Technology has become deeply integrated into our daily life, which made access to vast amounts of information easily available. Today’s generation of students has grown up with gadgets all around them, so to meet their learning needs, modern teachers must understand the role of technology in educational psychology. In this article, we’ll try to find out how the latest technological advances affect studying. But first, let’s learn more about educational psychology itself.
What is Educational Psychology?
The main purpose of educational psychology is to enhance learning efficiency by optimizing the social, emotional, and cognitive processes. Educational psychologists may specialize in the educational development of children, adolescents, or adults and apply theories of human development, some of which are described at https://eduzaurus.com/free-essay-samples/psychology/, to understand how to increase their knowledge. Specialists working in this subfield also examine how individuals learn in different settings to discover the most effective approaches and strategies for them. Some professionals focus on specific difficulties experienced by learners, such as dyslexia or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Generally, educational psychology studies various teaching methods, the instructional process as well as students’ learning outcomes. This science tries to give answers to the questions like ‘Is there a relationship between culture and the way its representatives process new ideas?’, ‘What are the key differences between in-person learning and remote learning using technology?’, or ‘Does the type of a media platform make a difference in studying?’
Technology Impact on Different Elements of Educational Psychology
Learning Motivation
According to some research findings, careful and consistent technology integration into the classroom can positively affect student motivation for learning. When students were asked about the things they liked most about class, they usually mentioned digital activities. Therefore, technology can be a meaningful and valuable tool to boost motivation for acquiring new skills and knowledge. Oftentimes, teachers note that students showing little initiative or facility with conventional academic tasks demonstrate great technology-based accomplishments.
However, researchers have revealed that students addicted to gadgets are not able to achieve high academic results that require drive, long attention span, and high levels of frustration tolerance because all this may be diminished by technology. Unfortunately, dependent students start to neglect their studies and their future in general.
Attention Span
Attention span can be defined as the amount of time one can concentrate on a task before ‘zoning out’. According to some surveys, nearly 90% of teachers believe that technology has created a generation of students with short attention spans. They say that the reason for poor focus is that pupils opt for screen-based activities over conventional reading. Some studies have demonstrated that the constant use of gadgets has rewired our brains and shortened our attention span on average from 12 to 5 minutes.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence plays an important role in the studying process. But unfortunately, EQ experts argue that tech dependency negatively affects learning by weakening self-regulation and increasing impulsivity. Research has proven that it lowers frustration tolerance and leads to angry outbursts. Some psychologists say that addiction to technology diminishes social skills as it breeds isolation. In other words, the more technology dominates, the less the school community develops. Apart from that, tech dependency makes students estranged from their emotional selves and leaves them with poor coping skills. As self-awareness decreases, pupils start making less thoughtful choices in the education process.
Educational psychologists also noted a frightening decrease in empathy levels among students. Probably, because of the fact that now screen time often replaces family or friend time, many students live in trance-like states being self-absorbed and detached from their peers. The researchers from the University of Michigan have found out that modern college students have 40% lower empathy levels than their counterparts of 20-30 years ago. They suggest that possible reasons for that are the rise of social media and video games because the most dramatic drop was noticed after 2000. As stated in some psychology essays, namely compassion essay samples plagiarism free, empathy is an important building block of healthy compassion. As technology may undermine empathy, students become less compassionate. Their rapport also worsens and it gets difficult to stay in study environment with peers. To avoid this, it’s vital to learn more about educational psychology and possible negative consequences of technology use.
Team Collaboration
Collaboration is definitely one of the most powerful strategies used in education. Without technology, collaborating is extremely difficult to organize outside of the classroom. So teachers are often forced to use the precious class time to facilitate teamwork. However, with tech tools allowing Internet access, students can work together anytime and on any type of project. For instance, they can collaboratively create mind maps in Cacoo or write on an online interactive whiteboard provided by Vyew. What’s more, teamwork is easy to track with technology. Instructors can check on the progress of a project in Google Docs, so each team member feels more responsibility to make valuable contributions. In general, teachers note that another effect of technology is an increased tendency among students to work cooperatively and to organize peer tutoring sessions for each other. Since technology-based tasks usually involve many subtasks causing situations where learners need help, their neighbors often provide assistance. This ensures better engagement and faster growth as well as gives pride and enjoyment for helping.
Final Thoughts
Most educators state that technology integration is necessary for successful school functioning. Even though some teachers are reluctant to make the change in their curricula and use technology more frequently, most of them find it helpful and meaningful for the learning process. Hopefully, this article provided you with insights on how technology advancements influence some aspects of educational psychology.
Author’s BIO
Vendy Adams is an academic writer and Psychology expert. He helps students with writing project creation and teaches them how to be more efficient at school. As a psychologist, Vendy is focused on studying the most viable teaching strategies that can help instructors produce better outcomes.