In this debate it is stated that technology has created equality in the society and I am into favor of this argument as the points that are discussed by both the team members are absolutely true. The Internet/technology has become increasingly significant as time has passed, and the biggest advantage or benefit of the technology that we all can possess now is the social media platforms. It has made equality in the society in several aspects and reduces the communication gap between the people. It has allowed people to get connect with people throughout world due to globalization. People love to get connect and chat with strangers besides to see their castes, religion and society as they want to know about their communities more and share their culture. It shows the equalities between the people of different culture, castes, race, religion is increasing through these digital platforms like Instagram, Facebook, YouTube etc. Moreover, it has provided the e-learning opportunities to those students who cannot able to visit to different cities and states for their higher education.

There are several towns and villages existed in the world that do not have higher education and medical facilities but the technology and internet has made it possible now for the students of villages to get higher education and makes their dream true. Apart from this now patients can consult to the doctors through online applications so that they can get health care benefits and keep their families free from any kind of health issues. Technology has made advancement in the transportation sector with this one can cover the huge kilometers of distance in hours.  Many NGOs have started online applications in order to support the poor, disabled and needy homeless people.

They also create a new society of the needy people where they all share the equal platform and feel love to stay together. It also does not make them to feel alone and depressed in the world of selfish people who neglect them. Also, government is also eliminating the discriminations from the society with this technology by launching the scheme #ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD to spread the education and make the youth educated. Moreover, now lack people, aboriginals and women can fight against the discrimination freely through the support of these digital platforms and technology. Thus, it can be stated that it is the technology that has made several transformations in the society and make them equal. 

“Technology is a word that describes something that doesn’t work yet” – Douglas Adams

It was a great opening of “The Great Edtech Debate” by Megan, Brittney, Nicole, and Daryl with an interesting topic, “Technology in the classroom enhances learning”. Here are my views on debate-1.

Advent of innovative technology and internet has improved the learning style of students. Earlier traditional methods are used by the teachers within the class to educate the children but now transformations can be seen in this approach. Now in the classes teachers are using advance teaching techniques through technology while delivering the lectures. Teachers now follow TPACK or SAMR model in higher to teach students in class to introduce the students with technology.

Agree-

As the name of model TPACK stands for Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge that is implemented by teachers to analyse by what means they can utilize their domain of knowledge along with technology in order to teach the students with the purpose to enhance their knowledge level. Technology has several positive impacts along with negative ones on the classroom environment. On its pros side, students can come to learn and understand the things easily and can retain it in their mind for longer as it is well known fact that a picture is worth a thousand words. For example, kids in the primary classes can easily learn the rhymes and understand the stories when they view it on the projector rather than read it through hands-on books. Students in colleges and higher classes can get the recorded lectures from the teachers that provide them help in further learning at their homes.  Technology has now replaced the traditional books with the e-books in order to reduce the loads of bags and it saves the costs of purchasing. Now students can buy and resell the e-books on the amazon kindle within seconds.

Disagree-

On the contrary side this technology has also some drawbacks on the classroom learning environment. The quote “excess of everything is bad’ is well explaining the use of technology in our day-to-day life. First and foremost, allowance of mobile phones, tabs and laptops to students at schools and colleges can create distraction in their education as children usually get addicted towards the social media platforms. They may share the nudity content through social platforms and create negative environment in the class. This also created cyber-bullying and violent environment in the class.

I believe that, use of technology in the classroom is undoubtedly improving in India, but we believe that it would take another two years for schools to fully adjust to tech-enabled teaching approaches, which may be the new enhanced style of teaching. I also feel that not all courses can be taught using technology, necessitating blended learning and the blending of both offline and online learning. Therefore, technology should be used with care under restrictions at school and colleges.

Thank you

Lovepreet kaur