Have you ever thought what education would be like nowadays without technology? For these new generations, including mine, in a way this would be unthinkable! But we must not forget that before the internet went mainstream, we had to go to libraries to learn more about a subject. I confess that my time in this offline reality was very short, but it was enough to understand how much time it took to find information in specific books. Fact is that today we have the internet, and accessing information has never been easier. But how did this technology tool impact education?
Technology in educational establishments
The method of teaching today is quite different from that before the internet because instant access to information required change. Such changes can be seen in the way the classes are given and in the jobs that the teachers have the students perform. In the past the search involved going to a library looking for books, whereas today you just have to open Google. In addition, the possibility of sharing files over the internet made it much easier for teachers to disseminate support materials to students. Thus, educational content sharing platforms such as Moodle began to be part of the ecosystem of schools and colleges, which made teaching more efficient. But how did all these factors affect students?
First, students began to rely heavily on the presence of technology to perform certain tasks, rather than thinking for themselves. An example of this is the use of the calculating machine, which allows solving not only calculations but also advanced equations and even the creation of graphs. Of course, there are many teachers who only let the calculator in certain situations, but what is fact is that students, in general, end up creating a dependency on everything that makes life easier for them. Consequently, if they cannot perform the same operations without using technology, then this becomes a problem.
Another issue that is important to mention is precisely plagiarism. This act always existed in one way or another, but given the democratization of the information, this act began to exist more and more. But what is the cause of this phenomenon? The ease of access to information is one of the obvious factors, but the fact that we are inundated with information through websites and social networks led society to immediatism. As we have seen previously in this series, this concept refers to the fact that we are constantly looking for immediate pleasures, whether it is a funny video on the internet, playing a video game, et cetera. In this sense, the most affected people stopped thinking critically, confining themselves only to the opinion of others and to intersubjectivity. This may be the cause that leads students to stop wanting to do their schoolwork for themselves, and then end up copying something from the internet just to fulfill the duty that has been proposed to them.
Of course, when used properly, the internet and technology can be an excellent complement to the teaching given in schools and colleges. Now we have the possibility to take notes on a topic we did not understand during class and try to understand it better later. In addition, we have the possibility to research more about a certain topic and to increase our knowledge with our own free will. It's funny that just as technology can lead people to stop thinking critically, the reverse is also true: it is possible to stimulate our curiosity, critical thinking and thirst for knowledge, so all this is up to those who use technology.
Online Courses
With the democratization of information, what keeps me from learning how to draw? What prevents me from learning how to create wooden furniture? By the way, what keeps me from teaching what I know to others? Nowadays all this is possible, and fact is that these platforms are evolving everyday so that this process becomes even easier. Personally, I think the possibility that we can share knowledge with others is one of the most powerful uses of the internet. After all, we will always be students during our lives, whether we want to or not.
What is fact is that there are courses about everything and tutorials about everything, maybe because it’s almost certain that someone in this world already wanted to learn the same things as we want to learn, or had the same problem as we do right now, so it is very likely that our solution is on the Internet. What’s most interesting is that there are free online courses with great quality. In fact, there have been cases where large institutions, such as MIT and Pixar, decided to publish free online courses or even classes recorded on-site. So why not take advantage of these opportunities?
Online courses have also begun to emerge from academia. Several universities have adopted e-learning programs, which allow for distance learning. This concept ends up crossing traditional education with this new paradigm of online education, which in theory seems interesting. Either way, this is further evidence of the impact that the internet had on traditional education.
Conclusion
Education has changed a lot in recent years thanks to technology, and in general, the learning process has become more efficient. Even in schools, there has been a significant change in the way lessons are given, and in the way students solve their challenges.
We live in an age where knowledge is in the hands of those who have access to the internet. But fact is that not everyone takes advantage of this great advantage that the internet has brought to our lives. Some are navigating the sea of immediatism, others take advantage of this component of learning to the fullest, and there is also a posture that stands in the middle of these two. What is true is that it is up to us to choose how we view the technology, and the advantages and disadvantages of using it will come, depending on how we use it.
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Thank you for reading so far!
I hope you have enjoyed this reflection and that this post can be useful for you in the future.
What about you? What is your position on this new education paradigm?
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Shaden