Use of technologies in the educational process presents numerous problems to both teachers and students. Modernization of education caused three main problems of the learning process. These problems are reflected in negative impacts of technology on students’ education: getting less knowledge; poorer quality of the received knowledge, and lose of necessity to study and find new information.
Negative Impact of Technology on Students’ Education
The use of technologies in the educational process decreases the amount of obtained knowledge. Students faced more challenges in listening to teachers, focusing their attention, understanding new information, remembering it, analyzing various facts and events. The process of educational modernization leads to the decrease in the amount of provided and received knowledge. Problems caused by modernization arise at every step of the educational process. As it is said in research sources, constant stimulation that comes from the internet has also taken away the ability of students to generally focus in the classroom. This means that technology decreases students’ ability to receive comprehensive knowledge during the learning process. They have troubles with total involvement into the educational process and listening to a teacher as they are more focused on technology. During studies, all attention of students is paid to their phones and computers.
Modern Methods of Education
Students direct some part of their efforts to technology, but not to education. They are being abstracted from the educational process, because they are playing games and spend time in social network sites, but do not listen to teachers. Teachers have nothing to do with it. They also face challenges with using new methods of education. Some teachers need time for trainings on how to use technology. They also need to spend some time to modify existing educational material that will be used on smart boards or by other technological means. This time could be spent on searching necessary information or teaching and studying new psychological methodologies of interaction with students. The majority of teachers were educated to use standard teaching methodologies without application of technology. Therefore, modernization of the education process can lead to a loss of creativity and decrease of effectiveness and efficiency of existing teaching methodologies.
Nowadays, modern technologies make us face multi-tasking. A person has to search for necessary information and, at the same time, reply sms, see a weather forecast, etc. Attention becomes defocused and divided. This leads to difficulties in receiving deeper knowledge. Students could not concentrate on solving complicated problems or development sustained and deep thoughts. At the same time, technologies do not provide the whole range of abilities to receive new information. When multitasking, people cannot focus on one particular subject and have problems with finding concrete solutions to the given tasks. Multitasking leads to increasing stress and tiredness, especially when all performed tasks are extremely important. In the short-term period, students feel lost; in the long0term period, this multitasking can make harm to the educational process and health. In addition, technologies do not provide the whole range of abilities of receiving new information. The process of education represents a combination of hearing, vision, physical and mental interaction.
Quality of Learning
The other problem caused by using technologies during the educational process is decreasing the whole quality of learning. Students do not receive enough amount of necessary information and have problems with analysis and evaluation of the obtained information. Sometimes, the received information is false, and their education level does not reflect their real skills and knowledge. Students just take answers for question from the Internet and copy them. They repeat the information without receiving valuable and deep knowledge. Students do not develop their own thinking abilities and create unusual ideas. According to the research of Patricia Greenfield, the doctor of psychological sciences who worked in Los Angeles, the process of using a technology by children improves their visual skills, at the same time, worsening their ability to analyze information and critically evaluate it. Technologies provide real-time information and require students to act immediately. Therefore, they do not have enough time for proper evaluation of the obtained information and development of alternatives. Technologies eliminate real interaction between students and teachers and between peers. This communication is performed via Internet and messages. Teachers became unable to understand whether students really catch the information or have any troubles of understanding some topics. Additional explanations are not performed in due time and not understood material remains not learned. Students also do not have much experience of developing oral language skills, because they do not use them. They do not know how to interact with others, how to reflect their opinion in understandable manner. Students are less involved in oral discussions and argumentations, so they have fewer skills in protection their opinions and visions.
What is the Worst Side of Technologies?
The main negative side of using technologies during the educational process is that students do not feel a necessity to receive new knowledge, because they could find information on the Internet. In the modern time, the main part of reading is performed just for obtaining some necessary information, but not for the widening of outlook and mentality. Students rarely read for pleasure. Reading books and articles for pleasure, which has significantly decreased among youths and adults in recent years, increases and enhances thinking activities and engages the imaginational processes unlike visual media such as films, videos, games, and television. They do not feel a need to receive unique reading experience, extend their vocabulary and visions. By using technology, students are searching for any news, description, analyses, or entertainment (games, videos, music and etc.), but not for a new knowledge that will increase their vocabulary, visions, and understandings. Nowadays, there exists a tendency of paying less attention to details and to the actual content of the information. The most important question is where to find necessary information, but not how to generate it. Technology habituates that everything could be found somewhere without any significant efforts.
Positive Impacts on Educational Process
Notwithstanding numerous negative technological impacts on educational process, there are some positive sides of modernization of learning. Technological tolls provide enhancement of learning strategies and methodologies. Previously, teachers wrote on chalk boards and white boards, but now they use smart boards. Smart boards are “extremely advanced and offer many different ways to teach and to share information with students” (Technology: Positive and Negative Effects on Education). These technological solutions help to make education wider and easier. Teachers got an opportunity to pull any web site, Microsoft Power Point Presentation, Smart Response, Smart Netbook Maths Tools, Smart Document Camera, and other programs on the board and show it to all students. Different images and notes can be combined into one unit of virtual netbook and provide comprehensive and easy understandable information. Easy access to the Internet via phones, tablets, and computers makes obtaining information much faster.
Students have an ability to receive more comprehensive knowledge concerning numerous topics: politics, music, sports, physics, etc. At the same time, technology provides constant updating of events which happen in any place of the world. Technology gives the wider range of information in less time. According to different investigations in educational institutions, students receive more information and knowledge in the shortest period when teachers give them computer-based instructions. Video games increase people’s ability to perform different tasks simultaneously. This ability can be very useful in some professions. Combination of games and educational process makes education easier and more attractive. This makes the educational process faster and more understandable. Studying became engaging and interactive. Less time is necessary for obtaining feedbacks, giving scores for students’ works, and performing educational tasks. New and understandable material is less frustrated for students as they can find various up-to-date sources. Technologies help teachers to increase effectiveness and efficiency of organization and presentation of lessons, makes understanding of new material quicker, easier, more meaningful, and engaging as it is supported by the multimedia presentation. Technology provides different opportunities for students since they can use different and more suitable types of educational styles.
Technologies and Education Can Coexist
Technology has a considerable negative effect on the educational process:
- students receive less knowledge;
- the received knowledge has poorer quality;
- students do not feel the necessity to learn new information.
These ideas have been supported by different scientists and experiments. Implementation of technology into the educational process creates barriers in obtaining new information by decreasing listening and attention of students. The use of technologies during educational process decreases the amount of obtained information. Students faced more challenges in listening to teachers, concentrating their attention, receiving new information, remembering it, analyzing various facts and events. They lose their abilities to interact with peers and teachers, develop and express their visions and opinions.
The process of educational modernization leads to the decrease in the amount of provided and received knowledge. The other considerable problem of using technologies during educational process is decreasing the quality of learning. Students do not receive enough information and have problems with analysis and evaluation of the obtained information. Sometimes, they receive disinformation. Students are interested in searching the source of information, but not in obtaining and understanding it. Their education level does not reflect their real skills and knowledge. Students become unable to analyze and evaluate received information. Additionally, some information from the Internet can be false and incomplete. Students receive false knowledge and wrong visions, but they cannot understand their mistakes because of the lack of experience. However, the main negative impact of technology on the educational process is that students do not feel necessity to obtain new knowledge, because they can find everything on the Internet. They can find everything what they need and want in the shortest time without considerable efforts. However, technologies bring some advantages to educational process -they make learning of students quicker and easier.
