20 Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Technology in Education

Sahar Rashid
advantages disadvantages using technology in Education
Estimated read time 8 min read

advantages disadvantages using technology in Education

The implementation of technology in the education sector has affected the learning process in so many ways. Far gone are the days where everything in the classroom was limited to books and pieces of paper. These days there are so many fun and intuitive ways to learn that make the classrooms and learning in general much more lively and productive.

Before we go ahead and start listing the so many advantages and disadvantages of technology in classrooms, it is worth taking a look at all the so many ways technology has affected the educational sector and more especially the students.

The use of technology in education has evolved so much that it’s no longer limited to just using computer screens and tablets to track students but also implementing these numerous technological advancements into the entire learning process. Now kids have more fun ways to learn and help them retain what they have learned in the long run.

Things like having computerized interactive competitive games where they can compete with each other to earn more points and even track the progress of each student in real-time has completely changed the face of the educational sector.

Even though there are so many advantages and disadvantages of computer technology in education, the benefits of using technology in education outweigh the disadvantages, let’s take a look at some of those:

Advantages Of Technology In Education

There are so many advantages of using technology in education, some of the many great ways technology has affected the educational sector are as follows;

  1. Improves The Engagement Of Students: When using the traditional methods of teaching that require only the use of paper and other writing materials, it’s easier for students to get bored when learning. Using new technological learning methods such as learning through games and using online e-learning techniques in teaching improves the overall engagement of students in the classroom.
  1. Helps The Kids Remember More: Studies have shown that students can retain up to 50% of what they have learned when they are taught using visual technological methods of teaching such as virtual field trips. It is because they are actively participating in the learning process which is an important factor for memory retention.
  1. Technology Encourages Students To Work Together: One of the greatest benefits of technology in education (EdTech) is that it has become a very useful tool in encouraging students who are not only in the same classroom or school but students anywhere in the world to be able to practice their collaboration skills by sharing learning materials and resources in online e-learning platforms across continents.
  1. EdTech Gives The Kids Access To More Educational Resources: With access to the internet, students now have access to a wide range and variety of learning tools and educational materials that may not be readily available in their classrooms or schools.
  1. EdTech Makes Learning More Interesting: Methods of teaching that include the implementation of games and point tracking systems in online e-learning competitions into the learning process draw the attention of students and help them actively participate in the learning process.
  1. Provides The Opportunity To Learn In Different Ways: With so many intuitive learning tools and application software available, learning has become so much easier, there are now so many ways that they can learn so many things, they are no longer limited to just one method of learning.
  1. EdTech Boosts The Motivation To Learn: Gone are the times when students dreaded going to school because they had to sit in a class for hours looking at the board, with recent technological implementations, students can now look forward to learning because it is much more interesting.
  1. It Allows Students The Luxury Of Learning At Their Own Pace: All students aren’t the same when it comes to learning, some understand things easier and faster and others slower. Technology has made it easier to cater to the needs of these different types of students by incorporating special learning tools into their learning process to make it easier for them to understand according to their level of understanding.
  1. It Allows Students The Luxury Of Learning At Their Own Pace: With access to tools that make it easier for teachers to track and see the performance of their students in all categories, it has become easier for teachers to pay attention to an area where a student might be lacking and give them support.
  1. EdTech Encourages Individual Learning: With the technology available to students, they no longer have to wait for classes to get ahead or understand things, they can now take advantage of so many technological tools to learn more on their own.

Disadvantages Of Technology In Education

Just as there are so many benefits of technology in education, there are also some downsides. Here are some of the disadvantages of using technology in education that you might not even be aware of;

  1. Technology Can Be Distracting: Even though there are so many ways of learning online there are also so many things that can distract students from learning. Having access to the internet without proper parental guidance or supervision can leave the students deviating from their learning materials.
  1. Too Much Use Can Create A Dependence: With inventions like the calculator and other tools that make problem-solving easier and faster, students may now depend on these tools to solve even the simplest calculations instead of doing it themselves.
  1. Technology Can Result in Medical Issues: Regular or continuous use of smartphones, computers, tablets, or even monitor screens especially without being monitored by adults can cause eye strain in kids and result in various eye problems in students such as early myopia.
  1. EdTech Replaces The Job Of A Teacher: Due to the availability of so many learning resources and materials in both audio and video form such as online tutorials, it totally replaces the need to have a teacher present to learn. Nowadays students can learn from YouTube what they would normally learn in a classroom, exposing them to the disadvantage of not having full information.
  1. Technology in Education Encourages Cheating: Because so many things can now be shared online on various e-learning platforms or even via emails, this creates loopholes for students to cheat by simply having access to a mobile phone where they can send answers to a test among each other especially if they are not being monitored by a teacher.
  1. It Can Result In Privacy Issues: Many technological applications used in schools for storing student information require sharing personal or private information such as email addresses, phone numbers, or even personal student data that stand a risk of being hacked or manipulated at any time.
  1. Too Many Sources Of Information Can Overwhelm Students: The internet has billions and billions of articles and resources for every single topic. Each article is different from the last, with access to this amount of data, students can get easily overwhelmed by the number of resources available.
  1. Some Informational Sources May Be Unreliable: Because of how vast the internet is, it is safe to assume that not all information you find online is true. Students who have access to the internet without proper supervision may become exposed to information from unreliable sources.
  1. It Discourages Interaction Between Students: Unlike the traditional method of teaching that encourages students to interact with each other physically in the classroom while working together to solve problems or study, using technology in education discourages students to physically interact with each other by simply allowing students to be able to do huge projects online without meeting in person.
  1. Students Who Require Special Attention Are At A Disadvantage: With the incorporation of technology into the educational sector, it has become even harder than usual to help children with special needs learn in the same environment as other students of their age except in special schools made separately for them.

Conclusion

Technology has changed the face of education so much in the past few years, and for most of these benefits, we are grateful as it has made life in general much easier and schooling, much faster and much more interactive.

So many new advancements in the traditional teaching styles present so many benefits with its own downsides, take for example the advantages and disadvantages of smart boards in classrooms, it allows teachers the freedom of using multi-media in their teaching environment and even helps improve the student-teacher relationship but on the downside, it’s a little expensive and hard to maintain.

However, for the best use of technological resources in schools, teacher’s supervision, and tracking or use of parental controls on computing devices and all technological tools is necessary for things to run smoothly.

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