Positive impacts of using information and communication technology in education
Question:
Discuss About The Challenges Of Augmented Reality In Education?
The current education scenario is witnessing a huge reform or change in its existing process. This is mainly due to the reason that the student traffic in the recent time have increased in leaps and bounds. Moreover, along with the increase in the inflow of students, the number or varieties of stream have also got increased. Thus, in the current scenario, education system is much more varied and diverse in nature than it was a few years ago. Another significant change noted in the education system of United Arab Emirates in the recent time is the popularity of technology in the process of teaching and learning (Fu, 2013). Various information and communication technologies are being introduced in the market, which are customized according to the educational needs. More number of schools and other educational institutions are accepting the use of technologies in the mainstream learning process.
However, implementation of the technology in the schooling system is having different challenges to be faced. The majority of challenges are being faced by the managers of schools. Moreover, initiation of information and communication technologies in the education system is not only having positive impacts but also having negative impacts. This report will discuss about the challenges to be faced by the schools in implementing the technologies along with its negative and positive impacts. Few recommended steps will also be discussed in this report in relation to the effective implementation of the technologies.
Initiation of the information and communication technology in the teaching and learning process will help the all the related stakeholders with the education such as students and teachers in having their process going beyond the limitations of the classroom. This is due to the reason that, using of the information and communication technology will enable the teachers to communicate with their students from their convenience at any point of time. On the other hand, with the help of these technologies, students will be able to stay connected with the teachers even after the school time. Thus, the range and intensity of the teaching and learning process will be more in case of using the information and communication technology (Wastiau et al., 2013). For instance, renowned schools in the United Arab Emirates are known for their innovative learning process and they are also having high percentage of top ranked students.
Technology will also help both the teachers and students in having the access to the unlimited number of online educational resources. In the current scenario, internet is one of the most valued sources of learning materials (Bude, 2014). Thus, teachers will be benefited from the online sources by providing more diverse knowledge to their students. On the other hand, students will also be benefited from gathering knowledge from different sources. Hence, the source of learning materials will be more in the case of using information and communication technology in schools.
School students or teenage students will be more attracted towards latest technologies and gadgets. In addition, using of the audio and visual in the learning process will further enhance the concentration and attraction of the students in the learning process. Thus, it will be easier for the teachers to control the students in the classroom along with maintaining their concentration in the classroom (Abdullahi, 2014). Moreover, with the help of the audio and visual, the quality of the learning process will further get enhanced, which will ultimately enhance the entire learning process.
Negative impacts of using technology in education
Use of the information and communication technology will also help in overcoming the geographical barriers of the students. This is due to the reason that, there are various examples such as some areas in the United Arab Emirates are not having the basic facilities of going to school for the students and they are facing barriers in attending the class (Vandeyar, 2013). Moreover, there are extreme weather conditions in United Arab Emirates, which further creates barriers in attending classes. In these cases, use of the technology will help in connecting with the isolated students in remote areas.
Use of the information and communication technology will also promote sharing of knowledge. This is due to the reason that, technology will help in having cooperative learning process between the students and teachers. Thus, the students will be able to the access to other’s ideas and knowledge and it will be easier for the teachers to look after every student equally.
One of the key negative impacts of using technologies in the learning process is the risk of plagiarism. This is due to the reason that, with having the access to millions of online learning resources, it will be easier for the students to have readymade copy of their studies (Blackwell, Lauricella & Wartella, 2014). Thus, the core objective of the learning process will get hampered.
Privacy of the students and teachers will also be at stake due to the use of information and communication tools in the learning process. This is due to the reason that, there are various cases of security breaches in the online medium in the recent time. Thus, students and teachers will be more exposed to this (Bulman & Fairlie, 2016). In addition, part from the learning materials, students may get attracted to the harmful materials on internet. According to various reports, over exposure to the internet will have harmful impact on the students.
Initiation of the telecommunication technologies in the education may also reduce the importance of attending classrooms. However, classroom studies will always remain as the core mode of learning and teaching. However, having the access to the materials from convenience will reduce the interest of the students to attend schools (Tess, 2013). Thus, the connection between the teachers and students will get reduced.
One of the key challenges to be faced is the cost involved. Installation of the technologies in the schools will involve huge cost for the authorities (Smith & Hu, 2013). Thus, for the majority of the schools, it will be difficult to incur the huge cost in installing the devices and systems required.
Parents will also face the cost issue due to the reason that communication devices should be from both end in order to have the connectivity between the teachers and students. Thus, there is high probability of resistance from the side of the parents in initiation of the technologies in the school.
It is important for the schools to have experts in using the technologies and made the existing staff comfortable and accustomed with the system (Wu et al., 2013). Thus, training should be provided to all of them. This will be challenging for the authorities in convincing the existing staff and incurring the cost for training.
Challenges faced in implementing technology in schools
There are still various regions in United Arab Emirates where technologies are not being accepted over the traditional means. These areas are more conservative in nature. Thus, in these regions, the social acceptability of the technologies in education system over the traditional way will be less and the authorities will face the challenge of resistance from the parents (Stromquist & Monkman, 2014).
There are various underdeveloped regions still left in United Arab Emirates where people do not have the access to the internet. Schools in these areas will have the difficulties in installing the technology for the learning process (Tsai & Hwang, 2013). Moreover, majority of the language in the educational technologies is English, which is not being used in every region, where Arabic is the official language. Thus, the schools will face the difficulties to communicate with the students through these technologies.
- It is recommended that prior to the implementation of the technologies; schools should first determine the specific needs. This is due to the reason that, every school will have different types of needs and requirements. Thus, effective and proper determination of the needs will help the authorities to implement the technology accordingly. Only then it will have most benefits for all the related stakeholders.
- It is also recommended that the technologies should be implemented as complimentary to the traditional teaching process rather than substituting it. For instance, technologies can only be used in having online database of learning materials for the students but they have to attend the class to interact with the teachers. Thus, it will help in having proper coordination between the traditional and modern approach of the education.
- Schools with having capital crunch and from the backward regions should have consultation with the NGOs. There are various international organizations working towards providing latest technologies to the students. They will help the schools in having incurred less cost in the process.
- Parents and other external stakeholders should be consulted prior to the implementation of the technologies. This will ensure that there will be no resistance from their side in the further stage. Moreover, it will also help them to determine the exact expectation and requirements of the students.
Conclusion
Thus, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that initiation of the information and communication technologies in learning and teaching process will have both positive and negative impact on the students and teachers. Moreover, this report also discussed about the challenges to be faced by the school authorities in implementing the system. In accordance to the identified challenges, this report discussed about few recommended steps that will help in having effective implementation of the system.
Reference
Abdullahi, H. (2014). The role of ICT in teaching science education in schools. International Letters of Social and Humanities Sciences, 19, 217-223.
Blackwell, C. K., Lauricella, A. R., & Wartella, E. (2014). Factors influencing digital technology use in early childhood education. Computers & Education, 77, 82-90.
Buda, A. (2014). ICT in Education. Information and Communication Technologies in Education Overview in Visegrad countries. Ostrava, University of Ostrava, 15-32.
Bulman, G., & Fairlie, R. W. (2016). Technology and education: Computers, software, and the internet. In Handbook of the Economics of Education (Vol. 5, pp. 239-280). Elsevier.
Fu, J. S. (2013). ICT in education: A critical literature review and its implications. International Journal of Education and Development using Information and Communication Technology, 9(1), 112.
Smith, J., & Hu, R. (2013). Rethinking teacher education: Synchronizing eastern and western views of teaching and learning to promote 21st century skills and global perspectives. Education Research and Perspectives (Online), 40, 86.
Stromquist, N. P., & Monkman, K. (Eds.). (2014). Globalization and education: Integration and contestation across cultures. R&L Education.
Tess, P. A. (2013). The role of social media in higher education classes (real and virtual)–A literature review. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(5), A60-A68.
Tsai, C. C., & Hwang, G. J. (2013). Issues and challenges of educational technology research in Asia. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 22(2), 215.
Vandeyar, T. (2013). Practice as policy in ICT for education: Catalysing communities of practice in education in South Africa. Technology in Society, 35(4), 248-257.
Wastiau, P., Blamire, R., Kearney, C., Quittre, V., Van de Gaer, E., & Monseur, C. (2013). The use of ICT in education: a survey of schools in Europe. European Journal of Education, 48(1), 11-27.
Wu, H. K., Lee, S. W. Y., Chang, H. Y., & Liang, J. C. (2013). Current status, opportunities and challenges of augmented reality in education. Computers & education, 62, 41-49.
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