Communications and Media

University Computers in Education

Introduction
The modern age has witnessed the rise in the use of computers in carrying out various functions. Computers are used in communication such as sending and receiving e-mails as well as chatting using social networks such as Facebook. Today, computers are gaining more usage in academic and research institutions. Students use computers for research when writing their academic papers for school purposes. It is now faster to find learning resources such as digital books and journals online other than depending on conventional libraries. Furthermore, majority of students have diverted from the normal routine of learning to accessing education through online educational institutions (Osin, 1998). These changes in the way of accessing education have brought a concern regarding to the possible decrease of importance of teachers in the classroom. Although classroom human teachers remain imperative in learning process, computers have transformed education in both positive and negative ways.

Computers have greatly enhanced students achievement. For instance, students motivation is increased especially when teachers use computers to enriching a particular lesson. Examples can be presented with rich animations using presentation programs and these lessons tend to form a more permanent memory among students. Furthermore, the use of computers in classroom has helped to prepare the students for the outside world as well as to offer resources and experiences that the books are not able to provide. The motivation among students has been increased due to the use of computers. Students have tendency of losing interest when a human teacher is in classroom lecturing. Schools that use computers always have higher student attendance than the ones without (Collis et al, 1996). Students are challenged and become more independent when using the computers than without. The use of software in class to carry out various operations has made learning to be an enjoyable process. Students always want to explore new fields and computers provide their requirements

Students become enthusiastic with the lesson when they are taught using computer technology. Lessons can be interesting when using technology rather than using the blackboard and the textbooks. For instance, if the class is studying Biology, a drawing on the blackboard can not be illustrated well like when using computer simulations (Murphy, 2000). A computer can show three dimensional objects as well as exact illustrations of such elements being studied. The chances of a student to remember images of body organs are very high compared to when the student is using a textbook. In mathematics, students use graphic calculators to assist them to conduct advanced problems more efficiently (Gado, 2006).

Computers prepare students for the outside world. In the current job market, one has to be computer literate in order to secure a job. Any student, who does not have the essentials of computers applications, will not survive in the job market. It is difficult to train a person who does not know anything concerning computers.

I For a person to be to be marketable he has to have some experience in handling computers, otherwise the candidate may be turned down for a job interview.
         
Although computers have been voted to promote learning, there are some major drawbacks of using computers in classroom situations. Computers tend to make students reluctant as they do not struggle to collect information since everything is available at the click of a button. The power to think and imaginations declines since just by putting in one word on the search engine, the whole information opens up. Students have difficulties in learning spellings, calculations and tables since they depend entirely on computers and their skills for memorizing, fast thinking and applications are not developed properly (Kibbi, 2005).

A computer is dormant way of teaching. Children have lost touch with the real world and have lived in a virtual world due to increased usage of computers. Everything is shown through power point presentation on screen which does not have the same impact on children as live things are so much exiting. Availability of computers in classroom for every student is another challenge. In most cases, schools does not have enough computers to cater for the needs of every students hence this brings up the problem of scheduling and rotating students to the computers available.

In conclusion, people have often assumed that the role of teachers is becoming less and less important because computers have been supporting some students to improve in their studies faster than when compared with a normal classroom. However, it should be understood that in the same class, students have different understanding capabilities some would be slow learners while others would be fast learners regardless to whether computers are used or not. Use of computers could enable students to progress in acquisition of knowledge at their own pace using computers instead of learning from teachers. The presence of teachers is very important for students since the impact of contacts with them influence them positively.