The Rapid Evolution of Education Through Technology
The world has changed a lot during the last 40 years, more than in the last 100 years. Every area where technology is applied has benefited from giant steps towards the enhancement of its features, needs, implementation, and goals. Education is not the exception. I’d like to mention that this is just my opinion based on my experience as a student and a language instructor.
From Chalk to Clicks: A Personal Reflection
We have seen the development through the years from students going to school every day and receiving classes by opening a textbook and a notebook, and a teacher that has changed tools several times—from chalk to markers and from markers to a mouse and keyboard.
I remember when I was going to school that I used to carry this big backpack with one notebook and textbook per subject. A case that was made of plastic with a bunch of pens and pencils, colors, liquid paper, erasers, scissors, and, if needed, markers too.
Digital Tools and the Changing Classroom
Nowadays in some schools that is still happening, but in the majority of developed and developing countries, the government provides a laptop and a tablet to students so they can bring it to class and have it at home as a tool. However, have the changes that the educational system has undergone actually improved the quality of the education that students receive? It depends.
Technology does not only mean a computer; it means the use of new tools to help both teacher and student have an easier way to interact in class.
The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Education
Artificial Intelligence has come to make a revolution for both parties and it has allowed the improvement of several aspects in education such as the personalization of the learning process, creating a study plan adapted according to the performance and style of a student.
It allows teachers and students to have a 24/7 assistant that helps them clarify doubts or simplify ideas, which leads to immediate feedback based on results and data input from the teacher or the student.
The Pitfalls of Overreliance on AI
Despite the fact that AI is a powerful tool, it is also a means for slacking. The more the student or teacher depends on AI, the less critical thinking is used. This is not something new; it’s just that before, critical thinking was a big part of the research process because the information was not summarized and not organized in bullet points as we can ask ChatGPT or Gemini nowadays.
From books in the library of the school to Wikipedia and now to AI. Evolution is there, and yes, technology’s purpose is to make things easier for humans—but easier until what point?
AI and the Erosion of Basic Skills
Nowadays even for tourism AI is applied, where you can get your phone out and ask Google or ChatGPT to help you communicate in the language of the country you are visiting. So, that has led to people thinking that language learning is not needed anymore.
The same happens with Math, where now you can write a formula or an equation on your notes app and the AI of your phone can solve it without you worrying about making mistakes, erasing it again, and redoing it.
From the use of your fingers or mental process to subtract or add, to the calculator and now AI. Everything has evolved to simplify things for us. Isn’t it great? What’s the problem with that then?
The Cost of Convenience: Laziness and Dependency
Indeed, the effectiveness of the implementation of technology is great; however, just like beer, if you drink a lot, it’s not good for your health. The same happens with technology. The huge dependency on it makes us lazy and with a tendency of needing things to be completed as soon as possible.
Resistance to Change and Online Learning Challenges
We can say that while there have been innovative tools introduced and made education more accessible, some teachers still resist these changes, preferring traditional teaching methods.
The shift to online platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams has transformed education to a point where now it is not needed for a student to go out of home and receive the class from the bedroom.
This has led to a higher dropout rate in online education and the perception that education has lost value is increasing with time.
The Need for Real Social Interaction
The lack of motivation and isolation creates a disconnection and loss of motivation from the student, as the human being is social by nature. We need social interaction to be real, not through a screen.
The fact that education has forcefully changed a lot in the last five years has made some courses disorganized and overly long that students become disengaged. Unclear structure, overwhelming material, and PDF dumping reduce retention and interest.
A First-Hand Experience with Poor Online Education
This happened to me recently. I saw that the government had launched a free educational program to have technical knowledge in several tech fields like cybersecurity, cloud computing, and AI. So I decided to enroll because it caught my attention and it was advertised as a huge opportunity for students who graduated.
To my surprise—maybe because I had huge expectations—it was an asynchronous methodology, meaning that the “teachers” posted the information on the platform, then the student has to read and watch all the content, finally there was an evaluation to measure the understanding of the topic.
There was no time for a live class, the chat system was useless because the teachers or “professors” didn’t respond, homework was based on 20-page PDFs, and the tests were also based on YouTube videos of at least 30 minutes long explaining things in a boring way. It was a complete waste of time so I dropped out.
Online Learning Requires Discipline
Online learning, unlike on-site classes, requires strong self-regulation. Many students underestimate the required time, juggle work/life demands to the point that they end up overwhelmed and dropping out of classes.
As a language instructor, I have to face this issue several times where students say that they have a very important meeting, that they cannot continue with the lessons because their work schedule changes. They keep saying: I am committed to learn a language but my time is limited.
It is understandable because as adults, our time is consumed by work or other things that we don’t realize until we measure how we spend our days. And if we add that sometimes instructors lack digital literacy or do not actively engage students, satisfaction drops.
Final Thoughts: A Balanced Approach
In summary, technology has provided amazing tools to alleviate some major issues that education has had throughout time, making it more accessible to the vast majority of people that before, were not able to receive classes because they couldn’t go to onsite classes for any reason.
At the same time, higher dropout rates are more common due to poorly structured content, lack of support, and feelings of isolation (despite people saying that they prefer to stay at home). Some students still prefer onsite learning because it offers richer interaction, accountability, and perceived value.
Technology has brought many positive changes to education and has made it more dynamic. With time, we will see how everything adapts better and the dropout rates will decrease.
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