The Benefits and Drawbacks of Using Technology

 

Pros and Cons of Using Technology in the Classroom

By Keyla Gonzalez Valdez

    In the last decade there has been a great shift in education because of technology. I have seen these changes first-hand both as a student and as a teacher. I remember getting a chrome cart in my class in seventh grade and in high school almost every class having their own chrome cart. This is just in regard to access to technology in the classroom. 

    The use of technology in the classroom has also changed drastically. When I was in first grade we only went to the computer lab once a week. As a student teacher, students would use their computers every single day.

    There are great benefits to using technology in the classroom but as the number of benefits increase so do the negatives. This includes communication. Technology has made it so much easier for humans to communicate and with that comes many risks. Today I will be discussing the pros and cons of three forms of communication: Threaded discussions, email conversations and online synchronous discussions. 

Threaded Discussions

There are lots of benefits of using threaded discussions. Threaded discussions allow to communicate with multiple people at once about a specific topic. The negative side of threaded discussions is that sometimes things can get lost and people can deviate from the specific topic. I have seen threaded discussions that start talking about one thing and end with something that is completely unrelated. 

Email Conversations

Email conversations are great because they allow to have conversations with others in the span of seconds. They are also great for logging information. The problem with email conversations is that email addresses are readily available to anyone. Anyone can send a person an email, about anything. There is spam emailing, subscription emails, and of course work emails. This has deviated from the purpose of email conversations and had turned into something Capitalistic. For me, email conversations were a way people could communicate with their family members or loved ones who live far away, now,  it is mainly used to communicate work related topics. 

Online Synchronous Discussions

Online synchronous discussions replaced having real discussions with people during the pandemic. Because of this I tend to have a negative idea of online synchronous discussions. I feel as though they are repetitive and people tend to say the same thing over and over again. It doesn't seem as though any conversation is happening. It feels as though people are forced to share their ideas in an unknown format. What I do like about online synchronous discussions is that I am able to draft my responses and think about my own ideas. 

Conclusion

Overall, technology has many benefits but it is important to remember to be aware of the risks and to keep yourself educated.