Using Technology in Tertiary Education - Essay Example

 Using Technology in Tertiary Education Introduction In this era of globalization, the world can be observed to change rapidly owing to the incessant innovative actions through the utilisation of advanced technologies. Quite apparently, technologies in today’s socio-economic environment has not only been influencing the economy and lifestyle of humankind but has also created a significant impact upon the education sector worldwide. It is in this context that educational sectors can be observed to pay due attention in obtaining the support from technology advancements in delivering the required knowledge to the students. In addition, with the technology, social media has also been playing an influential role in reframing the educational sectors all around the world. Competitive universities today have further become quite concentrated on making a better use of the information and the platform rendered by the social media of 21st century for the educational processes. It is in this context that technology in alliance with the implications of social media tends to create both advantageous and disadvantageous impacts upon the educational sector which can be identified as complex and multidimensional phenomenon (Carr, 2012). Based on this context, the study will intend to offer a comprehensive understanding of the impacts created by technology upon education sector, emphasizing upon the classroom or lecture environment of tertiary education process. In this regard the discussion will also take into account the role played by social media in transforming the traditional learning process by means of rapidly advancing technology. Negative and Positive aspects of using of Technology in Tertiary Education Concerning the current day context, it can be apparently observed that universities are becoming increasingly inclined towards utilizing technological advancements in the traditional education systems to obtain greater competitive advantages through differentiation (Schwartz, 2012).In this regard, various benefits can be observed to be yielded by the universities by making use of technologies. For instance, the utilization of advanced technology has often observed to assist the educators to effectively communicate to the learners with practical illustration with a live display, which further helps the students to obtain a clear view of the topic or subject. Technology involvement in tertiary education can also be observed to present the subject matter as more interesting to the students. Technology involvement has been encouraged in the educational sectors also due to the reason that it helps in more active learning of the students. Contextually, technology helps to obtain stronger attention of the students, minimizing the chances of distraction and thereby, enhancing the efficiency of the overall learning process (Carr, 2012). It is worth mentioning in this context that along with the above mentioned benefits of involving technology in the education sector, experts have also revealed that such advancements facilitates competitiveness or rather the cognitive skills of the learners which further contributes towards the growth of the labour market in a particular socio-economic environment. Hence, by facilitating the growth of skilled labour force, technology involvement in the tertiary education sector plays a pivotal role in facilitating economic growth in the long-run (Manila Bulletin, 2013). Along with the advantages, technology inclusions also render certain disadvantages to the education sector. One of the most apparent disadvantages of the technology advancement can be identified in terms of anxiety often experienced by professors concerning the rapid alterations in the technology industry. It is in this context that when an education institution attempts to incorporate a new technology in its learning process, it gives rise to costs apart from creating challenges as a time-consuming procedure. Apart from the economic challenges in terms of cost and time consumption procedural framework, technology inclusion have also been criticized by various analysts stating that such alterations depict negative implications in relation to the philosophical concerns of higher education system. As stated by Hieronymi (2012), rapid and incessant technology inclusion has today influenced the entire education process to operate as a system to facilitate transfer of information and innovative ideas. Additionally, extensive use of technology in the classrooms or lecture environment makes it necessary for the learners to be aware and competent in using such tools and thereby limits the expansion of education in the regions which lack technology advancements. However, education works on the philosophy of developing the skills and competitive understandings of the learners, assisting them to enjoy a healthy living. In other words, a significant limitation imposed by the technology involvement in tertiary education is the shift towards the materialistic vision of obtaining education facilities rather than being concentrated upon the actual socio-cultural values of education (Hieronymi, 2012). Effects of Technology and Social Media on Tertiary Study It can be apparently observed from the above discussion that technology has had a significant impact on the education sector. Contextually, the impacts of extensive technology inclusion, especially in the tertiary education sector can be well-illustrated with emphasis on the influence of social media upon the traditional learning process. Social Media has currently emerged as an inevitable phenomenon in the regular life of humankind. These networking sites are very frequently used as entertainment sites, for gathering information and mostly to stay in touch with family members, and with friends residing all around the world irrespective of the geographical limitations. However, in the current day context it can be apparently observed that social media is also used for developing wider networks for various purposes which also include learning, both directly as well as indirectly. From a critical point of view, it can be observed that today learners intend to perform researches, as well as communicate with professionals and experts across the world through social media in order to gain better knowledge regarding a particular aspect. Social media also assists learners to obtain a critical understanding of various cultures, lifestyles and ethnicity playing a vital role in sociology and cultural studies. Similarly, it has often been witnessed in the modern day classroom environment that the articles flying in social media are discussed upon and analysed so as to render a practical view among the students concerning a particular subject matter. For instance, when educating students regarding world politics or socio-economic changes, educators have often been observed taking the assistance of social media networking to illustrate divergences and obtain relative information. Hence, it can be affirmed that information technology through networking sites, largely help to acquire knowledge as well as to deliver relevant information and to discover new ideas. It even encourages the learners to convey their ideas, solve their problems obtaining the view of the experts irrespective of geographical limitations. It targets a wide audience at once, as an effective tool used for communication which is also used for data collection in academic research processes (American Psychological Association, 2011). Contradictorily, various limitations can also be observed as created by the rigorous uses of technology and social media in the education sector. Recent news articles published from all around the world depicted that many schools have strictly prohibited the use of information technology related activities through social media within the school campuses owing to the negative psychological impression created on the learners as they are found to surf objectionable contents which further motivate them to perform unsocial conducts such as bullying, harassing, and using bad languages. This part of advice is directed to all the social media operators, intended not only for students, but for the entire young generation (Keen, 2009). Conclusion With reference to the above discussion, it can be stated that fundamentally owing to the rapid alterations in the technology sector, and also due to its growing dependency on technology involvement, the modern day learning process is witnessing various limitations in terms of complexities, costs and pace to accept rapid alterations in the external environmental scenario. From a critical point of view, it can be affirmed that technology advancements have influenced the education sector expand in the international context rather than been restricted to a particular geographical area. Again, in the similar context, as the informational technology industry can be witnessed to grow with substantial velocity, it creates a pressure on the education sector as well, to incorporate changes and keep improving. Additionally, technology involvement in the education sector has also been criticised by various experts, illustrating such alterations to be a vital cause for materialistic concerns which are considered to be so important in today’s socio-cultural environment, shifting the focus from the philosophical concerns of traditional learning. Irrespective of these limitations and criticisms, technology involvement in education sector has been advised as quite advantageous to assist the learners in obtaining a better insight to the professional world, gaining a rational and more realistic understanding of the external environmental changes. On the whole, it attempts to develop competitiveness of the learners, majorly in the tertiary education sector. This further tends to facilitate the competencies in the prospective labour market of a particular region in the international context which can also be observed as an encouraging factor for the overall economic growth. Hence, it can be appropriately affirmed with due regards to the overall analysis of the negatives and positives related to technology involvement in the modern day learning process that whether technology is good or bad for the education sector, depends largely on the way it is being interpreted and used. References American Psychological Association, 2011. Social Networking’s Good and Bad Impacts on Kids. News. Press Releases. [Online] Available at: http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2011/08/social-kids.aspx [Accessed January 7, 2013]. Carr, N., 2012. The Crisis in Higher Education. MIT Technology Review. [Online] Available at: http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/429376/the-crisis-in-higher-education/ [Accessed January 7, 2013]. Hieronymi, P., 2012. Don't Confuse Technology With College Teaching. The Chronicle. [Online] Available at: http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2011/08/social-kids.aspx [Accessed January 7, 2013]. Keen, A., 2009. Is Social Networking Bad For Our Children? The Telegraph. [Online] Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/social-media/6324960/Is-social-networking-bad-for-our-children.html [Accessed January 7, 2013]. Manila Bulletin, 2013. The Importance of Technology in Education for Country's Sustainable Growth. Articles. [Online] Available at: http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/388578/the-importance-of-technology-in-education-for-countrys-sustainable-growth#.UOpsSOTryIU [Accessed January 7, 2013]. Schwartz, S., 2012. Universities Leading the Way with Education Technology. The Guardian. [Online] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2012/mar/28/education-technology [Accessed January 7, 2013]. Read More