Influence of Technology on the Main Areas - Essay Example

Introduction: The modern times are dominated by the presence of technology all over. All the major domains of social, individual life and activities are influenced by them. The field of education and learning is one of them. Technology has become an integral part of the educational sector. Not just on behalf of the teaching faculties and the administrative departments rather the students as well. With the advent of modern technologies, the means by which the mechanism of learning was previously in practice has changed as well. There is a little presence of the hard form books in the classroom environments. The social media which is a gift of modern technology has become one of the sources of learning and educational environment. Social media which is broadly associated with the Web 2.0 services makes up for the educational sources in the informal way. Each of the major social media networks has its own characteristic pattern. For example Facebook has designated groups, communities and pages that are designed and created by specially selected alumni. They contain their group discussions, class lectures, the annual meetings mention, the assignment uploads and many more similar things. Gmail often provides support as a database towards class lectures upload, quizzes, assignments, marks upload and many more that are accessible to the local and university students only. Apart from the applications that come in the form of social media, hardware devices such as tablets and various other hand held devices have made it possible to spread and make use of technology on effective grounds. Mentioning the social media without the mention of hardware supporting units will be incomplete mention of the developments made in the modern times. The tablets and other handheld devices have enabled removing dependency on heavy books, baggage and other utilities that were needed to be carried with the books and educational material in the previous decades (Khosrow-Pour, 2014, 4547). Apart from the formal methods and class room environments, the informal method used by social media is largely an effective tool of bringing about interest and orientation of the students and the college environment towards learning and reading. Often the students are engaged in causal activities on these social media networking websites. Providing educational content in a causal way will let them get familiarized and adapt to the mode of learning ultimately adding to their learning and reading habits. Promotional campaigns and activities in the learning environment can be developed and further nurtured through the social media through group discussions, suggestions and other formal and informal platforms. Bringing about discussions with regard to the improvements in the curriculum and other academic factors will lead to overall higher rates of literacy, growth and educational awareness. This case so discussed can be of use towards the underdeveloped societies and countries where the literacy rates are still relatively low and students do not get the equal opportunities towards acquiring education. The pros and Cons of social media and digital educational mode: Like any other technology, the social media as a means of educational source has its pros and cons. The first possible negative about digital source is the possible volatile nature of technology and learning. Since books are the hard form source of knowledge. The electronic sources may evaporate and get displaced quickly such as the system breakdown or the failures. The second possible negative is the non authentic sources that are often associated with the books, publishers in the electronic medium. The hard form books have little margin of non authorized publications as compared to the electronic means of publication and books reviewing. Quality and standard comprise is one of the negatives that may also come as the drawback of the modern trend and modern technology. Since the informal means mean participation by everyone and contribution by everyone, the absence of non authorized and established writers often lead to low quality publications. The advantage of online sources and electronic means is the availability of the online resources. The publications, journals and other conferences proceedings, all these are a new concept and they were not known or little known previously. They have been added to the new academic environments and educational institutes through these resources. I.E.E.E, JSTOR are few of the online publication sources that are quite commonly used by the students of different disciplines for the purpose of learning and reading. Business studies and institutions are directly making use of social media, not just for educational purposes, rather advertisement, promotions and colorful representation of the items and facts that are part of their academic studies and discipline. Based on the affective outcomes and the overall benefits associated with the use of electronic means, large number of disciplines and universities have migrated towards electronic means. Great Britain is one of the prime examples. Surveys undertaken evaluate that considerable percentage of institutions as well as the academic faculty have adopted means that are either directly or indirectly making use of social media and other digital and electronic means of communication (Lepi, 2013). Policy making towards increasing the educational orientations and reducing the dropout rates can also be discussed and suggested for improvement on the social media. Since the social media has groups and an effective platform towards the discussion of all kinds of topics. The educational development can be chosen for as one of them. Time wastage and possible browsing on unrelated literature might be another area that may come forth on account of negative usages of technology. Conclusion: Given the pros and cons, and the overall nature of technology it can be stated that technological form of education and electronic learning is bound to make further in roads. The fact that the global businesses of different disciplines are all associated with the use of technology, education therefore cannot afford lagging behind (Ferriman, 2013). Furthermore, the benefits such as portability, support, availability and other features of modern technology supported electronic reading and devices make it more suitable it terms of expansion and more effective use towards higher level of education. References: Ferriman, J. (2013, Nov 11). Growing Use of Social Media in Education. Retrieved from Learndash: http://www.learndash.com/growing-use-of-social-media-in-education/ Khosrow-Pour, M. (2014). Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology. IGI Global Kommers, P., & Issa, T. (2014). Perspectives on Social Media: A Yearbook. Routledge Lepi, K. (2013, Oct 29). How Social Media Is Being Used In Education. Retrieved from edudemic: http://www.edudemic.com/social-media-in-education/ Read More