There is no doubt that classroom interaction and the atmosphere there have changed since the introduction of modern technology. Although the relationships among students and teachers have been consistently enhanced by this advancement, it has not remarkably promoted their human interactions. From my personal perspective, I am in favor of innovation increasing their relationships, but there should be approaches to keep balance to improve them.
On the one hand, technology has substantially increased classroom collaboration. First and foremost, with the modernity and appeal of it, teachers can make use of it to prepare an interesting lesson that attracts students’ attention and keeps them involved in. For example, both virtual reality and animation create impressive experiences that can enhance engagement as well as interaction allowing students to explore abstract knowledge such as the solar system and history. Moreover, this revolution provides more opportunity for students and teachers to learn remotely. With the invention of Zoom and Google Classroom, it makes their online lessons more practical and real because video call enables them to make face-to-face meetings, work and discuss together irrespective of geological distance.
On the other hand, besides the pros of technology in rising classroom interaction, this not only has not significantly improved it but also has a bad influence on consumers. Firstly, given the interest in technology, students tend to rely too much on smartphones and get immersed in the social platforms such as Facebook and Tiktok, which leads them to get addicted and not want to escape the cyber world. Therefore, they will feel a sense of isolation in their classroom and more seriously, suffer from lack of social skills like communication and teamwork, thus widening the mental gap among them. Worse still, overreliance on technology causes distraction and the decline in the attention span. This is because devices including phones and tablets can divert students’ attention for their lessons, especially in online classrooms. According to one research, watching too many short videos on YouTube can reduce the level of concentration on a task; therefore, this will lead to decreased engagement and participation in class.
As technology is becoming more common and useful for teaching, teachers should use it suitably and effectively to raise the quality of their lessons and keep students’ engagement. What’s more, learners ought to allocate the leisure time for talking and playing with their classmates rather than surfing on the Internet. By doing this, they can improve their soft skills and their relationships with others.
In conclusion, despite the benefits of technology on participation in the classroom, the adverse effects that hinder their development prove that technology is a double-edged sword. Thus, people should use it appropriately and equally to take the ultimate advantages of it.