Using tablets as a primary way of learning in schools – is that where we are headed?
The more technology advances, the more accessible it becomes. Computers were once the size of a whole room and cost thousands of dollars, whereas nowadays many people have more than one in their home. When some new technology becomes affordable, it quickly finds its use in everyday life, and tablets are no exception. We use all of these tech gadgets for fun mostly, trying to find the best site for streaming music, the luckystreet.com website so that we can look for the best offers, etc, but this is of course not their only purpose. Namely, tablets have already found their use in schools all over the world as they can make learning easier and more convenient.
But before we embrace tablets as the primary way of learning in schools, we have to consider the advantages and disadvantages of using such technology for educational purposes.
Advantages of using tablets at school
Firstly, tablets can make teaching easier and more effective. During a lesson, teachers can show numerous examples with a click of the button and can share information instantly. This saves a lot of time which would be needed to write things down on the blackboard. What’s more, lessons can be more interesting thanks to the visual possibilities of tablets.
Next, tablets provide access to the internet where millions of books are stored in a digital format, which means that tablets can replace any book. We may say that one tablet is equal to all the books your child will ever need. Your child will not have to carry all those heavy school books anymore. Moreover, it will no longer be necessary to destroy forests to print school books which will anyway be replaced with new books and novel teaching materials next year.
Finally, by having a tablet, your child will not only be able to study more easily and save nature at the same time, but also your child will be safer. Tablets can be tracked from home, so parents can always know the whereabouts of their child.
Having all these advantages in mind, we may wonder why tablets aren’t already used in every school. Well, there is the other side of the coin.
Disadvantages of using tablets in schools
Although tablets can make teaching and learning easier, they can also make it more difficult. As tablets can connect to the internet, a child may decide to ignore the teacher’s efforts and just choose to watch videos on YouTube or play a game. Tablets can make it harder to keep discipline in the classroom.
Another question to ponder is whether tablets and other technology will make teachers redundant. If all the necessary information is already there on the internet, will we really need schools and teachers?
We will need to deal with these questions and the potential drawbacks of using tablets at school before we can accept them as a primary way of learning.