Use of Computers in Education, Research Paper Example

It seems that more and more often computers and related equipment are being involved in the educational process nowadays. This tendency of wiring schools, exercising long distance learning, and depending on the internet for information is apparently being actively promoted. Lately, politicians and some educators have begun praising computers as the new technological universal remedy, “the one that will turn classrooms into cybernetic gardens for growing young minds” (EMC Paradigm Publishing). The utilization of computers in education has speedily altered the way that people learn in a short period of time. However, there is a topical question of whether this change is for good, whether it have actually repressed or improved learning process? Considering the experience of recent years, when such things as educational television and the language lab failed to truly become a successful educational technology, many individuals nowadays feel skeptical over the noises about computer’s potential to modernize both teaching and learning processes. I believe this skepticism to be vain. In my opinion, the difference this time is that the technologists may be right. I believe that if being applied properly, education through computers can bring numerous significant benefits to both students and teachers.

It is believed that in the twenty-first century the growing number of jobs in the United States will be in the service or information area. The potential job positions will oblige students to have such professional skills as ability to “communicate effectively in speech and in writing; work collaboratively; use technological tools such as computers; analyze problems, set goals, and formulate strategies for achieving those goals; seek out information or skills on their own, as needed, to meet their goals” (EMC Paradigm Publishing). The factual problem our schools are presently confronted with is how to reorganize and improve the curriculum in order to make sure that students will develop these abilities. Use of techniques that promote project-based shared learning, teaching students to be able to gain access to information, to research the assigned topics, to perform the set tasks in the most creative way possible, can effectively be performed through the application of computers.

One important cause of bringing computers into schools is that according to statistics 60 percent of jobs in the next century will involve computer skills (EMC Paradigm Publishing). Thus it is obvious that computers are able to make classrooms more pertinent at least for this reason. “Computer literacy should be taught as early as possible; otherwise students will be left behind” (Computers in Education). Of equivalent significance is the fact that if used properly, computers are able to smooth the process of students training by the means of action and interaction that twenty-first century lifestyle will entail.

Computers as an educational instrument can serve as a tool of self-directed learning. Nowadays professional success depends on how a person is able to teach oneself, to organize one’s knowledge and skills in a new way, to discover for oneself the resources that one may require in order to learn new skills and to keep in step with a continually altering environment. Unfortunately, the way that the school program is implemented usually prevents students from being motivated for self-directed learning. To be frank, students used to treat learning process not as something they do for self-development, but rather as something that is done to them in a rather compulsory way. We used to perceive learning as something that we do exclusively while being at school, rather than something that we are constantly involved in throughout our lives. Computers can alter this approach, this standard of externally motivated learning. They can actually present the students with the possibility to control the process of own learning and to advance at their personal pace.

Due to computers we often face the situation when being interested in some particular subject, an individual use internet to make own research and discover hundreds of sources of information, which eventually leads to forming own opinion on the subject and creating a significant basis for truly understanding the topic. These types of activities, being guided by personal interest, project goal and teacher, do not only educate a student on the researched issue, but also teach students how to study, how to organize their own learning, and how to discover and differentiate between sources of information. Moreover, they make the students realize that learning can be a thrilling chase of one’s own interests. Computers can take students rapidly where they could never get on their own, and develop learning into an exciting, gripping, self-directed journey.

In my opinion, computers as an innovative educational technology have bettered the educational process in several major ways. The chief benefit of technology is the effortless and rapid admission to various sources of information on Internet that it provides. Almost any kind of information on any possible topic is presently available to everyone. Computers also provide one with a colossal advantage in terms of research. “Research that was not possible just a few years ago has been made a reality by innovations in computing. These include areas such as high performance computing, database processing, and data acquisition and analysis” (Hodorowicz, 2000). If going into details, it is believed that computers perform much better than human teachers when the goal is to have the student repeat something to the extent that he can no longer get it incorrectly. “Similarly people learn to type, to correctly recognize and then hit notes on a keyboard, and to decline irregulars by having errors caught and corrected during repeated practice sessions -i.e. by drilling.” (Murphy, 2006). On more complicated level computers proved to be very helpful and functional for language exercises, especially with regard to reading and basic composition.

These days, computers are also becoming more and more popular as examination tools. There are tests that can be set, and checked, completely by computer, for instance these are multiple choice and “fill in the blank” tests. It is important to consider the fact that computers are able to provide objectivity of examination process, marking in particular. Computers can be employed to separate the marker from the student for both coursework and tests. For example, marker can get students’ materials without actual naming, meaning without any specific identification, so that such phenomena as preferential treatment and favoritism in grading are avoided. Thus computers decrease the possibility of unfair treatment at schools which is a significant factor of student motivation.

In my opinion, properly applied computer technologies will positively affect the overall intelligence of the US students. We are living at the age of fierce competition. Professional skills nowadays are mostly presented not by physical abilities, but rather by intellectual development. Computers provide us with a great possibility for self-development and for keeping in touch with the present time. “Computation can be more than a theoretical science and a practical art: It can also be the material from which to fashion a powerful and personal vision of the world” (Computers in Education). Technological progress is the reality we are to face. There was time when it was possible to teach young people to carry out tasks that they could then put into operation throughout a lifetime. Nevertheless, today the rapidity of technological modification is so significant that a range of skills learned yesterday can be out of date in less than a year. Possibility for self-development provided by computers, ability to learn even when you are out of school, to improve own skills on own initiative and in accordance with personal schedule, aptitudes and opportunities, is a guarantee of future success. Thus being provided to every single student in US, possibilities presented by use of computers in education are believed to make the nation evolve and become intellectually mature.

References

Computers in Education. A Review of Arguments for the Use of Computers in Elementary Education. Retrieved June 4, 2009, from http://www.southerncrossreview.org/4/review.html EMC Paradigm Publishing. Computers in the Classroom: Uses, Abuses, and Political Realities. Retrieved June 4, 2009, from http://www.emcp.com/intro_pc/reading1.html

Hodorowicz, L. Computers and Education. (December 6, 2000). Computer Ethics. Retrieved june 4, 2009, from http://www.cs.rpi.edu/academics/courses/fall00/ethics/papers/hodorl.html
Murphy, P. ZDNet. (November 9th, 2006). Computers in Education. Retrieved June 4, 2009,.from http://blogs.zdnet.com/Murphy/?p=732