Ten years ago, a cell phone was in the possession of only important professionals and very few others who could afford it. With changing time and advancement in technology, people of all levels and professions including students now enjoy access to a cell phone. It is just an example where advanced technologies are giving people access to things not known before. In this context, each day a new discovery is taking place in the field of information and technology, what will be the state of a student’s life 10 years from now?

Varied anticipations

It is beyond our imagination how our lifestyle has changed due to modern technologies. We can expect that technologies will play an important role in human life in the future too. Though it is unknown to everyone how they will shape our future.

However, Swornima Karki, studying in Class XII at Bagmati College, Sukedhara imagines a classroom without textbooks 10 years from today. “There would be a time where teachers will only use visuals instead of texts to teach students and it will be an effective teaching-learning process.”

But for Lov Thapa and Saurav Shrestha, BSc CSIT Vth Semester students at Academia International College, Gwarko online education will take centre stage in future. “I think there will be more online education where assignments would be submitted online and even exams will be taken online,” anticipates Thapa while Shrestha argues technological advancement would make it easier “to do research online due to availability of various softwares and apps”.

Shrestha further hopes, “There are chances that laptops will be replaced by cell phones because there might not be any need for laptops.”

But BE IIIrd Year student at Khwopa Engineering College, Bhaktapur, Nilishma Bajracharya has some interesting advancement to look forward too. She expects a future where girls will be crazier regarding gadgets and technologies than boys and “there will be a time when boys will come and ask girls about the new technologies which is just opposite these days.”

Probable pros and cons

With every advancement in technology, there are both advantages and disadvantages. Bristi Joshi, a Class XII student at Gauri Shanker College, Kalimati takes such a development in a positive light.

“With the advancement in technology, we need not depend on our teachers only, we are able to gain knowledge our own through sources like Internet. It helps us to become independent and boost our confidence.”

Even for Thapa his student life has become easier due to technology as it has saved his time and energy.

However, technology can at times be a bane. How? Nirmal Bajracharya, Lecturer at Nepal Commerce Campus, Minbhawan explains that technology will make the students totally dependent on it.

He argues, “Technology can kill students’ creativity and they won’t be able to exercise their brain. As a result, they will have low memory power as every kind of information is there on the Internet making them dependent on it.”

He is also aware how the misuse of technology is leading the students towards the path that will affect their future negatively. Giving an instance Nirmal Bajracharya reveals, “I have found that instead of referring to their teachers to solve problems, students are taking help of one brilliant student and that also in the wrong way. For example, one talented student would solve the mathematical assignment and share it with his/her friends via Viber. Then everyone copies it and shows the assignment to the teacher pretending that they have done it on their own.” The teacher would think the students have understood the topic and are capable of solving the problems. But it is not the reality and it jeopardises students’ future, as per Nirmal Bajracharya.

Karki too agrees that there are negative aspects of technological advancements but she feels, “Though there are chances of misuse, we have to be careful about how to use it properly. One should be cautious on not misusing, instead technology should be used for our own advancement.”