LESSON 2 - BOON OR BANE

LESSON 2 - Technology: Boon or Bane

“Technology is in our hands. We can use it to build or destroy.”

After understanding what educational technology is all about, it may be good to reflect on whether this thing called technology is a boon or bane to education, a blessing or a curse to education.

TECHNOLOGY AS BOON:

TECHNOLOGY AS BANE:

    Technology is a blessing for man. With technology, there is a lot that we can do which we could not do then. With cellphones (smartphones), webcam, you will be closer to someone miles and miles away. So far yet close! That is your feeling when you talk through a cell phone to a beloved who is far away from home.  Just think of the many human lives saved because of speedy notifications via cellphones. Just think how your teaching and learning have become more novel, stimulating, exciting 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 disrupting his work schedule in Manila, etc, etc.

      However, when not 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 relationships. Think of the student who surfs pornographic scenes. He will have trouble with his development. The abuse and misuse of the Internet will have far reaching unfavorable effects on his moral life. The teacher who schedules class tv viewing for the whole hour free herself from 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 of 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 the 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 in 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 analyzing and feeling beings, then it 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 curse.

APPLICATIONS: 

A.    Come up with your own poster regarding technology on how it can be a blessing or a curse to mankind.