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Impact of technology on a university student’s life and academic progress.

Research · July 2015

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.4087.6642

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 Divine Word University

Department Of Information Systems

IS103 Communication Skills

Lecturer: Dr. Iwona Kolodziejczyk

“Impact of technology on university student’s

life and academic progress.”

Name : Christopher Kila

ID : 10222
 Christopher Kila “Impact of technology on university student’s life and academic progress.”

Developments in Technology in recent years has grown rapidly having a lot of impact on the lives of
humans. Universities across the globe have been able to study and do research with the ease of improved
technological facilities in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT). University students are
exposed to the changing world and the ongoing change in technology taking place. Such improvements in
technology has replaced the use of traditional methods of education which uses chalkboard, whiteboard
and hard copy textbooks. This changes have brought a lot of significance to university students enhancing
a student’s academic performance and on the other hand contributing to a decline in the progress of a
student’s academic study as well. This essay, however will present to you the benefits of using technology
in University learning and the problems faced with the use of technology in a student’s study life.

Firstly, Information Technology and Communication (ICT) has made learning easier in Universities in terms
of communication between student peer and student to instructors (Valasidou and Bousiou, 2005 as cited
in Mbah, 2010). It is seen that ICT develops student knowledge and research enhancing their creativity,
communication skills and thinking capability, thus enabling them to communicate and collaborate in
learning environment made much easier with ICT (Positive And Negative Impacts That ICT Has On
Education, n.d.; Positive And Negative Impacts That ICT Has On Education, n.d.)The introduction of
Moodle also referred to as e-learning has made it convenient for the delivery of notes from the instructor
to the students. Instructors upload electronic notes in the form of pdf or PowerPoint presentations online
for students to download and read. This method of learning has completely replaced the traditional
method of instructors presenting notes on the chalkboard. As Daniel (2009) summarizes:

E-learning technologies such as Moodle can greatly support and enhance teaching and
learning activities. Moodle provides a rich set of features designed to allow participants
learn by constructing and sharing their knowledge within a Moodle course learning space.
Knowing what these features are for and knowing how to use them can greatly enhance
student learning experiences in an academic environment such as Divine Word University.

(Daniel, 2009, pp.65)

According to Sahin, Balta & Ercan(2010) internet usage known as the world wide web(www) use in
universities makes it more convenient for students to access online resources to boost their learning and
further their knowledge. It is also seen that ICT makes it convenient for students to access their electronic
information and files at any location as long as there is an Internet Service Provider (ISP) providing internet
 Christopher Kila “Impact of technology on university student’s life and academic progress.”

coverage rather than carrying around loads of hard copy textbooks. Following on, the use of multimedia
equipment such as projectors, video players and LCD screens has made learning more motivated engaging
students in the learning process as images and videos in a lecture allows a student to digest knowledge
effectively (Oshinake & Adekunmisi, 2011). Similarly, video streaming sites such as YouTube also makes it
easier for instructors to share video tutorials or lectures via YouTube where students can download and
watch. Also, students get to watch tutorials and lectures from other universities across the world.

Despite ICT playing a major role on improving a university student’s academic performance, others
however, say that ICT can destroy a student’s academia and gradually have a negative impact on the
academic performance as well. Internet addictions has grown rapidly and is affecting more students. Chao
and Hsiao (2010,as cited in Akhter, 2013, p. 1793)defined internet addiction as “an individual’s inability
to control his or her use of the internet, which eventually causes psychological, social, school, and/or work
difficulties in a person’s life”. It is also suggested that university students are more vulnerable to internet
addiction due to the free internet service provided and the availability of free hours during the day (Young
and Rogers, cited in Akhter, 2013, pp.1794). Noreen Akhter (2013) found out from her study that excessive
use of internet leads to a decline in study habits resulting in a gradual in drop in academic grades, delaying
assessment task leading to procrastination and skipping of lectures due to the fact that students don’t get
enough sleep because much of the sleep time is spent online.

Moreover, Sanzhar Naizabekov (2012) also supported that “Facebook users not only had a much lower
Grading Point Average (GPA) than non-users (3.5 against 3.0 out of 4), but showed higher rates of
procrastination as well.” Students tend to spend less time on their studies but spend more time on the
internet for leisure and recreational purposes leaving their assessment tasks behind till the due date is
near as a result they (students) become under pressure with incomplete tasks and homework eventually
score low marks. Furthermore, ICT also tends to make student lazier as well. This follows from the study
of Scanlon and Neumann (2002) which revealed that students in Universities do direct copy and paste
from the internet sources or electronic documents without proper citation and referencing. Such
academic dishonesty has raised concerns over the academic integrity of the University and begs the
question whether students are learning the content of the course syllabus provided in the course or not
and whether students have acquired all necessary requirements of the four year course knowledge to
obtain the Bachelor Award from the University.
 Christopher Kila “Impact of technology on university student’s life and academic progress.”

In addition most countries and universities now are on the verge of enforcing the paperless and student
laptop policy, hence students will be issued laptops. Consequently, each student will be responsible on
how they manage the laptop. From a survey carried on Divine Word University students, results showed
that a number of students use their computers for other activities apart from academic work such as
graphical software, listening to music, and playing PC games. (Kolodziejczyk, 2009, pp.31-33)

In conclusion, Information Technology and Communication plays a major role in improving the academic
standards of a university and its students to meet the growing needs of the job market in the technological
influenced century that we are living in.Therefore universities should put more attention into improving
ICT facilities so that students will be exposed to ICT before going out into the workforce. On the contrary,
better cyber counseling courses should be offered to all freshmen intake in order to build a good
foundation to avoid social networking site addiction and internet surfing apart from academic studies.
Students also should manage their time responsibly to avoid abuse on the ICT privileges provided by the
university.
 Christopher Kila “Impact of technology on university student’s life and academic progress.”

References
Akhter, N. (2013, July 15th). Relationship between Internet Addiction and Academic. 8(19), p. 1793. Retrieved April
20th, 2014, from http://academicjournals.org/article/article1382342222_Akhter.pdf

Daniel, M. (2009, November). E-learning @ Divine Word University:. Contemporary PNG Studies: DWU Research
Journal, 11, p. 65. Retrieved May 1st, 2014, from
http://www.dwu.ac.pg/en/images/Research_Journal/2013_Vol_19/6_Daniel_e-
learning_using_Moodle_at_DWU.pdf

Kolodziejczyk, I. (2009, November). ICT for Education - The way ahead,but how? pp. 31-33. Retrieved May 1st,
2014, from
http://www.dwu.ac.pg/en/images/Research_Journal/2009_Vol_11/3__Iwona_ICT_for_education.pdf

Mbah, B. T. (2010, Octorber). The impact of ICT on students’ study habits. Case. Journal of Science and Technology
Education Research, 1, pp. 77-110. Retrieved April 23rd, 2014, from
http://www.academicjournals.org/article/article1379499303_Mbah.pdf

Naizabekov, S. (2012, April 20). Negative impact of social networking sites on academic performance of students.
Retrieved April 25, 2014, from
https://www.academia.edu/1810511/Negative_impact_of_social_networking_sites_on_academic_perfor
mance_of_students

Neumann, D. R., & Scanlon, P. M. (2002, May). Internet Plagiarism Among College Students. Journal of College
Student Development, 43(3), pp. 374-385. Retrieved April 2nd, 2014, from
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~ladare/eac595/readings/scanlon-neumann.pdf

Oshinake, A. B., & Adekunmisi, S. R. (2011). Use of Multimedia for Teaching in Nigerian University System: A Case
Study of University of Ibadan. Library Philosophy and Practice. Retrieved April 27th, 2014, from
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1756&context=libphilprac

Sahin, Y. G., Balta, S., & Ercan, T. (2010, April). The Use of internet resources by university students during their
course project elicitatio: A case study. 9 Issue 2. Retrieved April Tuesday 29th, 2014, from
http://www.tojet.net/articles/v9i2/9224.pdf

Tinio, V. L. (n.d.). ICT in Education. New York, USA. Retrieved April 25th, 2014, from
http://2002.bilisimsurasi.org.tr/egitim/eprimer-edu.pdf
 Christopher Kila “Impact of technology on university student’s life and academic progress.”

UKESSAYS.com. (n.d.). Retrieved April 1st, 2014, from UKESSAYS.com:

http://www.ukessays.com/essays/education/positive-and-negative-impacts-that-ict-on-education-
education-essay.php

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