Technology and education

This should help me get some ideas for the essay: advantages/disadvantages: benefit, drawback, bonus, positive, problem, issue, disadvantage the verb university education: institutions,

Technology and education – sample IELTS essay

This is the next in my series of sample IELTS essays In this essay, I give you help with vocabulary for topics of education and technology I also show you a simple way to improve the coherence of your writing by using the opening sentences of paragraphs and the openings of sentences

The question

In the past lectures were the traditional method of teaching large numbers of students Nowadays new technology is increasingly being used to teach students What are the advantages and disadvantages of this new approach?

This is an advatages/disadvantages style essay and it is important that you remember to discuss both sides of the question The natural way to do this is to have one content

paragraph for “pro” and one for “con”

Vocabulary

Before I start writing, I try and think of some useful vocabulary This should help me get some ideas for the essay:

advantages/disadvantages: benefit, drawback, bonus, positive, problem, issue,

disadvantage (the verb)

university education: institutions, lecture theatre, part-time course, distance learning,

tutorials and seminars

technology in education: Moodles, interactive whiteboards, technological skills, digital

native

Close Me

In the past lectures were the traditional method of teaching large numbers of students Nowadays new technology is increasingly being used to teach students What are the advantages and disadvantages of this new approach.

As we move into the twenty-first century, technology is affecting many different areas of life and education is no exception Indeed, in some institutions traditional forms of education have been revolutionised by new technology to the extent that the lecture is no longer the main method of delivery While there are a variety of benefits to this new approach, there are also significant drawbacks.

Perhaps the greatest bonus of the introduction of technology is the flexibility it offers This is evident in two different ways Firstly, it is now no longer essential for students to be present

in the lecture theatre for their courses This means that part-time courses for adults who are

in employment and distance learning courses for people in other countries are now much more practical Another area of flexibility is of course that the lecturer and tutor are able to use Moodles , interactive whiteboards and other tools to deliver their courses in a more stimulating way to large numbers of students.

Not everything, however, about the introduction of this new technology into education is positive One major problem is that not all students are comfortable with using technology, even if they are part of the digital native generation This is a serious issue as they may suffer from their lack of technological skills Another related issue is that education is a human activity and it works best with as much human interaction as possible Impersonal technology cannot replace the human contact found in traditional face-to-face

tutorials and seminars

As we have seen, there are major benefits to the introduction of technology into education, not least because it enables modern forms of education such as distance learning courses This is balanced, however, by the fact that it can be too impersonal for some

anddisadvantages others for their lack of technological skills.

Structure

Introduction: identify the topic and task, then state my position – balanced

Content para 1: I have one major idea that it is positive because of “flexibility” and give

two examples of this: distance courses and stimulating students

Content para 2: Again, the major idea is simple: it is a bad thing sometimes I then give

two reasons for this: not all students like technology and traditional methods work better at tutorial level

Conclusion: Reflect the the idea that it is a balanced argument Benefit is it allows distance

learning (para 1); drawback is that it is impersonal (para 2)

Coherence and cohesion – think about how you start paragraphs and sentences

Part of the challenge of this essay is that you may have too many ideas and it becomes slightly incoherent See how I have managed this by the structure of my essay In particular note

1 how I use the beginnings of paragraphs to state the main ideas: these are very simple ideas and contain few details These ideas link back to the introduction and link forward to the rest of the paragraph

2 how I then use the beginnings of sentences to link back to the main idea I do this by using language like “One major problem

The basic pattern is “There are two ideas” “This is the first idea” and “This is the second idea” It is simple, yet effective The key to making this work is to think about how you start your paragraphs and sentences

Close Me

In the past lectures were the traditional method of teaching large numbers of students Nowadays new technology is increasingly being used to teach students What are the advantages and disadvantages of this new approach.

As we move into the twenty-first century, technology is affecting many different areas of life and education is no exception [statement of topic] Indeed, in some institutions traditional forms of education have been revolutionised by new technology to the extent that the lecture is no longer the main method of delivery [identification of task] While there are a variety of benefits to this new approach, there are also significant drawbacks.[statement of balanced position]

Perhaps the greatest bonus of the introduction of technology is the flexibility it offers This is evident in two different ways [Main idea - flexibility is an advantage in two

ways] Firstly , [coherence phrase linking to "two different ways]it is now no longer essential for students to be present in the lecture theatre for their courses This means that part-time courses for adults who are in employment and distance learning courses for people in other countries are now much more practical Another area of flexibility [second main reason for flexibility] is of course that the lecturer and tutor are able to use Moodles, interactive

whiteboards and other tools to deliver their courses in a more stimulating way to large numbers of students.

Not everything, however, about the introduction of this new technology into education is positive [Main idea - not everything good] One major problem [coherence phrase showing

there is more than one problem] is that not all students are comfortable with using

technology, even if they are part of the digital native generation This is a serious issue as they may suffer from their lack of technological skills Another related issue is [second coherence phrase linking back to "One major problem"]that education is a human activity and it works best with as much human interaction as possible Impersonal technology cannot replace the human contact found in traditional face-to-face tutorials and seminars.

As we have seen, there are major benefits to the introduction of technology into education, not least because it enables modern forms of education such as distance learning courses [coherence link back to para 1] This is balanced [refer back to introduction], however, by the fact that it can be too impersonal for some and disadvantages others for their lack of technological skills [coherence link back to para 2].