It’s no secret that technology has changed education in profound ways, but it still has some limitations that need to be addressed. For example, the Internet has made it possible to find information on practically any topic in a matter of minutes, but it can be difficult to know if that information is accurate. Students can access .gov and .edu websites and find accurate and relevant information, but just as many sites pass outright lies as the truth. It can be difficult to determine what is real online, especially for young students who might just be starting to use the Internet for research.

Another limitation of education technology has come to the forefront relatively recently. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, many students are attending classes virtually from their own homes. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it does assume that all students have access to a stable wi-fi connection and a computer that can run the same programs that teachers are using. It’s possible for lower-income students to be left behind in ways they wouldn’t be if they could attend class in person. Of course, there’s also the matter of making sure that students are actually studying online and getting the most out of their lessons. That’s difficult if teachers can’t be in the same room as students.

So yes, there are clearly some limitations to education technology, but that is always the case when it comes to technology of any kind. Education technology is indeed useful, but we cannot rely on it all the time, nor can we assume that it will work properly for every student. We should be making online courses accessible to every student, and we should encourage students to do research and communicate with staff members online, but we should also prioritize in-person instruction whenever it’s safe to do so. As for doing research online, we need to teach students which websites should be used and which should be avoided. In short, we should keep using education technology whenever we can, but we should never rely on it completely. No matter how reliable it may be, bugs will always need to be ironed out.