Drawbacks/Disadvantages of using computers

The above discussion is based on what the learners perceive as benefits of using computers but that does not mean that they are not aware of the disadvantages of using computers. What I would like to highlight is that learners were able to identify the disadvantages of using computers whether they had access or not. Almost 90% of the comments (Table 4. 18) clearly indicate that access does not necessarily imply benefits but could very well be a drawback.

Table 4. 18: Response rate to question 13

Question 13 FDET N=40 FHOR N=7 FMC N=29 IS N=30 All schools N=106 What are the disadvantages of using

computers? 18 45% 7 100% 25 86% 29 97% 79 75%

There are 45% learners from the FDET schools who seem to think that there are

disadvantages of using computers. Again the FDET responses are the lowest and the reasons might include their limited access to computers whilst they clearly know what they want to use computers for and how they can benefit from using them.

The next data is based on the second last question of the questionnaire and 89% of the

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computers in their learning and this is how they responded. Their responses have been categorised and each category has a number of responses and lastly an overall percentage (Table 4. 19).

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Table 4. 19: Disadvantages of using computers in learning areas/subjects

Negative impact on learners Computer illiteracy (12) 43%

Laziness (11)

Encourage cheating/plagiarism (6) Distraction (4)

Health risk (4)

Discourage writing with using pen and paper (4) Relying on it too much (3)

Prevent creative thinking (2) Addiction (2)

Language used (1) Games (1)

Vocab doesn’t improve (1) Books neglected (1)

Hardware They are slow (5) 28%

Expensive (5)

Number of computers used by learners (5) Complicated (4)

Useless without electricity (4) Loss of work (3)

Computers get broken (2) Printing problems (2) Need to be upgraded (1) Need for security (1) Inaccurate or excessive information

on the Internet

More information (2) 5%

Less time too much information (2) Internet (1)

Internet access

Have incorrect information (1)

Impact on teaching and learning No interaction between teachers and learners (2) 3% Not effective compared to a teacher (1)

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No comment No comment 11%

None/Unsure None (11) 10%

I don’t know (1)

Most of the learners (43%) seem to think that the disadvantages of using computers directly affect them. They raise their concerns of being negatively affected physically as well as intellectually. Twenty eight percent of the learners are concerned with the functioning of computers, which can place them at a disadvantaged position. Only 3% of the learners seem to think that computers will take over their teachers’ role in the classroom. Table 4. 20 shows the number of responses for each group of schools on each category.

Table 4. 20: Disadvantages of using computers in learning areas/subjects for each group of schools School group Negative impact on learners Hardware Inaccurate or excessive information on the Internet Impact on teaching and learning No comment None/Unsure FDET 9 5 2 1 10 10 FHOR 2 3 3 0 0 0 FMC 21 10 0 2 2 1 IS 20 14 1 1 0 1

Table 4.20 represents the categories that emerged from the responses or comment that were made by learners from the four groups about the disadvantages of using computers. Firstly, learners perceive computers to have a negative impact on their abilities, health and skills. This is evident in their responses where they said, “learners tend to rely on the information

retrieved from computers, and not use their minds sometimes” ( FDET6 L1), “because other children which use computers in home get spoilt and their minds cannot concentrate at school (FDET3 L1), “books are neglected”(IS2 L1), “Plagiarism and lazyness” (IS3 L1), “kids like games and they do not work” (FMC1L1), “some students might be computer illiterate, so that might bring down their marks” (FMC3 L1), “when sitting in front of the computer your back

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and neck will get sore, and your eyes can get bad from watching the screen 24/7” (FMC2 L1).

Secondly, learners identify computer hardware as being a disadvantage when it comes to using computers for learning. The following comments highlight the typical comments related to the problems around hardware: “ sometimes the ink is finished and sometimes there’s only one colour ink” (FHOR L1), “some learners put the virus to the computer” (FHOR L2), “also very expensive, have to keep upgrading them” (IS1 L1), “other computers are broken” (FDET3 L2), “ there are a lot of students and too few computers because computers are expensive” (FMC2 L2), “could be faults if you wanted to print something or the computer could be down & not working”(IS2 L2).

Thirdly, the issue of Internet and the information accessed seems to create problem according to the learners’ comments as they say, “one would be more disadvantaged in terms of too much information” (FDET1 L1), “too complex, far too many areas to search” (IS1 L2), “scaffy and incorrect information” (IS2 L3).

The next area of concern for the learners in using computers is the negative impact that computers might have in terms of the teacher and learner relationship during the teaching and learning process. This is reflected on some of the comments made and these include where they said, “not as effective in comparison to when a teacher would teach you” (FMC1 L2), “it cuts the teacher off from the rest of students, the students will start relying on the computer to start teaching them” (FMC3 L2), “the pupils might actually put less effort because of the computer and there would be less interaction between pupils and teachers” (FMC3 L3). Again, compared to other groups of schools a high rate of FDET learners did not comment suggesting that the FDET learners may not have had sufficient experience with computers to identify disadvantages.

4.10 Summary

The chapter has explored in depth the findings of the study. The issues of prior use of

computers, access to computers, duration of computer use, purpose of ICT use, software use, integration of ICT within the learning areas, benefits and drawbacks/disadvantages of using

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computers in the curriculum have been discussed. The results have shown that there is a gap between the different groups of schools in terms of access to computers as FDET schools’ learners in particular have constantly implied that through their responses. The learners who participated in the study also revealed that there is limited integration of ICT into the

curriculum. Again, these results reveal that learners, while acknowledging the value of ICTs especially being able to find information on the Internet – are not fully integrating ICTs into their learning at school. From the interest in the use of ICTs for entertainment, they may be using ICTs for informal learning activities. The key finding would seem to be that learners see that using ICTs is a way of doing things differently at school. However, it is extremely

difficult to judge the learners perceptions over the four school groups as they have different levels of access, knowledge and skills. What is clear however is that those schools with poor ICT provision are at a disadvantage compared to those with sufficient infrastructure, but infrastructure alone does not guarantee integration of ICTs in the curriculum Learners have shown that they have a voice, as they were able to articulate the potential benefits and drawbacks of using computers within the curriculum.

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