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Some scholars actually have stated that our brains are evolving and changing due to exposure-repeated exposure-to various actively on the computer. These changes have Impacts on the traditional teaching-learning situations In classrooms and schools?particularly If one want to keep or focus the attention of students. In short, these so-called traditional teaching-learning style and practices might not be effective for the roaring digital minds. Does the use of digital technology really improve specific language, cognitive, or literacy skills?
Well, this is really a broad, complicated question. Actually, each area is broad and complex. In addition, the definition of improvement also becomes complicated and, perhaps, narrow, if we only address those skills related to the traditional print culture. We are going to look at the positive and negative effects of using digital technology in education. Rapid developments in information and communications technologies require learning institutions to continuously reevaluate the approaches In the physical as well as In virtual “classroom” teaching.
M-Learning (Mobile Learning) Is a kind of E-Learning which based on the use of mobile devices anywhere at any time. The advances and diffusion of mobile technology have Influenced considerably our everyday life changing our habits and practices by freeing us from the confines of the desktop activities. These devices must support wireless communicational technologies and have a possibility to present teaching materials, and to realize an asynchronous/ synchronous communication between learners and teachers.
The increasing availability of low-cost mobile and wireless devices and associated infrastructure provides both opportunities and challenges for educational institutions and their searchers and learners. Mobile learning provides a high degree of mobility, flexibility and independence. Individuals can learn at any time and any location according to their personal learning budget. They can use unexpected Idle times spontaneously for learning, obviating the need for computer access and availability of learning materials.
It Is easy to find the good In this digital age. Think of the ease of finding and obtaining Information, especially via the net. Downloading Journal articles as well as having books delivered to one’s office can save loads of time. Searching for information on a topic can be done quickly and efficiently, provided that one that has a good search engine. Google offers a wealth of beneficial tidbits for typographically and calligraphy’s oriented readers and writers.
Typing tends to go faster for adept keyboard users, which many youngsters have become since they have essentially grown up with computers in the household. This makes note taking easier. When notes and assignments are saved to a computer, there’s less likelihood of them getting lost, especially If Important files are routinely backed up. Data saved on a computer can easily be manipulated Into a number of deferent formats, potentially making It easier to study. Bodies of text can be transformed Into charts or pale graphs with many word processing programs.
Students can cut and paste Important quotes or examples into essays and the like, saving time on homework. In terms of notebooks. {This can be seen as a big plus to students who have grown accustomed to carrying around 20+ pounds on their backs from a very young age. As many teachers turn to online resources, such as e-mailing and posting assignments on a arsenal Web site, students almost have to keep up with the times with some sort of tool that has Internet access. On the flip side, it is equally easy to find the bad in this digital age. The charge of stupidity is related to the assumption that a number of children and adolescents are spending an excessive amount time of testing, talking on cell phones, tweeting, beckoning, skipping, gaming and engaging in other social networking activities. There seems to be this constant need-actually, compulsion-to let others know what you are doing or thinking every particular minute of your waking hours.
In addition, there might be a steady stream of incoming messages or tweets to which there is an obsession to respond-not to mention the hope of receiving this litany of incoming messages. Some are not totally convinced that we should blame the new technology for the deterioration of spelling or writing skills. Nevertheless, there seems to be some evidence that the technological cut-and-paste, Wisped generation is engaging in a massive decoding or putting together of tidbits of uncritical information in a short period of time.
At first glance, there is even less inclination to proceed beyond their Goggled universes” or less appreciation for doing so. Instead of “Everything I learned or need to know, I learned in kindergarten,” we now have “Everything I need to learn or to know can be Goggled. ” This proclivity toward the notion of immediate and expedient access might portend a generation whose members have neither the time nor the motivation to become critical thinkers, readers, and writers, or consumers of information. Berliner actually laments that this could become the “dumbest” generation.
Many digital natives and quite a few digital immigrants are devoting enormous amounts of time ND energy to social networking sites and discovering shortcuts with respects to obtaining knowledge and understanding, and other scholars have implied that this type of knowledge and understanding can be so shallow and superficial that Alexander Pope is actually spinning in his grave. In essence, Berliner and others have asserted that many digital natives and immigrants exhibit a blatant disregard for deep, serious reading and reflective, rational thinking.
Everything needs to be expressed with “billeted points,” or “sound bites,” -often with splashy images or videos. Some professors or teachers are starting to lament the use of “bells and whistles” during their classes -not to mention the increase in the distrust or lack of understanding of scholarly research or science shown by many of their students. No doubt that there has been an increase either in plagiarism or in the ability to detect this notorious action.
Ironically, it might be the case that many students do not really understand this construct within the framework of hyper testing, especially with multiple authors contributing to the discussions or the postmodern notion that here is no such thing as an author or a text. We are Just embodied minds transacting with embodied casts of information such that there is no separation The academic nastiness associated with plagiarism notwithstanding, the uglier dangers not only involves that inability to think independently, but also the lack of desire or patience to reach a deeper appreciation of complex constructs.
Ernest Hemingway might have rebelled against the use of long, convoluted passages of discourses or other prose -especially of the kind embraced by Marcel Porous. However, this does not mean that there are no deep meanings in Hemingway stories, even in a novella such as The Old Man and the Sea. Cutting and pasting cliff notes or other similar documents to express one’s views or understandings of fiction and nonfiction pieces seems to short circuit the developmental pathway to Alexander Pope’s Promised Land.
Instead of taking advantage of the abundance of opportunities and resources on the Internet within a critical framework for becoming active, informed, enlightened participants with a knack for more efficient organization, travel, and expression of serious discourse, we are letting our narratives become, well, superficial and shallow and sensational. With their arsenal of electronic gadgets, students today find it easier to cheat.
And so, faced with an array of inventive techniques in recent years, college officials find themselves in a new game of cat and mouse, trying to outwit would-be cheats during exam season with a range of strategies -cutting off internet access from laptops, demanding the surrender of cell phones before tests or simply requiring that exams e taken the old-fashioned way, with pens and paper. The proliferation of mobile devices has proceeded throughout society at such a rate that higher education can no longer avoid exploring the educational potential of these tools.
Most of the learning activities take place on devices that are actually not designed with educational purposes. The uses of mobile learning are far-reaching, and its potential effect on educational profound. The next few years will see a period of rapid growth for mobile learning, with evolutionary rather than revolutionary changes. Mobile learning abilities will continue to expand with the introduction of smaller, more sophisticated and powerful gadgets capable of delivering date in a variety of formats anywhere, at any time.
Today’s mobile computing devices have more computational power than the largest computers of a generation ago, and this trend continues. As these devices become more powerful, the may coexist with or supplant other technologies to make learning more portable. We should prepare to take advantage of their benefits in higher education by planning how best to employ mobile devices in online and traditional classes. There are, indeed, deeper uglier that could be mentioned.
Consider the thousands of vitriolic responses to a comment on a blob or the posting of a piece of private or intimate information -all of which can lead to a form of bullying, and some of which leads to mental derangement or depression and -Oh yeah- suicide on part of the affected individual. Then there are stories of addictions -ranging from the incessant playing of games. It is impossible for one to believe that adults can become so engrossed in a video game that they forgot to feed their infant. In one sense, the genealogy cannot be the only culpable product of our serious indiscretions.
Surely technology opens up an amazing world of learning and productivity to today’s young students, but there are clearly dangers and legitimate concerns surrounding the use of these tools, and what constitutes too much use. It will probably be years before we start to really understand the impact of some of these drawbacks and potential issues. In the meanwhile, these tools are here to stay for the near term, so we should monitor their use and educate students on how to use them wisely without overusing them.