Opinion: Usage of technology in school

As time goes by, there is change everywhere. Either with style, transportation, land use, and one that is changing tremendously and having a huge impact on society is technology.

Technology has now had the impact on our way of living, it has even affected our schools. We now depend a lot on technology. Now, schools are providing their students with tablets or computers as their primary way of learning. But under these circumstances and based on how things get with technology, I would have to disagree with technology being the primary way that students should learn in class.

One huge downside of using technology is something that many worry about even without the use of technology, the increase of distractions. Imagine students getting distracted by talking to other peers or just by looking out the window; now imagine with usage of laptops or tablets in class?

They can easily be tempted to go on the internet to look up other stuff that does not have to do with what is going on in class. This is one big factor of why some schools are still tempted with adding more technology to their schools, even though there are some good, the bad can really have more of an impact.

Another con of using technology is the cost of using computers or tablets compared to using textbooks. They will be spending on new Wi-Fi infrastructure and possibly on training teachers how to use the technology but that is not always a certain thing since technology is big in our lives. Some marketing experts came to the conclusion that the annual cost per student per class with tablets are $71.55 compared to textbooks being $14.26.

Additionally, the usage of tablets allow students to have an easier way to completing their work and by that I mean, shortcuts. Students won’t actually be completing their work on their own, they will be looking for the answers on different websites.

However, I do understand that there has to be positives when it comes to the usage of technology. Students will be able to learn material faster than with the usage of textbooks. It has been proven that the usage of technology can reduce the time by at least 30%-80%. In addition, tablets and computers can hold more stuff in it, and by stuff I mean different textbooks, quizzes, or whatever is typically needed for class. The tablets and computers can have so much storage space that schools won’t need to worry of keeping storage of different textbooks.

I am still firm on my statement. Technology should not be student’s primary way of learning; it should be part of the school because we do have to keep up with it but we should not be too dependent on it.