lesson 2

BOON OR BANE

Technology is a blessing for man. With technology, there is a lot that we can do which we could not do then. With cell phones, webcam, you will be closer to someone miles and miles away. So far yet so close! That is your feeling when you talk through a cell phone to a beloved who is far away from here. Just think of many human lives saved because of speedy notifications via cell phones. Just think of how your teaching and learning have become more novel, stimulating, exciting, fresh and engaging with the use of multimedia in the classroom. With your tv, you can watch events as they happen all over the globe. President Ramos had a lively interaction with his audience in Tacloban in his tele-address without disputing his work schedule in Manila. I know of one Ph. D student who defended his dissertation with one member of the panel in Japan interrogating the Ph. D candidate through teleconferencing.

However, when not in used properly, technology becomes a detriment to learning and development. It can destroy relationships. Think of the husband who is glued to tv unmindful of his wife seeking his attention. This may eventually erode marital relationship. Think of a student who surfs the internet for pornographic scenes. He will have trouble with his development. The abuse and misuse of the internet will have far reaching unfavourable effects on his moral life. The teacher who schedules class tv viewing for the whole hour to free herself from a one-hour teaching and so can engage in “tsismis”, likewise will not benefit from technology. Neither will her class truly benefit from the whole period of tv viewing.

In education, technology is bane when:

·         The learner is made to accept as Gospel truth information they get from the internet.

·         The learner surfs the internet for pornography.

·         The learner has an uncritical mind on images floating on televisions and computers that represent modernity and progress.

·         The tv makes the learner a mere spectator not an active participant in the drama in life.

·         The learner gets glued to his computer for computer-assisted instruction unmindful of the world and so fails to develop the ability to relate to others.

·         We make use of the internet to do character assassination of people whom we hardly like.

·        Because of our cell phone, we spend most of our time in the classroom or in our workplace texting.

·         We use overuse and abuse tv or film viewing as a strategy to kill time.

Let’s go back to the question asked at the beginning of this lesson. Is technology boon or bane to education? It depends on how we use technology. If we use it to help our students and teachers become caring, relating, thinking, reflecting and analysing and feeling beings, then this is a boon, a blessing. But if we abuse and misuse it and so contribute to our ruin and downfall and those of other persons, it becomes a bane or a curse.