University of South Wales: Technology's Impact in Education Process

This essay investigates the significant impact of technology on the education process, examining how Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have revolutionized teaching and learning methodologies. It highlights the benefits of technology, including enhanced student engagement, access to online resources, and the integration of digital tools like digital boards and e-books. The essay delves into various learning theories, such as objectivism and constructivism, to analyze how technology influences knowledge acquisition and student interaction. It emphasizes the shift from traditional rote learning to more interactive and engaging methods, supported by examples of how technology has improved teacher-student relationships and made education more accessible, especially for students with special needs. The paper critically evaluates the ICT model in education, discussing the role of the internet and its impact on providing learning materials. The study also explores the evolution of teaching practices and the crucial role of teachers in leveraging technology to create effective learning environments. Overall, the essay argues that technology has transformed education, making it more adaptable, accessible, and student-centered, while also acknowledging the importance of adapting to the changing landscape of digital societies.

Running head: THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION PROCESS
The Impact of Technology in Education Process
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION PROCESS
The quality of education has always been a matter of concern in the society. The
implementation of ICT in the education system, in general, has been done to increase the benefits
and opportunities of information and communication technologies in order to improve the overall
standard of education (Ghavifekr and Rosdy, 2015, p.17). Several administrations and different
governments all around the world are putting in efforts and strategies and implementing several
rules and regulations to develop the education system by providing all the required types of
equipment and resources in the schools and other education sectors, including technological
facilities as well as basic essential resources. Technology has played an important role in the
process of teaching and learning methodology. Due to the introduction of technology, the entire
education method has transformed and evolved in a new way. The technological education
process maintains the interest of both teacher and student by making the procedure much more
exciting. Technological innovation has never failed in grabbing people's attention and making
them curious in every aspect of life, so that is what technology is doing in terms of teaching and
learning process as well (Price and Kirkwood, 2014, p.549-564). Together with technology, the
internet has also taken over the world in every aspect. The Internet has shown a very tangible
impact on teaching-learning methodology by making all the learning materials along with other
information related to every topic possible available online. In recent times, learning materials
regarding different subjects, themes, and so on are readily available and accessible on the
internet in the form of videos, PDFs, Enotes, Ebooks, and many other types of information
(Forsyth,2014,p.191). Students are getting benefited by the use of technology and the internet in
terms of learning methods by making notes on a computer, laptop or any other source of
technology and getting information from the internet for their preferred topic in different
websites in written form or video or any other form (McConnell, 2014, p.). (Simelane and Mji,

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2014, p.511-521) states, Technology has strengthened the education process just like other
sectors; it has not only improved the condition of learners' learning methods but has also added
many advancements in the teacher's teaching method. The use of digital boards has replaced the
traditional blackboards for good, as a teacher can show and explain ten times more content,
picture, videos in detail at a time for only one topic which is not possible to do on a regular
board. Also, teachers take the help of internet videos and notes in order to explain a specific
topic in the class. Teacher these days has started carrying tabs and kindle in place of regular
books, which has decreased the load of bringing books and notes (McKnight et al., 2016, p.194-
211). According to Mawasi (2014),UNESCO has shared the knowledge that the application of
ICT has played the most vital role in making the process of education accessible to all UNESCO
believes that education is for all and technology has helped in accessing education universally
(Watkins, 2014, p.55). Theories of education have thrown light on the basis of understanding the
process of learning, how to learn and understand and gather knowledge and information, how to
analyze and examine the info, how to explain and describe and so on. The purpose of this study
is to evaluate the role of technology in the teaching and learning process and critically analyse
the ICT model in terms of the education method.
This paper focuses on the teaching and learning methodology and the implementation and
impact of technology in this field. The following section of the paper will shed light on the
concept of learning and teaching theories; then it will examine and evaluate the ICT model of
learning followed by a brief elaboration of four learning theories, namely, objectivism,
constructivism, speculative approach, connections.
The method of teaching and learning is inter-related. It assassins to impart knowledge,
behaviour, values, and the transmission of skills and attitude. The prime role of education is to

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create an environment where a student or a learner, in general, can learn and will engage and
enable interaction with the process, understanding, and application of concepts, knowledge, and
information. A teacher has various responsibilities, such as selecting a topic, preparing to learn,
delivering it in the classroom, assessment, and then outcome. For a teacher, only subject
knowledge and information is not enough; it also requires the ability to make a student learn by
applying different strategies.
On the other hand, in the learning process, the role of a learner or a student is to acquire
skills, information, and knowledge by practising, gathering experiences, studying, or being
taught. In the teaching-learning process, the motive is always learner-centric. The primary
essential requirement for a pleasant teaching-learning atmosphere are classroom, blackboard, a
qualified teacher, student, textbook, charts, graphs, picture cards, and so on, but the application
of technology in education has opened countless possibilities in terms of teaching and learning.
Technology has made the learning and teaching process much more exciting and demolished the
concept of rote learning to some extent. It has given new meaning to the world of education and
improved the interaction between student and teacher. Students of this modern time are all about
using technology in all aspects of life, so technological knowledge will attract them more
towards learning as hard copy notes and books are all replaced by online sources like PDFs,
online notes, videos and presentations. (Henriksen, Mishra and Fisser, 2016, p.27-37) states,
Teacher also find that the implementation of technology makes the teaching process much more
comfortable, convenient and exciting as they can explain a particular topic by showing examples
in the form of pictures, videos, presentations, and movies as well, which are entirely different
from the traditional style of teaching where textbook is the only source of information. Also, the
usage of hyphenate has decreased the unnecessary load of books, as anyone can carry Ebooks in

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their system or mobiles and can read wherever and whenever. The usage of videos related to any
particular subject helps the learners to audio-visually experience the story or any topic in general,
which does help in understanding any remembering and further doing any work on it. (Ertmer,
Ottenbreit and Tondeur, 2014, p.403), states the usage of online notes and PDFs saves
unnecessary space and loads of paper notes and makes it easier to carry and read in any place
Although, we can not say that the old teaching-learning process was faulty or it was not fruitful
enough but we are bound to consider the fact that technology usage has made the process of
learning much more adaptable for a maximum number of learners. In the previous style of the
teaching-learning process, many students remain unable to understand whatever is taught to them
due to lack of information and rote style of teaching just by using the book and minimal sources
of example. (Oleson and Hora, 2014, p.29-45),states that however, when it comes to the
technological education process, it gives enormous examples and opportunities to the slow
learners to learn a particular topic in one or the other way and also makes the learning process
much more fun in comparison to the old method which was tedious and monotonous
(Tondeur, Van Braak, Ertmer and Ottenbreit, 2017, p.555-575) states,the implementation
of technology in the teaching and learning process or school, in general, has shown a lot of
positive changes, as it made the process much more exciting and fun and maintains the focus of
learners and teachers in the education process, and improved the peer and teacher relationship.
Technology and scientific innovations have proved to be a boon for the world in all aspects;
therefore, the education system is no exception. The integration of ICT in terms of education is
not only for the mainstream school students and teachers, but it is also used for the students who
are disabled in some, or the other way, means students with special needs. According to Kler
(2014)Like, peers who are visually impaired use the brail machine for studying and audio

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recordings for understanding a specific topic by hearing only, similarly students who have autism
or have hearing impairment also take the help of video clippings for learning purpose and ear
machine for the understanding possibility . In the current situation, technology has been
enhanced by the internet even more. The Internet has added to the benefit of technology in many
ways. According to Kirkwood and Price (2014),Today most of the schools have access to
technology and the internet, which has improved, modified and enhanced the learning and
teaching process as well the condition of teachers and students regarding this process.For
example, the usage of videos shown on the digital blackboards in the class related to the subject
while teaching imparts a powerful impact on students and make them understand the topic way
better. It is proved that students' learning and understanding have improved after the involvement
of technology in the classroom or the education method in general. Considering the fact that
today’s world is taken over by the commercial market, which is performed by technology and
extensive use of the internet, the integration of technology in education will help the student in
dealing with the world in their coming future. So, getting familiar with the technology and the
internet will make them understand the digital societies function better and flourish their ideas
and share them in different ways.
One of the learning theories is objectivist learning theory. This theory talks about the
student's thought process on receiving instruction depends on the activity level of the student in
acquiring knowledge. This view further states that the knowledge gained through learning is
more important than concentrating on the forms of presentation. This view is considered to be
vital because it enables educational institutions to form a precise, vivid structure. It is said that
knowledge, which is peripheral identity, is firstly understood by teachers then disseminated
among students (Berardi and Blundell,2014, p.64). The objective of this model is transmitted

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expertise and information to students; therefore, it is used for imparting factual learning to
students. Thus technology acts as an obstacle as the core of the theory is the transmission of
information; students may get distracted by these tools. This view does not resort to technology
and claims that teachers are sufficient with their academic knowledge acquired through
textbooks and research and are equipped enough to train students with their experience. The
objectivist approach is not dynamic as it solely depends on the particular form of learning and
assumes that individuals should only transfer the knowledge to individuals, and machinery
learning should not be integrated with the process of learning. (Bada and Olusegun,2015, p.66-
70) states,the theory claims that this integration of technology will make learning a one-way
process where teachers will not be required.
According to Chen (2014), the theory of objectivism is challenged by the theory of
constructivism . The constructivist theory can be found in the work of Jean Piaget, which focuses
on the fact that how an individual acquires understanding and knowledge from its own
experiences and learn and achieve ideas from it, as it is not a proper specific pedagogy (Bada and
Olusegun, 2015, p.66-70). The enhancement of socio-cultural learning is emphasized by the
theory of social constructivism, which is introduced by Lev Vygotsky (Amineh and Asl, 2015,
p.9-16). This theory is based on psychology. Though this theory mighty is traced in the work of
Piaget and Vygotsky, the original idea belongs to Jerome Bruner. Bruner’s theoretical framework
offers the major theme regarding learning, where a student using it's present and previous
understanding and knowledge and experience actively processes and construct concepts and
ideas, and uses cognitive structure to follow up the procedure by transforming and selecting
information and giving definition to the lesson. Four dominant forms of aspects must be

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addressed by an instruction theory, stated by Bruner. First one is ‘learning predisposition,’ the
second one is ‘presenting material using the most effective sequences, the third one is ‘formation
the structure of the body of knowledge in such a way that a peer can easily be able to adapt it,’
the fourth on is ‘ the kind of punishment and reward that will be given.’ Bruner presents only a
single perception in his constructivism, which is a very intensive and colossal field of theory and
conceptual framework in science, psychology, and philosophy.
Experimental Learning is all about moving beyond the classroom atmosphere. A
classroom teaching and learning is a traditional way method where the teacher teaches and
learners adapt it from the teacher, which has honestly very little room for experimentation and
innovation and exploration (McCarthy, 2016, p.91-100). On the other hand, in terms of
experimental learning, there is a scope for exploring and observing the outside world or society
and gaining experiences by visualizing, witnessing and noticing things from close and extracting
pieces of information related to the topic that the peers are working on. In this theory, the peer
gets the opportunity to get the live experience of a thing or some incident, which helps them to
understand a topic much more clearly and it stays in their memory for a more extended period of
time. In this theory, the teacher also gets the opportunity to take its students outside or ask them
to observe their surroundings, which helps them afterwards in understanding a particular topic
that is taught to them and they can efficiently work on it later. In this form of learning and
teaching, both the learning process and teaching method are engaging, exciting and compelling
in many aspects. This is quite obvious in human psychology that live situations that we visualize
and experience remains in our head for much longer than any other form of knowledge and
information. This is a learner-centric process where a student learns by doing it from its
experience. Experimental learning consists of a few different elements: opportunities for peers to

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experience and explore, gives a chance to students to take the decision, initiative, help them be
accountable for the results, students can focus socially, physically, and emotionally. It allows
them to be creative and intellectual, provide them with the opportunity to examine, analyse,
reflect critically and synthesise and finally, a style of presenting a procedure of learning from
surrounding natural consequences allows them to know their successes and rectify their mistakes
and learning from them. This process of experimental learning has the integration of Kolb’s
learning cycle, which consists of; knowledge, activity, and reflection (Kolb and Kolb, 2017, p.7-
44).
Knowledge throws light on the facts, concepts and information, experienced in the past
and the present scenario. Operation throws light on the knowledge implementation on the set of
the real world. Reflection throws light on the concept of creating new ideas to analyse and
synthesis knowledge.
(Foroughi, 2015, p.11), states that One of the learning theories is a theory of
Connectivism, which explains the role of internet technology in creating new avenues for
learners so that they can collectively learn and share information across WWW( world wide
web). Researchers have come up with principles of Connectivism sm which include
diversification of opinion in learning, machine learning, and decision making is a learning
process in itself. Several technologies are associated with Connectivism which mainly includes
electronic mails, browsers, wiki, an online forum for discussion and social media platforms like
Facebook or Youtube. According to Goldie (2016), the main feature of the theory is its
application in distance learning course where students can learn across networks sitting at home
or during their work, it has made the process of education flexible and more open . Another route
that greatly benefits the process is a free online course where students enrol themselves using an

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open software system. This is mainly an online process dependent on a stipulated period.
Connectivism theory also talks about the independence of students where they are no longer
dependent on the teacher for their work. Students are encouraged to find out resources, and a
connected community of students is formed those who can share information and knowledge. All
over it can be said Connectivism recognizes the tectonic shift happening in the society.
ICT model stands for information, communication, and technology model. (Attuquayefio
and Addo, 2014, p. 75) states that this model uses information interface as well as technology to
smooth out the process of education and support the teachers to impart training to the students.
Researchers have claimed that following the ICT model of learning can enhance the process of
learning and can improve the teaching methods. Numerous researches have proved that applying
ICT models with the combination of technology in teaching has a positive influence on the
learning capability of the student (Lidström and Hemmingsson, 2014, p.251-266). The study
further claims that students who are not exposed to technology have an inferior learning
capacity, irregular way of presenting things, and lack of innovation compared to students who
are exposed to technology. They are ready to experiment and work hard.
There are six basic models of ICT. These are one teach teaching, station teaching, parallel
teaching, alternative teaching and teaming, and one teach model. These models are diverse and
create different implications.
The first model of ICT is the station building model. This model is used for
differentiating diverse categories of learners based on learning preference, math strategy
performance, reading level, and problem-solving ability. Teachers use this model, 40% of the
time. During applying this model, three stations are created. The first station is an independent
station, the second station is is backed by technology and in the third station, the teacher is

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present. Rotations are done according to the preference of the student. The second model of ICT
is a parallel teaching model where the class is segregated into half. Different teachers teach each
half. 30% of the time teachers use this model. This model is applied when there is a need to
cover an abundant amount of information. Though the class is divided during the lecture, they
can join back each other when needed. This model can be used while training a course during a
debate or practising persuasive letters. Another model that is widely used is an alternative
teaching model. The frequency of using this model is 30%. In this process, when a small group
of students requires an alternatives way of learning, they are selected and given selected training
while the rest of the class receives education from a single teacher. This model can be used by
reteaching a lesson to the students, or this can be used in the assessment of skill (Van,2015, p.1-
10).
Other models come under ICT; however, these models are rarely used. One of them is
one teach one assist model, which is used at a 10% frequency rate. In this process, one teacher
leads one individual student while one teacher backs the rest of the class. This model gives an
extreme amount of power to one teacher; therefore, it is advisable not to follow this. It can be
used in instances like when specific individuals require special attention and they need one to
one interaction, for example, teaching a mini-lesson. Another model that is sparingly and
specifically used is a team-teaching model. In this model, two teachers simultaneously teach the
same class on the same topic. This model can be followed while taking a test, and one teacher
can explain the procedure of the teaching while others can record the answer of the student. The
last model of ICT is one that teaches one observe model. In this model, one teacher is assigned to
teach the entire class while the other teacher is assigned to keep data on the topic. This type of

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model is very rarely used and can be implemented while finding the approach of learners during
a task
It should be noted that the introduction of ICT in the educational sector is in trend for
quite a time now due to its high success rate. (Saruji, Hassan and Drus, 2017, p.480-486 ), states
that one of them is mobile learning, and technology has given rise to smartphones equipped with
computer technology, and internet facility, the choice of storing information is a mobile phone.
Several applications have been developed to facilitate students learning process. According to
Nguyen (2015), another trend which is in vogue for quite some time now is online learning .The
primitive concept of education, which was restricted to the walls of the classroom and forty
minutes lecture no longer exist because of the online mode of learning. Online learning has not
only facilitated the growth of distance learning but also personalized the process of learning.
Research evidence suggests that educational institutions, particularly teachers, need to
implement ICT models in teaching their students. This will produce more skilful students who
can join the global workforce and will smooth out the global economy. There are numerous
devices in the ICT model. Firstly students and teachers can both access the required document
from their devices. Secondly, several institutions and private organizations have created digital
libraries consisting of course material as well as lectures. Thirdly the flipped classroom concept
has also been applied to enable the students to do more activity-centric work. Lastly, the creation
of smart classrooms is an excellent step towards implementing the ICT model.
UNESCO, which is a division of the United Nations, has introduced ICT in education to
facilitate the integration of people from different backgrounds, which will ensure equality in the