Can digital tools enhance learning experiences and better prepare students for the modern world or too much technology might introduce various challenges in the classroom? (a class on education)
☆Let’s
Think
1.
Give examples of digital tools
for studies.
2.
When and how do you use digital
tools for your studies?
3.
What were the advantages and
disadvantages of Zoom learning during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020?
4.
Have you ever noticed or heard of
any other drawbacks of using digital tools for your studies?
☆Hints for
Points
Positive Effects
1.
Learning apps efficiently
facilitate comprehension and acquisition. For example, visualization of new
teaching points or complex ideas facilitates and expedites learning.
2.
The inquiry functions make
researches faster, more extensive, and more comprehensive.
3.
The amount of information
available has multiplied thanks to digitization of the classroom.
4.
Some tools make learning fun
and motivate children to keep studying.
5.
Customized, or personalized
learning, is possible owing to learning applications.
6.
Machines make up for what human
teachers cannot provide for students. For example, tutoring is available
regardless of time and place. Moreover, machines are more accurate than
teachers and they do not get tired or angry.
7.
Digital literacy equips
children with skills necessary to work in today’s digitized world when they
graduate.
Negative Influence
1.
Face-to-face interaction with
other students and teachers will decline, leading to confusion and dissatisfaction
of learning.
2.
Students may depend overly on getting
answers through the Internet instead of actually working by themselves. They
may make less efforts for thinking and memorizing.
3.
Students may become out of
touch of the real world if they are exposed too much to virtual reality.
4.
Reading and writing skills of
long passages have declined since the advent of social media.
5.
Digital inequality, or digital
divide, can halt learning of some students who lack the environment to make
digital learning possible due to poverty or other causes like disaster.
6.
Distractions like instant
messages and advertisements may prevent concentration.
☆Sample Answer
for Ideas and Expressions
【Supporting Details】Departure from reality due to digital learning would be the influence
we should pay more attention to. There is a Guardian article reporting that
young neurosurgery trainees lack dexterity due to lack of real-life experiences
of creative handwork as a result of spending much time on virtual learning. Now
the teachers of young brain surgeons are recommending that they start with
curving Halloween Jack-o-lanterns. As we can see in this case, digital learning
has an inescapable flaw coming from its construction. It makes the learner
detached from reality, at least on an extremely delicate level like brain
surgery. The harm might still be limited in such sophisticated areas as neurosurgery,
but still the phenomenon is degeneration. It is not clear how much this
degeneration will develop in generations, but we had better take a precaution
of its long-term impact on humankind.
【Counterargument-treatment】There is no denying that digital tools enhance learning of all kinds
of subjects. As Heather points out, videos provide comprehension and
inspiration. They also facilitate memorization. YouTube and social media
expedited language acquisition. Zoom helps share diverse perspectives. The list
just goes on. However, behind the positive effect experienced by students, some
irreversible defect might be developing in their learning. Is Googling to
consult math geniuses for a quick solution of a math quiz, even if you do it
only after you have tried to solve it for a while, making you smart or dumb?
【Conclusion】Therefore, I believe relying too much on technology in class can bring
about challenges in human intelligence in the future. (301 words)
DRAFT
