How gadgets can make your college life easier and more attractive
Gadgets make the life of people easy and comfortable; their main purpose is to help us achieve our goals faster and more efficiently still staying active and strong. In education, gadgets play a vital role as they are the main tool of practicing and improving students` skills and knowledge. Evolving from books, now education gladly embraces electronic gadgets that are invading classrooms at a fast pace. Tablets, interactive boards, laptops, and other electronic devices become an essential part of the process. Now, more than ever, as we’re facing the Coronavirus, gadgets play a crucial role in our lives, and an increasing number of couples are finding it hard to maintain long distance relationships during the pandemic. If you’re interested in learning how to deal with long distance relationships during COVID, take a look at this article by The Doe.
For teachers, gadgets are as much useful because now they can develop and test different strategies of teaching not available for them years before. However, despite the whole list of educational benefits, gadgets have disadvantages as well. In this article, we will reveal the importance of gadgets for students and discuss their main strong and weak points.
Role of gadgets in education
Gone are the days when students had to carry heavy backpacks stuffed with textbooks. While more traditional methods are still working today, technology allows students to study smarter and easier without spending nights over books. To understand the necessity of using gadgets in college, have a look at Apple Store or Google Play Market: they both have thousands of educational apps, each one offering a different studying or teaching method for any age and level.
The ecosystem of educational help is not limited to apps: for example, writepaperfor.me online service offers students quick writing help whenever necessary. It becomes difficult to underestimate the role of gadgets in the classroom and many colleges have already included gadgets to their curriculum as they are affordable in budget and their value is priceless. When used correctly, gadgets can bring a lot of benefits. However, many people are still sure that they are nothing but a distraction and even encourage cheating. Let`s consider the main advantages and disadvantages of gadgets.
Advantages
The primary function of gadgets is to improve communication between a student and a teacher and make the learning process more interesting and efficient. They help in teaching subjects that are usually difficult to understand and give an opportunity to explore those things that cannot be fit in a classroom. Gadgets help students to:
- Have better communication between a teacher and a student. Although many professors ban gadgets in their classes, its use is proved to have a positive impact on this relationship. Now teachers can see the progress of students, set up necessary level based on an individual approach and always be in touch if necessary;
- Speed up the studying process. Technology makes us learn faster and more convenient providing us with all the required database and tools in one small gadget;
- Boost research skills. Now research has become much easier due to special algorithms, study materials, and useful resources;
- Promote better learning. Gadgets become priceless for students with special needs who experience difficulties in traditional learning and writing by hand. Typing and using learning assistants may bring them relief and finally give an opportunity to study normally just like other students in their class;
- Offer e-learning. Many students prefer distance learning to traditional classroom activities and with the help of gadgets this style is widely practiced. If you find it easier and faster to absorb information electronically, now you have access to all books, lectures and other materials via your smartphone which fits your learning style;
- Reduce physical load. Remember yourself with a huge backpack stuffed with heavy books and documents? It probably caused severe pain in your back but there was no alternative. Now it`s enough to carry your tablet or laptop which is light, small and full of everything you might need at your classes;
- Boost self-confidence. Being the owner of electronic gadgets makes students feel independent and increases self-confidence. They can structure their program, research information, adapt schedule, choose classroom/electronic way of studying and better identify their learning needs;
- Improve engagement. With the help of modern technologies and gadgets, teachers can adapt their teaching tactics to make it more interesting and engaging for their students. Gadgets give plenty of opportunities to be creative and they have more chances to boost students` interest and make them want to discover new useful things;
- Give a real-time knowledge base. With a constantly changing world and views, books become out-of-date very quickly. Gadgets allow keeping students and teachers updated on new information and facts with a few taps so they always learn the most relevant and useful information. In addition, there is a huge online base that can be used as an extra resource for homework and exam preparation.
This is not the whole list of what benefits gadgets can bring in the educational process. They enhance communication between teachers, students, and parents. In addition, they are very easy to use, environmentally friendly and cost-effective. Investing in a tablet, you are investing in your success.
Disadvantages
With many positive changes, gadgets also have disadvantages when it comes to studying:
- Addiction. Gadgets can be used not only for studying but also for games, social networks and other entertainment resources and such distraction can negatively impact the educational process;
- Lack of real communication. Gadgets reduce students` participation in socializing and activities making them transfer all the communication online;
- Interest in studies. If students have poor self-control and are lazy, they may lose interest in studies and even forget the basic learning skills;
- Decreased attention. An average attention span lasts 12 seconds while research shows that using gadgets reduces it to 8 seconds only. If the students have difficulties with concentration, it may be harder for them to complete tasks and their grades may suffer;
- Health. Constant use of electronic devices encourages a sedentary way of living that may cause gaining weight, back issues, eye problems, and poor posture;
- Sleep. Using devices late at night may interfere with your sleep phases as the artificial blue light suppresses the impact of sleep-inducing hormones. Thus, falling asleep may become more difficult.
As the final point, we have to admit that gadgets definitely have more advantages than real flaws and their impact on education is huge. Digitalization transforms the educational process making it faster, easier, and more efficient. Colleges have already started adapting their curriculums to the use of gadgets and they receive the first positive results. The only thing you should do is use them wisely to achieve your goals and build a successful career later.
