Are teachers starting to feel that technology is doing more harm than good? By: Emily Wills

“How Will Technology Shape HR in the Future” By Great People Inside, 2017

As technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, the demand for its integration in classrooms has increased significantly. This trend has caused mixed feelings among teachers, who are the key players in education. While some teachers are excited about technology's opportunities, others are concerned about the potential drawbacks and wonder if technology is causing more harm than good.

Technology has multiple benefits and gives teachers opportunities to try out new things. Ms. Hazel the head of the English department at ISB states, “The ease of being able to try new things, saving the planet, also the availability to be more creative and try new things and I couldn't even imagine going back years ago to a world without technology.”

However, there are still many downsides to the incorporation of technology in classrooms. It could feel that the high demand for technology is putting additional pressure on teachers to learn new skills and keep up with the latest trends. Additionally, some teachers worry that technology could take away from traditional classroom activities, such as reading, writing, and critical thinking, which are crucial for students' academic development. Ms. Hazel says, “I think that sometimes in the teaching profession, there is this idea that we need to try out the newest, latest, and greatest new things, and it can become very overwhelming and overthrow students' learning experience, I also think that people forget that technology is a tool, not a toy.” Technology and other activities in the classroom should be balanced and should not just be one or the other. “I think teachers have an important place in individuals, such as guiding students towards them being their best selves and I don't think a computer can take place of that relationship.” This is another main concern for many teachers, they start feeling the use of teachers in the classroom is useless since they can do it just all online. This leaves teachers to believe that the use of technology is causing students to fall behind and not end up learning as much which is losing the availability of resources during class time.

But one issue that isn't brought up is the lack of being able to write legibly when it comes down to IB exams. Ms. Hazel mentioned that “ students are losing the ability to handwrite eligibly due to technology when IB diploma exams are still written by hand it becomes problematic.’’ One thing schools should be doing is not losing the use of technology but adding more opportunities to give students the practice of handwriting so they don’t lose this basic skill. Multiple studies have shown that handwriting is better than typing for taking notes, as it results in greater retention of the information recorded. If in 2022 there was a major decline in being able to handwrite eligibility, shouldn't teachers do something about this and incorporate more opportunities for students to handwrite over type?

Whereas Ms. Hazel provided an academic perspective on technology, Mrs. McRobbie emphasizes social concerns such as the loss of balance and friendships with excessive use. According to Mrs. McRobbie, "The main drawback for me is the social isolation. Technology can be addictive, it can be a distraction, it affects sleep and attention, and it can be addictive. It has the power to divide relationships between friends, families, and partners.“ Technology has significantly altered the way relationships are built in our society today. But, there are other ways for people to come up with superior concepts. “Balance is a word we use frequently in the health field, and I firmly believe that it is an important word in this situation,” as Mrs. McRobbie states.

But all of this being said the use of technology in the classroom has been a topic of debate among educators for quite some time. While there are numerous benefits to incorporating technology into the classroom, there are also many drawbacks. But how do we know when to cut back on excessive technology use so as to prevent doing more harm than good?