Social psychology of education - Admission/Application Essay Example

Education is one of the most important aspects in the life of any society today and it has become essential for individuals to have a good education in order to prosper. For a good education to be achieved, it is a fact that students should have the opportunity to use good information technologies that are designed to help them academically. It has therefore become necessary for many institutions to adopt different forms of information technology to ensure that their students are able to access a wide variety of information that can be used for their academic development. In addition, because of the growing demand for the use of IT in many institutions of learning, there has developed a wide interest in the production of this technology by many companies with the specific aim of ensuring that they are dominant in the market. While it is a fact that many of the learning institutions all over the world have come to adopt information technology for the learning process of their students, there are still many more, which do not have the ability to acquire this technology. In addition, there are others, which are so steeped in the traditional forms of learning that they have found it difficult to adopt even the simplest forms of information technology. In this paper, we shall look at some of the qualities, which make an effective teacher and how these qualities may affect the learning process of their students. The adoption of information technology in the various education systems of the world has become desirable because it has been found to encourage students to work towards academic excellence. There are many qualities, which make information technology effective in education, but these qualities are often very difficult to cultivate, especially when one considers the fact that in some institutions, it is often new. Because of this, there is a possibility that it may take even years for the individuals involved in the education process, whether the teacher or the students, to completely master the use of this technology. It has been found that initially, teachers who had to teach using information technology had to go through the best kind of training in order to be effective and they had understand that each and every one of the different forms of information technology so that they could be able to teach. As the years went by and information technology became commonplace, the use of information technology in education especially in developed countries increased and this allowed for its regular use in many of its institutions (Hamrah and Bazghandi 326). While it is a fact that many institutions have adopted the use of information technology, its use cannot be said to be uniform since individuals have adopted and used it in different ways. It should be noted that not all individuals who have access to information technology can handle it in the same way and many use it in a diverse number of ways or reasons. The consideration of this factor is one of the reasons why despite the increasing popularity of information technology in education, it has not necessarily become the only source of information. In fact, many institutions still look at information technology as being a secondary source of information, preferring the use of traditional means such as books as primary sources. The increasing popularity of information technology especially in education is because of the fact that it is most convenient since it enables individuals to easily access information at their own convenience. It can further be said that information technology has made access to education easier since students no longer have to attend classes physically for them to gain an education. Information technology has revolutionized education because it has led to the development of different means through which massive databases of information can easily be accessed, creating a situation where educational information from one part of the world can be spread throughout the globe in a matter of seconds. The power of information technology has enabled the streamlining of the various thoughts and theories that are taught in class so that they can either be augmented or criticized by the peers of the individuals who come up with them. Information technology has also become of help to teachers since it has ensured that the teacher’s work in preparation for class is done on time and it is done in such a way that students are able to understand what their teacher is discussing in class (Petrova and Claxton 28). Furthermore, teachers have come to heavily rely on information technology not only to teach their students in an organized manner but also ensuring that these students get more from them than if they had not been well organized. Through the use of this technology, teachers, through the study of the extensive information that they have access to have been able to anticipate the questions that their students are likely to ask after their discussions in class, and have been able to answer these questions effectively. While some may dispute the effectiveness of information technology, it can be said that it has become one of the pillars of the various education systems in the world today and this has ensured the swift access to and development of information for students. Information technology has enabled teachers to be able to monitor the progress of their student closely and as a result has created a means through which they are able to provide the necessary support needed. This has led to the development of trust between teachers and their students meaning that the latter have become more receptive when in class. The fact that students can be in constant communication with their teachers, even when not in school has become one of the best means through which teachers can not only impart useful information to their students, but also serve as mentors for their students to emulate. It is well known that every student has unique abilities and it is up to the teacher to encourage the development of their students’ abilities to ensure that there is more diversity in class. The use of information technology has enabled teachers to encourage the development of these abilities through constant communication, as they have come to know their students well. In this way, students with different abilities have been able to share their knowledge with each other, especially through the internet and this has enabled the creation of a richer learning environment (Meyer 117). Because of the diversity of information about each other, the learning environment has been vastly improved as students have come to develop a new respect and understanding of each other. The use of information technology in education has enabled the development of a unique understanding of the diverse cultural and economic backgrounds, which has created a harmonious leaning environment based on mutual respect. Despite the usefulness that it has brought into education, information technology can also be said to be one of the major factors that is leading to the deterioration of education, one of the reasons for this is the fact that it has become among the biggest facilitators of cheating among students in schools. Using information technology, students no longer see the need for conducting deep and extensive research in order to find out what they need to know. The use of information technology in cheating is a vice that has developed because of the increasing pressure on students to show high academic performance through the achievement of high grades (Day et al. 261). It has been found that students tend to use information technology sources as the internet to cheat especially in math and science courses among others. The emergence of computers and the internet as tools for education has ensured that students have found it much easier to cheat than ever before and this is because students can now access and download papers, which they were supposed to do themselves, from websites, which sell them. The possibility of students cheating using information technology tends to begin at elementary school where students learn to cheat not only because of the influence from their friends, but also because of their extensive usage of the internet. This desire to always be ahead of others ends up developing into the academic field where cheating, especially using their phones which are always connected to the internet becomes rampant, especially in high school. Statistics show that countries all over the world, many children come to be exposed to the internet and gadgets related to it from an extremely early age and this has created a situation where the education of these children has become adversely affected. In additions, surveys in many countries have also shown that the number of families, which have acquired for their children, is about forty percent, which shows just how widespread the use of this form of information technology is. While many children have come to access the internet from an early age, they have also come to be exposed to things within it that are harmful to their mental as well as educational development (Seok-Hoon 284). In order to help parents curb the children’s access to the internet, internet service providers and major search engines have created tools to enable parents to input parental control measures on the child’s access to the internet within the home. Recent research has shown that many parents have attempted to control their children’s use of information technology after coming to the realization that it was negatively affecting their education. Studies conducted show that those students who spend too much time online tend to have low scores in the tests they are given in school. Furthermore, it has been found that many students who spend most of their time online are not able to concentrate well in class because their heavy reliance on the internet has created a grave deficiency in their academic process (Wood 120). Without focus, these students risk not being able to develop the skills necessary to thrive in their academic activities. This has become a tragic trend among students because of the fact that they have come to rely more heavily on information of others to an extent that they are not able to develop the skills they need to create more information. Access to the internet may be a basic right for students, but this access needs to be restricted because otherwise, they might end up stagnating in their academic development. Such a course would lead to the erosion of the education sector and more needs to be done to ensure that information technology is used only in the most necessary of academic needs. Works Cited Day, Nancy E., et al. "Student or Situation? Personality and Classroom Context as Predictors of Attitudes about Business School Cheating." Social Psychology of Education: An International Journal 14.2 (2011): 261-82. Print. Hamrah, Saeid Zarghami, and Parvin Bazghandi. "Comparative Analysis of Postmodern Design for Information Technology in Education in Relation to Modernism." Journal of Social Sciences 8.3 (2012): 325-31. Print. Meyer, Stephen P. "A Spatial Analysis of Small- and Medium-Sized Information Technology Firms in Canada and the Importance of Local Connections to Institutions of Higher Education." Canadian Geographer 50.1 (2006): 114-34. Print. Petrova, Krassie, and Gwyn Claxton. "Building Student Skills and Capabilities in Information Technology and eBusiness: A Moving Target." Journal of Information Systems Education 16.1 (2005): 27-41. Print. Seok-Hoon, Alice Seng. "Promoting IT in Childhood Education: How Singapore Prepares for a Different Future." Childhood Education 79.5 (2003): 283-6. Print. Wood, Jaclyn. "Will New Teachers be Prepared to Teach in a Digital Age? A National Survey on Information Technology in Teacher Education." Childhood Education 76.2 (2000): 120. Print. Read More