands teachers and parents should be aware of over using this
technology, otherwise children will face complicated difficulties which in sometimes
need doctor consultations.
Reference
Christensen.D.(2019, October), How does technology affect education? Retrieved from
https://www.classcraft.com/blog/how-technology-affects-education/
Gaille.B.(2018,Feb), 23 Advantages and Disadvantages of Technology in Education.
Retrieved from https://brandongaille.com/23-advantages-disadvantages-technology-
education/
Lynch.M.(2017.March), 7 WAYS TECHNOLOGY IS IMPACTING MODERN
EDUCATION. Retrieved from https://www.thetechedvocate.org/7-ways-technology-
impacting-modern-education/
The Leadership and Career Blog,(n,d), 22 Advantages and Disadvantages of Technology
in Education. Retrieved from https://futureofworking.com/10-advantages-and-
disadvantages-of-technology-in-education/
