Technology and academics

Topic : The use of technology in the knowledge age has had its complications. Identify challenges facing institutions in maintaining high academic standards and propose possible solutions.
It is easy to ascertain that humans today, live in a modern society as the increasing improvements, innovation and demand for technological devices are rapidly increasing. This further fosters the development of the era of information as more information can be obtained quickly and efficiently. This increases the knowledge level of society which cultivates the development of that particular society. Technology shapes our society as it is used for entertainment, business, research and the media. Technology has become available to the majority of the world’s population which enhances knowledge and information being spread. Technology is predominantly used in the present to bring awareness to social issues that affects society. A notorious example of this statement is the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. This challenge was spread across the medium of social networking sites to raise funds and awareness of this disease. This is one example of the advantages of technology use today, as well as assisted technology learning for disabled students.
However, there are many drawbacks to the increasing use of technology such as deteriorating health, lack of communication skills and poor time management. It has been quoted that ‘we live in an era of smart phones and dumb people.’ This statement espouses that as we are co-dependent on technology to do the heavy work for us so we become complacent and this hinders creativity, critical thinking and the use of logistics. In today’s schools, students are encouraged to use technology for research purposes. However, students use the ‘copy’ and ‘paste’ options to do their work for them which inhibit the learning process thus strengthening their dependency on technology to do the thinking for them.
Social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook,