Technological advancements have made the world a great and convenient place to live in. There is no denying how they make lives better and easier, especially in the fields of science, medicine and education. Of course, there are pros and cons of everything so of technology. In Education, if we implement the internet, it is a really helpful tool. One of its pros is flexibility, for example, you can get all the tough concepts of your book, in easy wording on the internet. Students can use many websites which provide the hardest information and difficult tasks in every easy manner, for example, study.com, Wikipedia, mayo clinic etc. There are also many lectures available on YouTube and also there are many data available in PDF files too. Other pros of using the internet are education, its availability. Nowadays, the internet is easily available for everyone. Every single person has nowadays android phone whether rich or poor. So it becomes easy for even a poor person to read on the internet than from books because some books are really expensive, and you can always carry your phone with you but not books. Incorporating technology into the classroom means that students have exposure and access to different ways of learning. Some students do thrive in a lecture environment; others might be great independent learners, who can gather information from educational software. Giving students the choice of different ways to learn means they’ll likely explore and try different techniques, and in the end, learn the best strategies for themselves as individual learners. The Internet can also help teachers to look at how their students are going, the internet has made easy to check attendance histories, their assignment or quiz performance. It also helps teachers to add visual aids to their lectures. For examples, lectures on projectors help the student to grip that particular topic by seeing videos, audios and visual examples. So the internet not only helps students but also teachers.
The Internet isn’t just a powerful tool for communication. It’s arguably the most potent force for learning and innovation since the printing press. And it’s at the center of what is possibly America’s mightiest struggle and greatest opportunity: How to reimagine education for a transformative era.
(Bush and Dawson 2013)
The Internet has also cons as well. Too much dependency on the internet destroys one thinking ability. For example, when a teacher assigns the student an assignment, instead of using his own words or thoughts, he would rather rely on the internet. This will destroy his thinking ability and his confidence as well. He will be more dependent on internet words than his own. Another con of the internet is it destroys our social relationships and skills. Many students will overlook teachers if they will be dependent on the internet, their relationships with other students will be destroyed too. They will lose confidence, and they will not be able to communicate well. Another con of the internet is that its distracting. For example, in the online education system, if the student is learning from mobiles or whatever then there is more possibility that they will use social apps on their phones instead of focusing on lectures. The Internet also provides students with books, it is good but somehow it is making students lazy, they make no effort to buy a book or read it carefully, rather they will screenshot the pages of the book, so they can cheat easily. Another con is Plagiarism, has been plaguing teachers forever. Students today can easily access essays, reports, class notes, tests, etc. online, making it that much more difficult for teachers to know if the work their students hand in is original. Though there are tech tools to help teachers discover if the work is plagiarized, no system is perfect.
So where there are pros there are cons as well. I would like to end this article by saying, excess use of everything is bad. We must rely on ourselves as well, this will increase our confidence. Use your own brain, create your own ideas, enhance your memory and be your own hero.
Turn off your email; turn off your phone; disconnect from the Internet; figure out a way to set limits so you can concentrate when you need to, and disengage when you need to. Technology is a good servant but a bad master.
