Technology in school: a blessing, or a curse?

According to recent research,  researchers suggest  that technology should be given the chance to be used in schools, although others strongly disagree, stating that it could become a major distraction causing students to suffer decreasing grades because of it. Studies behind the support of technology in the classroom states that it is beneficial because it could help to accelerate learning for students. Different ways include: using your phone in class and to quickly answer questions, having a computer to look up any unknown questions, and even having such things as vr headsets to cut the costs of different expenses. According to this trend of accelerated learning, different types of technology could be used in very beneficial ways to students' education.

According to the first point, phones give the user the ability to save, store and organize information relatively easily, rather than having to deal with loose papers in a notebook or binder. Students would also never need a textbook again, since in these modern times, you can find free textbooks, or even ones you have paid for, all over the internet.  According to Graham cell phones also just make the classroom a better and more open environment. In turn could also give teachers a chance to enforce a more direct way of teaching. Educational and collaborative apps have been released to help students work in more immersive groups. Because of these apps, students would be able to easily create, edit, and share projects to one another. According to Cirelli, Cell phones would also be a great learning aid for students, since they would be operating a device that they spend nearly everyday on. Phones are also extremely useful because they could store things such as important phone numbers. In case of an emergency, such as a teacher collapsing, a student could call for help, which in turn could actually save the teacher’s life. 

Computers, like cell phones, can browse the web fairly easily, but the thing that a computer has that a cell phone doesn’t have is immense storage. “Computers can download many gigabytes of information, while phones can only download hundreds, maybe thousands of megabytes at a time,” according to olpc canada. Computers are currently in many classrooms today, and continue to spread throughout the world. Computers give students an easier access to libraries of information, which is very good for in-class research. Computers, compared to phones, have a much larger screen, so it is much easier to see what you are doing at all times; they also allow students and teachers to easily communicate and do work online, which greatly increases production. 

As a result of the recent technological advancements, that means that there are new ways to get information you do not need to have. An example being a student cheating on a test. With phones and computers on one’s self at all times, it would be relatively easy to cheat. One simple way to counteract this violation is to keep a numbered phone box in the front of the room. This would take away some of the freedom with the phones, but would still allow students to use them under the teachers supervision.

With the recent advancements in the field of vr technology, it has migrated into classrooms. Vr headsets can be extremely cost-cutting, saving the school/institution hundreds, many even thousands of dollars in expenses. With the surge of the vr market, there have been many different educational apps released. According to Getting Smart some examples include: Titans of Space, which allows one to learn interesting facts about the solar system, and shows the size of planets compared to each other. Another example is Discovery VR. This app allows the user to travel different places all over the world and lets them freely roam around, site-seeing. The last, and probably the best example of educational vr apps is one called Anatomy. This app allows one to explore the human body from the inside. This app gives tours of the following: nose and throat, gastrointestinal, circulatory (divided into arterial, venous, and lymphatic), and female reproductive. As add-on options, you can also view the transbronchial tree and urinary system.

As stated previously, different types of technologies should be implemented into schools to help students learn more effectively and efficiently. Phones and computers can help students to interact more with each other and get more work done. Vr headsets can place one in an immersive world that they can explore, whether it be anatomy, geographical landmarks, or anything else. So all in all, technology should be implemented more in schools than it already is.