The world of today has endured numerous transformations. The 20th century had been named as the century of scientific discoveries, and the rate at which they have been emerging has been incredibly prolific. The way we go around our everyday tasks has been changed, as well as pretty much every aspect of the public and private course of life. So it is no wonder education also has been altered, the way we learn now is completely different from the way people had been learning a few decades ago. Numerous things have affected a studying process, with the invention of the Internet being one of the major cornerstones. Now you can learn everywhere and at any time, taking into account, you have a proper device and the Internet connection. In the following article, we will try to notice some ways in which education has changed under the influence of the technological advancements, and how it is different now from the approaches and procedures of the past times.
Learn everywhere
With the emergence of the Internet, there have been numerous services and sources to get an education online. Beginning with learning platforms that offer numerous courses on different topics, and up to the remote university degree programs. Everything is done online, you can go to this website or that source and get all the information you need.
Not just for fun
With the rise of the mobile industry, social media and education have become inevitable closer than we would expect. Many of us would perceive social platforms as rather an entertaining phenomenon, but it is not completely accurate. The case with YouTube is that among tons of the mindless entertaining content there are numerous educational channels that do quality videos and even the complete courses on some subjects. Which leads us to the next point.
More interactive learning
Being the highly technocratic society we are today, we simply cannot sustain the old methods of learning. And this is exactly what is provided to schoolers by social media sources – more accessible and interactive content that is much better absorbed by the younger audiences that seem inseparable from their devices. In any case, social media and higher education should cooperate more, and statistics show that this is a winning strategy.
Higher involvement rate and a possibility for a feedback
Many of the colleges conducted a study that showed student’s interest in the discussions online and debates under the educational establishment’s official pages. So by creating social media profiles, schools actually become more connected with its students and opens up the whole new platform for debates, reviews, feedbacks, and cooperation.
Pros and cons of social media in education
Of course, there are always pros and cons to any type of issue. With the inclusion of social accounts and platforms into the learning process you risk losing student’s attention. It is so easy to just jump from one page to another and losing the initial purpose of being there. In general, the Internet is a huge temptation for learners of any level due to the infinite amount of entertaining content. However, it is always the matter of the application, not the tool itself. So it is up to us how to include this type of tool properly into the educational process to get maximum benefits and minimum disadvantages.
Author Bio
Michelle Lambert is a grad student specializing in app development. She is very enthusiastic about creating educational content that can be accessible to anyone with an Internet connection and a smartphone. Michelle thinks that technologies can make education much fairer and not dependent on the place or amount of money a student has – everyone deserves a chance to study.
