Introduction
Technology has impacted all aspects of our life, and education is also one of the important spheres in which technology has brought ease and convenience. It has greatly affected the way the lessons are presented and taught in modern classrooms; technology has changed the dynamics of the traditional classroom. It has also impacted the teaching resources we use in the classroom and has replaced it with modern devices. Digital tools can play a significant role in enhancing the overall classroom experience and could improve the learning process. It can be an important instrument in improving pedagogical methodologies and enhancing the infrastructure of the classroom. Digital tools can bring more efficiency and effectiveness in the whole teaching experience.
There are multiple reasons why digital tools have a large impact on college students’ writing skills. Digital tools are everywhere around us, whether we prefer it or not. Whether it be business or education, it has become essential for our students to have strong command over these technologies, they should be familiar with the latest and trendy software.
Research
According to the report of Pew research, a survey done by Advanced Placement and national writing project teachers says that technology has a great impact on the students as it is shaping the ways of student writing and also becoming one of the most important and useful tools for teaching writing to every grade of students. (Purcell et al., 2020)
The book “The impact of digital tools on student writing and how writing is taught in schools”, says that AP and NWP teachers believe that:
- Digital tools encourage students to be more creative and emotional. (95% agree)
- Enable students to share their work with a large audience. (96% agree)
- Collaboration among students. (79%)
The change in student writing
If we look back in the last decade, you can see the way students approach to buy mba dissertation which was very different. If students want to do research they have to go to the library of their college and hunt for information. They only get peer-received information and they write it in a formal style.
But in this era the whole thing becomes different. Students have the access to anything through the fingers of their hands, thanks to smartphone technologies. Although the information they get is different too. But through the proper research and credible sources, they can get highly acceptable studies, thanks to Google Scholar, Research Gate, and etc. However, in the digital world, there is lots of false information.
Students language
Nowadays the language students use in their academic papers is also a problem because the way of their communication is already changed. Professor Fiona Davies said the language students use in their assignments is not suitable.(Berg, 2017)
The fact is the students communicate through writing more than before but the language or the words they choose to use aren’t the things you want to see in an assignment. Now students are unable to distinguish the formal and informal writing.
Plagiarism has changed the game
With the help of the internet, the students have all the access and get all the information that they need. And this leads to issues. And many students don’t know the right way to cite the other person’s work. In this regard, educators need to be one step ahead by teaching students the correct way of citing papers. Moreover, online tools can help them. For example, bibme and cite in can be used to generate a correct citation.
Now let’s discuss the positive and negative impact of digital tools in the life of college student writing.
The positive and negative impact of digital tools on college student writing
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Evidence-based research
Usually, school libraries are outdated and do not contain the latest collection of books, so the student might find it difficult to collect research papers, essays, and articles for their research. If schools would have good computer labs, the students can use the internet and digital encyclopedia to conduct their research. Technology plays an important role in educational institutions and this is all because of the internet. Many students face the problem of legitimacy of the articles present on the internet, there are a lot of schools that offer authentic software to assist students to do their research.
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Availability of Electronic Pirated Books
In the era of modern technology, every student has access to internet facilities. By availing the internet facility they can easily download pirated books in soft copy by using the internet. It really saves their pocket money and helps them to prepare for their examinations and academic assignments free of cost. But it will always remain a huge problem for the students to prepare their academic assignments by using electronic pirated books.
So, in such cases, they bother to outsource their academic assignments to the best dissertation service UK. By making a simple request, they will get comprehensive solutions to the academic assignments within no period of time.
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Digital tools are also a source of distraction
Students are seen playing with their phones even in lectures which often leads to a lack of focus and concentration in learning. And this behavior has always been the bone in the throat of the teacher. Even though the tool is meant to be used for educational purposes, it is impossible to stop students from distraction.
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Declining writing skills
Due to excessive use of online chatting and shortcuts the writing skills of the young generation have declined extremely.
Conclusion
It is concluded that students will continue the way of writing. They are using informal language and are more concise in what they are saying and sadly the majority of the students are plagiarising. As digital tools are not the worst thing that happens to college student writing.
If it is used properly then there are many advantages to improving writing skills. And it is the educator’s job to teach the students in order to give the right direction of using these new breeds of tools.
Reference list
Purcell, K., Buchanan, J., & Friedrich, L. (2020, May 30). The impact of digital tools on student writing and how writing is taught in schools. Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech. Retrieved January 11, 2022, from https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2013/07/16/the-impact-of-digital-tools-on-student-writing-and-how-writing-is-taught-in-schools/
Berg, B. (2017, March 12). Brenda Berg. Emerging Education Technologies. Retrieved January 11, 2022, from https://www.emergingedtech.com/2017/03/the-impact-of-digital-tools-on-students-writing/
