Information Technology Education: Traditional Vs. IT Education

Traditional versus IT Education In 20th century education, traditional instructions were the main approach to educating students, inside and outside of a four-white wall classroom. Traditional education primarily promotes the use of books, pencils, papers and verbal and physical interactions with the students. Instruction is done on the good-ole chalkboard or whiteboard, and rather than communicating with a class online regarding assignments and tasks, everything is done inside the classroom. Fast forward to 21st century culture, students are now being taught in what is now called, the digital age of technology. This can be classified as Information Technology education (IT). This is where physical interactions between the student
Devices such as tablets, phones and laptops may cause distractions to the student rather than keeping them focused. Nonetheless, there are benefits to the growing age of IT tech; virtual-reality teaching. Although this platform has not been implemented into instruction, there have been studies where VR-based education increased student’s test scores and retention rate. In a study of forty high school students, the group was divided into traditional learning instruction (control group) and a VR group. After giving each student a pre-test, the experiment began byof having the same instructor teaching the class, but in different formats (traditional versus VR). Once the lesson was over, a test was given to measure achievement and another test was given two weeks after to measure knowledge retention. The results favored VR-instruction with a 93% average in achievement and 90% average on retention rate. As for the control group, there was a 73% average in achievement and 68% average in retention rate (PR Newswire,
Both perspectives of traditional instruction and information technology (IT) instruction offer styles and traits that the other cannot. The traditional approach seems to show an effective, efficient and authentic way of engaging the student in class concepts than IT education. Although virtual-reality- based education are close to reach with that goal, factors such as school funding may hinder this plan of action. However, the technological approach seems to best fit our speedy-paced society as it is more fast, accommodating and similar to traditional, efficient. In all aspects of education, the practical and reasonable approach is to blend these two instructions into our education system where neither perspective over throws the other. A balance between the two will allow the student to receive the education needed for them in