The Dangers of Computer - Based Learning

Educational technology is one of the most misused aspects of learning. Specifically, computers and internet may become a hazard if used unaccordingly to the principles of educational technology. As much as the younger generations are more technologically oriented, the tools teachers utilize may cause more harm than good, and can become a hindrance to learning.

The principle of using educational technology is to use them as a support to education. With electronic media on the rise, many young teachers make the mistake of over-using the computer, locking up the students in a virtual world where they see what the teachers input, without giving students the opportunity to explore with their own power. This is nothing more than a book projected to a screen, or rather a digital slide presentation done by one person show.

When students use computers, there is a chance that students get more caught up with the presentation rather than content, thus not using the computer to the correct advantage.

The Internet can be disadvantageous to learning due to plagiarism, which promotes laziness and uncreativity. Students can just copy information from a website without understanding what is published, then printing the data for their homework's, sometimes not even knowing the credibility and correctness of the information. Special care must be used in authorizing the internet as a source of information.

However, not only students can plagiarize but also teachers as well, who can copy text online and hand them down to the students, which can be harmful because the material may not be suitable for the students level of learning. The information would not be digested well enough without proper processing from the teacher.

Instead, educators should create a more interactive class, and must sometimes detach from computers and be more connected to the students instead of the internet. Just as learning is not limited to classrooms, learning is not limited to pure computer use.

Computers should not be a block to the growth of people. In as much as technology aims to assist education, educators must help students realize that computers have limitations, and are just one of the many tools to get the lesson across.