Courtney Ulshafer

As the years go on and technology continues to improve, more focus is going into implementing different technology devices into the education system. In 2005 Parsad and Jones did a study that showed in the year 2005, 99% of schools with computers had access to the internet versus 35% of schools in 1994.

Over the last 10 years, government officials have started emphasising the importance of creating a technology-rich school environment. Recent studies have shown that children who have learning assistance from technology based tools are receiving higher test scores, making significantly higher academic achievements, and have higher performance scores across all subjects.

The Information and Communication Technology Literacy Group believes that the use of technology improves students’ abilities to communicate, analyse and interpret data, prioritise tasks, understand conceptual modeling, and engage in problem solving.  These are critical areas for a student as well as for people in the work place. Someone who has strong skills in the above areas is much more likely to be successful in a business environment.

The article I recently read suggested that basic computer systems, tools and applications that we take for granted like Microsoft word, Microsoft excel, powerpoint, email, internet etc. are all increasing our communication and analytical skills. If this is the case, are people who are exposed to technology at a younger age predestined to do better in school, develop better communicative and analytical skills, and thus be more successful in their job?

Is it appropriate to attribute the development of these skills purely to technology? If this is the case, will there eventually be a need for teachers, classrooms, and schools or are computers and the internet going to become the global education system?