An increase in use of technology in education has changed the way students process information. I believe the main causes of this are the pandemic-driven learning shift and the general process of digitalization that has been taking place for a while. The effects are often mixed, with benefits and drawbacks for students as well as teachers.
Technology has become an inseparable part of human life in the past few decades. It is quite difficult to imagine an office or school without any presence of various devices. This means students’ learning habits have been changing for a long time because of phones, computers, and other gadgets. However, this was an inevitable change that saw not only education but also other realms of life become increasingly digitalized. The most pivotal change, however, took place in 2020, when the entire world had to adjust to continue learning. People started using applications such as Zoom and its alternatives to finally embrace remote learning. We can argue that this was the exact moment when technology’s place in education was cemented.
The influence of this change is controversial. Students’ obsession with technology did have a detrimental effect on knowledge retention, meaning students may not have memory strong enough to be efficient in school. Their attention spans have also been damaged because of social media, which, ironically, can be used for both education and entertainment. This paradox is what makes such a change widely contentious, with teachers also enjoying the benefits of technology and simultaneously suffering from its drawbacks. Screen fatigue and cybersecurity concerns can make the teacher’s job more difficult, but using AI can help them complete tasks faster.
In conclusion, education and students’ learning patterns changed because of technology’s unstoppable integeration in recent years. The outcome of this, as mentioned above, is both positive and negative for students and teachers.