Change in Technology at School and Work

Technology Changes in Work and Education With the onset of globalization four decades ago, there have been rapid changes in all the sectors that drive the society in a significant manner. The transportation, politics, human interaction, governance, trade and investment trends all changed significantly. However, in the interest and scope of this paper, the most profound technological change that has been experienced in the education and work environment is the shift in communication trends from the traditional mail system to the online-based communication.

The online mode that is currently driving the work and education sectors is the video conferencing, which will form the basis of discussion herein. Video conferencing is a communication mode that is supported on the internet platform and involves use of various telecommunication technologies to enable two or more different locations in whichever part of the globe to simultaneously communicate through voice and video in a two way manner.

It is a mode that has effectively replaced telephone exchanges since instead of just hearing the sound alone of the individual on the other end, you get to see the individual and has an additional advantage that several people can be involved in the exchange (BBC, 2014). It is one of the most widely used information exchange modes in the schools and work places in the contemporary society.

The colleges and universities have increasingly embraced the online-based learning and there are scheduled online lectures where the lecturer connects to a number of students from across the globe at a given time and talks to them live, lectures them on the topic and even allows them to ask question just as though they were in a real classroom, this time only virtually in front of a computer. The students are also able to answer questions posed by the lecturer or by other students in the videoconference.

The same applies to the work environment, where there have emerged trends of people working from the comfort of their homes, and they can be reached through the video conferencing by other colleagues or managers or even clients if there is need for such, all this without compromising their productivity at work. People have been known to work for organizations that are miles away across the globe without necessarily physically going there.

Potential employees have been interviewed through the video conferencing and department heads or branch managers have made presentations of the reports to the relevant authorities through videoconferencing, hence making it an inalienable part of the contemporary work and educational sector. The positives of using the video conferencing are numerous including the cutting down of the expenses involved in the physical presence of the employees or students in the distant locations, the saving of time by employees which can be used to carry out other organizational duties which could be pending.

The videoconferencing has also enhanced access to information by more students and effectively liberalized education to those who would like to pursue a given course regardless of the distance. The technological change has also given room to the standardization of the quality of education that students get in total disregard of the geographical location (Bower J., 2011). The theory that can best describe the changes that the society has undergone due to this technological development is the technological determinism.

This was an ideology that was developed by Thorstein Veblen in the 1920s and was further amplified by people like Richard Miller. Bruce Bimber.