Regardless of what we think about it, education has become irreversibly intertwined with technology. No classroom is complete without a ubiquitous digital projector, and every teacher has a laser pointer at hand. Undoubtedly, PowerPoint is an application that can create both engaging and monotonous content to an equal extent. Online maps, interactive videos, and gamification (computer games designed not just for entertainment) have become an integral part of every educational journey. It sounds great, but like everything in life, it has its positive and negative aspects that we need to pay attention to.
The Library of Alexandria in Egypt contained the largest collection of knowledge in the known world at that time. We know that scientists and philosophers like Euclid, Hypatia, and Archimedes, not to mention Buddhist and Persian astrologers, came from distant lands to teach, learn, and exchange their knowledge. Alexandria was a great cultural center for centuries, where knowledge from different cultures was shared. she pondered in a grand eclectic synthesis of philosophy, science, religion, and art.
Despite that, information in those times wasn’t as easily accessible as it is today, when collective knowledge of human achievements is available to anyone with an internet-linked device. If we wanted to find out how to get to Llandudno, let’s admit it, we would be lost without Google Maps! Geography teachers worldwide surely appreciate that. Websites, podcasts, interactive games, and video content exist for every field, from music, art, history, and science to foreign languages, gardening, etc.
Schools seem like the most logical place to use technology that has immense benefits in motivating young people. All the aforementioned resources have helped breathe life into knowledge. However, they have also influenced a decrease in patience among young people and led them to have unreasonable expectations regarding the speed of acquiring educational content. Although I would emphasize that “it is the student’s responsibility to learn,” educational. The system is an unequal partnership. Students must rely on imagination and effort to cram other people’s knowledge and understanding into their heads. Technology does not necessarily facilitate learning or speed up understanding of the subjects we study.
In addition, those who teach using technology must keep up with the times, which means that the transfer of information must be different. All of this requires a lot of time, which teachers have less and less of, especially for themselves. While change is constant in the world, constant change in the education system is counterproductive for students.
Furthermore, communication has significantly improved in recent years with smartphones that can receive email, tweets, and Facebook messages. However, any child over the age of 11 feels embarrassed if they have to admit they don’t have a smartphone. This is disturbing, but what is more worrying is that young people consider direct communication, face to face, to be increasingly difficult. Their focus on technology has also diminished. the opportunity to experience wonderful and subtle moments of being in nature. Perhaps, with a great mental stimulus, there comes a need to regularly disconnect from the outside world and peacefully reflect on what they have actually learned and experienced.
However, many questions still remain open. Are we, thanks to technology, better educated? What is the goal of education and what does it mean to be an educated person?
Greek philosopher Plato believed that education is not about imparting knowledge into the minds of students, but rather about drawing out or stimulating the wisdom that is inherent in all of us.
Similarly, the great indologist Heinrich Zimmer once said that in the West, knowledge is equated with gathering information, while in the East, it implies transformation. Perhaps it is time for a transformative approach to be applied in Western education, where success will be seen as being more fully, happily, truly educated, and therefore a free human being. If technology can help achieve that goal, then it is its The application is desirable. It is wrong to view technology as a driving force. True education is something much more difficult, challenging, and humane.