Disadvantages of using computers in banks?

Answer 1

By Philipo revocatus from University of Dodoma, Tanzania

The advent of the twenty-first century has seen a number of technological developments which affect almost every aspect of our lives. At the core of this, the ever-growing use of ICT in all realms of life in Africa, East Africa and Tanzania in particular, from the workplace to the sports field, in schools and on a personal or social level has created tremendous development and risks in science, mathematics and technology education. Therefore this has had been achieved via sharing ideas and information using communication like cell phones, and technology like computers, to connect people when in banking systems, teaching and learning process, military systems, network communication systems, transportations systems and so forth.

Adeya, (2001) argued that, In Tanzanian, Ugandan, and Kenyan context, Government planned and started the supply of computers to secondary schools and colleges where many other fields that require ICT use emerge, although some not yet achieved practically.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)refers to the computer and internetconnections used to handle andcommunicate information for learningpurpose (Tinio, 2002). In contrary, The United Nations' Economic Commission for Africa defines information and communication technology broadly to include internet service provision, media and broadcasting capacities, and commercial information providers, among others. Therefore from the above concept, ICT is defined as a global network in which ideas are exchanged, or information and knowledge is shared, through using communication like cell phones, and technology like computers, to connect people. This includes both the provision of funding and the relevant expertise to manage the new infrastructure, as well as educational programmes to ensure that the benefits reach a maximum number of people.

Furthermore, the use of ICTs in education also shifts the learning approaches. As put by (Bransford, Brown, and Cocking, 1999) cited in Volman (2005), there is a common belief that the use of ICTs in education contributes to a more constructivist learning and an increase in activity and greater responsibility of students. This limits the role of the teacher to supporting, advising, and coaching students rather than merely transmitting knowledge.

Kozma, (2008) identified important reason for investing ICT for education;

vProducing people capable of working and participating in the new economies and societies arising from ICTs and related developments,

vLeveraging ICT to assist and facilitate learning for the benefit of all learners and teachers across the curriculum,

vAdvance educational reforms ie. Major curriculum revisions, shifts in pedagogy or assessment changes.

vImproving the efficiency of educational administration and management at every level from the classroom, school library, through the school and on to the sector as a whole,

vBroadening access to quality educational services for learners at all levels of the education system, and Set specific criteria and targets to help classify and categorize the different development.

The advancement in information and communication Technology in science, mathematics and technology education has created tremendous development of which today have been made digitalized. A among of tremendous development are;

i. ICT Offer the opportunity for more student centered learning, for example, most children can access and use smart phones and laptops in searching news from different parts of the world without prior help from the teacher. Here they learn much about social world independently.

ii. Provide greater opportunity for teacher-to-teacher and student-to student or person to person in working station's communication and collaboration for example; In most institutions, people exchange E-mails and phone numbers to easy information dissemination between course coordinator and students or among students. This advancement is shaping life standards contrary to before ICT development, thereby was no enough communication towers and computers (laptops) and was very expensive.

iii. Give greater exposure to vocational and workforce skills for students and teachers (Kozma, 2005). For example, Learners acquire skills such as typing, data base management system, printing and internet skills which they could use beyond school in the university or workplace. AlsoAdministrative tasks such as keeping files and registers of learners are much easier today.

iv. Provide opportunities for multiple technologies delivered by teachers, example through the simultaneous use of audio, text, multicolor images, graphics, motions, and animations. ICT also gives ample and exception opportunities to the students to develop capacities for high quality learning and increase the ability to innovate.

v. Create greater enthusiasm for learning amongst students, Sharinina, (2001 p70) describes that ICT provide higher interactive potential for users to develop their individual, intellectual and creative abilities.

vi. Provide distance learners country-wide with online educational materials,

vii. Provide learners with additional resources to assist resource-based learning for example; today many students in colleges supplement lecture notes and library documents with internet materials, more good, through internet we can get newly established materials and events on a certain topic which are not yet documented in schools' libraries.

viii. Record keeping becomes more orderly and reliable; manual records used in the past could be lost due to poor filing. For instance, assume If all UDOM students' Academic information are kept manually (in hard copy files), it could costs much to employ many workers to control the issue. Though many guys lost their opportunity to job due this ICT development. Not only in Education but also in other fields like banking, census, and so on.

ix. Routine tasks, such as accessing pupils' school records, are performed much faster than they were before. Previously, for example, loads of files would be kept containing pupils' school records and one had to physically look through all of them just to find information (Adeya, 2001).

x. Tinio, V. (2003) Information or communication within a school can be produced much more quickly and efficiently by using e-mails or PowerPoint presentations in class, rather than making physical contact for example, beyond the classroom, the use of ICT makes communication easier, as you can communicate with people all over the globe. Beyond the classroom use of ICT allows one to find out how to do things such as online banking.

Moreover, ICT technology is not limited to classroom teaching but also in other fields like banking systems, military systems, health system, and communication systems.

In communication system

i. Provide people with new sources of information and knowledge, for example availability of Smart phones, Laptops, iPads and even DSTV's at relatively lower price, has widened the chance for more citizens around Africa and the world in general to access news at present times they occur; for instance, new constitutional process in Tanzanian parliament is watched by many people due to ICT development.

ii. Has joined the world into a single unit, for example; Emails, fax, facebooks, google+, twitter, whats Up etc.

In banking systems.

iii. ICT development has made transaction very simple and quick as it Prepare people for the real world such as transaction process like M-pesa, Airtel money and Tigo Pesa.

iv. In electronic business, products can be bought and sold via networks, like buying LUKU, vocha, currency exchange.

In medical services

v. Various medical diagnosis and operations are done via use of ICT, example; x-ray, ultra sound technology.

Military and security

vi. Defense industry of African countries

For example; Africa possesses the technology to launch superfast anti-submarine rockets that can travel at the speed of 100 meters per second under water for military security.

vii. Computers can be used to control navigating airplanes from getting accidents or lost as it has been reported few weeks ago on the lost Malaysia Airplane.

Nevertheless, despite the efforts and the strategies in place, there are challenges and or risks to institutes (schools). Thus, these have implications for the future, to work hard for the benefit of student learning from the use of technologies.

Limitations or risks of ICT use in Education technology

ICT as a modern technology that simplifies and facilitates human activities is not only advantageous in many respects, but also has many limitations and/or risks (Brosnan, 2001). Therefore, many people from inside and outside the education system, think of ICT as "Panacea" or the most important solution to school problems and improvements. However, many conditions can be considered as limitations of ICT use in education. The limitations can be categorized as teacher related, student related, and technology related. All of them potentially limit the benefits of ICT to education and other social aspects. These include;

i. Over-reliance on ICT limits student's critical thinking and analytical skills, e. g high school students in using calculator they may later be incompetent in computing even simple mathematics.

ii. Another risk faced by the learners in African school and colleges concerned the use of massages language on social networking websites. Most of the learners pointed out that this was causing them to make mistakes in academic writing (poor spelling and grammar mistakes) because using massages language on cell phones and social networking websites had corrupted their language skills. (Kritzinger, E. & Padayachee, K., 2010). Also many university lecturers and tutors are blaming on this challenge.

iii. Students often have only a superficial understanding of the information they download, because of available internet sources students cannot construct their own ideas instead they memorize downloaded concepts even if are from untrusted sites.

iv. Computer-based learning has negative physical side-effects such as vision problem, and other illegal attempts. For example, Illegal cases of theft have been reported day to day via networking systems like E-mails and facebooks.

v. Students may be easily distracted from their learning and may visit unwanted sites, again ineffective security of the computers at these schools had resulted in thefts, and passwords for learners to access the computers sometimes did not work properly,

vi. Students tend to neglect learning resources other than the computer and internet, leading to mis-use of networks like foul languages.

vii. Displacement of academic activities, for example students spend much time in watching movies, TV, charting with mobile phones via face books, whats-Up, emails and so on wonderful enough even primary students are using mobile phones to watch x-films as a results they perform poorly in their examinations.

viii. Students tend to focus on superficial presentations and copying from the internet, they don't want to go study in school libraries.

ix. Students may have less opportunity to use oral skills and hand writing, (MoEVT-TIE 2005). For example, university students rely on copying and pasting information when doing their assignment.

x. Use of ICT may be difficult for weaker students, because they may have problems with working independently and may need more support from the teacher.

xi. Misuse of ICT cause violence and aggressive behavior among children and adolescence (Winn, 1985). The preponderance of the quantitative research indicates that viewing violence on televions is moderately correlated with aggression in children and adolescents (Sharinina, 2001).

Therefore, education policy makers, educators and all concerned should evaluate and recognize the roles of ICT in education in order to work for the effective functioning of this technology in their education systems. ICT utilization (particularly the computer and internet) in education systems at levels, for they benefit curriculum implementation and enhanced student learning.

In this respect, Bandura, (1986) describes self-efficacy as "individual's opinion of capabilities to organize and perform courses of actions to achieve particular types of performances." Moreover, as identified by Brosnan (2001), attitude, motivation, computer anxiety, and computer self-efficacy are factors affecting teachers' use of computers in their lessons. Teacher resistance and lack of enthusiasm to use ICT in education may also be another limitation.

The use of ICT may not be the cure for all of the problems that currently beset the education authorities in Africa, and many challenges do remain in terms of implementing or introducing ICT into schools, as mentioned above; however, research both domestically and around Africa has shown that the use of ICT can greatly influence and improve the productivity and efficiency of both teaching and learning.

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