Does digital media help increase students' learning experience?
By Otanetix
@Otanetix (508)
United States
September 2, 2012 12:07am CST
Looking back at when I attended primary school, the technology I used in my classes does not even compare to today's adoption of current technology and digital media. Recently, I had a chance to go back to my old primary school because I was riding with my friend. My friend had to stop by his cousin's school to pick him up before we attended a party; to my surprise, it was my old primary school. We actually arrived somewhat earlier than the school's end time, which allowed me to peek in the classroom for a bit. So there was no more black board with using chalk; they were using white boards with dry-erase markers, but what really fascinated me was how the lessons were conducted. While the teacher still had lectures and drew diagrams on the board, occasionally, digital media was used such streaming video or interactive games via the Internet to teach students. The students just became so excited; none of them looked bored.
Anyway, with all the digital media present and being used in some schools, do you think the digital media method is more beneficial for students than the traditional way of no digital media for teaching methods? In other words, while digital media does seem to be an exciting way to learn, does digital media motivate the students enough for them to learn the material of their classes more easily?
4 responses
@silverfox09 (4708)
• United States
23 Sep 12
I think the internet make it a lot easier for us to access information , when doing assignment you dont have to be bother that a book it taken from the library you can search for your topics and even get information from free books online .
Digital media is definitely more excited and as time change we have to change also .
@adeizaog (2)
•
5 Sep 12
To be frankly speaking, the media really help to increase the students' learning experience from the following point of view. First and foremost learners tend to remember well for a longer period with what they see than mere hearing. Today teaching provide all this for the learners. the uses of audio visual means arouse the pupils interest to be more attentive in the class. I have witnessed several times as a teacher. The pupils are easily carried along when those means are properly employed by the teachers.
@berting600 (3453)
• Philippines
2 Sep 12
Exploring the internet or other digital media is a very complex venue to make any student search about their lessons.When I was still a student,only one place we could go in the library,where we could get an specific book to search for our answers
for our next topic.When we come across a difficult word,we just read the dictionary to guide us the meaning of the word.Now,there is this internet that sometimes make a student more inform due to the many topics about the subject,yet some have no connection with the subject,that is why it is not a good thing to always see an internet when searching for answers.I still read a textbook to have the exact answers to all my questions.
@Sportseconomics (162)
• United States
2 Sep 12
I think the advanced technology being used in classrooms today and for learning in general has both its benefits and drawbacks.
The benefits are pretty obvious and the other posters above have mentioned them.
I do know of a few drawbacks of technology because I experienced some of them myself when I took some online courses in high school. While technology evolves at a lightning speed (and thus this may be outdated even though it was only a few years ago), I found that there is something with technology that isn't quite up to par with a regular teacher. There is something lost from the learning experience that I can't quite put my finger on. I know this was especially evident trying to learn Spanish. While it didn't help that learning a foreign language is not one of my strong points, I think that learning online only is still not a viable path until technology improves further.
However, I do think there are big benefits in combining technoloy with traditional teaching to enhance the learning experience for students. While I have not experience much of this personally, it does seem like there have been many innovations lately that will prove to be game-changing in the world of education.
