Technology in the last twenty years has drastically changed every aspect of how we live, from the way we communicate to the way we read the newspaper. These changes have occurred more rapidly for some faculty members who were born before the Internet was available. They remember when life was simpler and not constantly filled with electronic devices. For students, however, technology is just a part of life. Everyone has a cellphone, everyone has a Facebook page, and everyone goes surfing- on the World Wide Web that is.
The college learning environment has transformed itself the last few years. When faculty members attended college 30 or more years ago they carried notebooks and pencils. This year’s entering college freshmen will no longer be seen carrying just these items. They will likely be carrying an iPad or a laptop as well. Incoming students may not even be physically present on a college campus, thanks to online college courses. Assignments will no longer be completed on a typewriter. They will instead be typed up on a computer and then printed out. Some assignments may never even reach actual paper. E-mail is much faster and more efficient. Research has become much easier in the past few decades as well. Students no longer have to go to the library and check out a huge stack of encyclopedias to pore over as past generations have had to do. All they have to do is fire up their computer, iPad, or smartphone and Google whatever subject they need to research. With the single click of a button, an overload of information is available to them within seconds.
Technology has not only changed the way faculty members teach and the way students learn, it has also changed the way faculty members and students communicate. Both are now able to communicate much quicker and easier than ever before thanks to Facebook, text messaging, e-mail, and Blackboard. Class is going to be canceled on Friday? Instead of having to contact each individual student, faculty members can now simply send an e-mail or put a post on Blackboard for the entire class. Students can e-mail faculty members if they have a question about an assignment, rather than having to wait until the next class. However, the lack of face-to-face interaction can hinder the faculty member/student relationship.
Although technology has made college life easier for students, it sometimes makes teaching harder for faculty members. Unlike students, who have grown up with all of the technology changes, faculty members remember the way classes were taught in the past and may find it difficult to change their teaching style. Good, old-fashioned lectures are becoming endangered as Blackboard, PowerPoint, and other technological ‘teachers’ are introduced into the college environment. If lectures were to be done away with completely, students would suffer as well as faculty members. A human teacher can understand students’ needs in ways technology is incapable of doing. Technology cannot take the place of a good teacher.
The world is changing, the college environment is changing, and faculty members must learn to adapt to these changes; but on the same note students should not disregard the past. They should respect the knowledge that the faculty members have to offer. Technology will never replace wisdom. Students need to realize the importance of human interaction over technology. Although there is a gap between these generations, although both generations look at the world in different ways, they can each learn from one another. Faculty members can look to students and learn of the future; and students can look to faculty members and learn of the past. Without the past there is no future.
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