Emerging Role Of Information Technology In Education

A modern era of teaching and learning has begun already. I still remember

seeing everyone's WhatsApp status updates on Teacher's Day - all had a

YouTube symbol. I was perplexed and my doubts were cleared when my

classmate elucidated that YouTube is the real teacher today and it's

everyone's favorite. I couldn't help but contemplate. Gone were the days

when there were 'gurus' and 'gurudakshanas'. With a thin smile, I myself

updated my WhatsApp status. There is a reason for the popularity of

education by Information Technology.

Students have easy access to educational data through computers and the

latest technologies like mobile phone applications. New educational

applications coded by IT experts have emerged through which students

access the latest and any information very fast. Gone are the days when

students used to borrow books from libraries and pay a penalty for the

damage or late submission of books. Nowadays students prefer to use

Library mobile phone apps to download e-books which are cost-effective

from the infinite number of choices and they have access to it at any instant

or anywhere which preserves their time. It's no more a rare sight to watch

people reading books on their tablets in a cafe, trains, airports, etc. These

new multimedia technologies are the best way of communicating ideas,

describing concepts and order information.

This is a good sign for teachers too. They have developed a new way of

transferring knowledge too. It is a human tendency to get bored by reading

lengthy texts or blackboard notes (especially if it's a complex and tricky

subject), and hence the initiation of audio-visual technology makes students

perceive better and awaken their lost interest in the subject. A student

learns better if both his senses- sight and sound are concentrated. Because

researches show that perception is the basic key of retaining a concept in

our memory and after concept formation to think in a creative manner. Your

teacher might not be updated with the new findings and concepts that have

emerged but your internet is always up to date. Our professors use

projectors for explaining 3-D concepts or anything which will take a toll on

our imagination because visual illustrations make us understand the

concept quicker.

As far as I have heard and my own experience states that we students have

a Facebook or WhatsApp group of classmates in which we share everything

beneficial and knowledgeable content concerning our academics we find on

the internet so the knowledge is shared. Assignment questions floated by

the professor are often discussed on these platforms so that no doubt of

yours remains unsolved. We cannot blame this platform for insincerity if we

have any, it depends on us the way we use it. We can use it for either

copying assignments or mastering questions we are not able to solve.

There are people who are remarkably knowledgeable and are inborn

teachers but without information technology, they or their teachings couldn't

have become popular. While some give this education for free, some make

their talent a source of income by selling their courses on the internet for an

affordable price or maybe the person is hired by a prestigious university,

anything is possible in this era.

What about the students living in the undeveloped part of the country? Is

education available for them? Widespread of affordable internet enables

enthusiastic learners to study from anywhere through online education.

Through interactive distance learning programs, a student can study

anywhere and anytime saving on travel time and other costs. These

technologies have brought a positive drastic change in the lives of the

disabled. One of my friends who suffered a paralysis attack and is fine now

wasn't allowed to attend college by her concerned parents but she found

comfort when she joined Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University online

engineering course. She takes the same exams, is marked by the same

professors and will earn the same degree as taking offline courses in the

college.

To summarize I would say our education system has been challenged by the

information society. All of this has also increased competition and

companies keep adding core qualifications to the list of qualifications

needed from their employees. The modern ways of delivering effective,

speedy and easily accessible content across the globe have formed a basis

for participation and teamwork. There is still a lot of work going to enhance

these technologies and IT people should have an energetic and progressive

attitude for continuing to ponder for modifications.