10 Compare and Contrast Essay Topics on IT from an Academic Perspective

An information technology expert is among every company’s most prized assets these days. However, there aren’t many academic institutes that have effectively integrated IT studies in their curriculum. If you’re looking to write a compare-and-contrast essay on IT from an academic perspective, this guide is a good place to start.

This is the first section of a three-part guide and in this here you’ll find interesting facts that’ll help you in the research aspect of your essay. After you’re done reading, you can head on to the second part of the guide – 20 topics on it in the academic perspective for a compare and contrast essay, which will help you zero in on a topic.

Here are 12 facts on IT from an academic perspective for the purpose of writing a good compare and contrast essay.

Teaching and the basic concept of learning will be entirely changed if IT is included in academic curriculums, and this change is inevitable, despite different schools of thoughts in the academia. Just as the printing press changed the face of education and academics, IT will drive a similar change, as new technology can help teachers deliver education much more efficiently. Unfortunately, many institutions are hesitant in this regard, and this unwillingness to accept change stems from the mindsets of ‘old-school critics’ who believe the education system can thrive without IT. They also feel the transition from the current system to the new one will take a lot of time.
IT is all about economies of scale, meaning the initial investment might possibly be a bit high, but after a while, the cost per student will become very low when it comes to delivering information. The real cost saving is when a student can access thousands of libraries at a near-negligible cost, as that cost is far less while exposure to knowledge is a hundred times more. Good teachers tend to keep notes on every student, making sure how much progress they’ve made throughout the year; through customization capabilities that come with integrating IT into a school’s curriculum, it can become easier to maintain files and records on individual students.
Through integrating IT with academia, certain key teaching practices can be changed; i.e. the faculty won’t be asked to multitask as the best teacher or lecturer from all over the country will just be a click away. A larger pool of teachers can provide counseling, mentoring, guidance, teaching and awarding certifications. This is an investment in delivery systems, knowledge codification and assessment practices and it will finally separate the learning from certification. This way, new methods of learning and delivery of education will be introduced and more students will enroll to get an education that’s easily deliverable.
One of the biggest barriers towards the adoption of IT whole heartedly in academics is the traditionally set institutional norms such as teaching methods, concept of productivity and teaching staff’s autonomy; traditional concepts of educational system such as student-to-teacher ratio, class cap limit and teaching loads. If IT is to be incorporated in the educational system, the institutions’ workforce needs to accept this changing and evolving system. Through this IT integration, teachers will be able to decide when and where they teach, which is actually a direct threat to faculty autonomy, if we think about it.
A teacher might work for 30 years while the timespan of a workstation is a little less than five years until they need replacement or upgrades. Also, workstations are not bound by any ‘tenure obligations’. Reprogramming a workstation or more generally any kind of IT equipment is less expensive, far less difficult and more reliable, and the same can’t be said about retraining a teacher who’s served a lengthy tenure at an academic center. Over time, departments in an institute will have much more flexibility once the ratio of capital-labor grows.
One of the biggest advantages of information technology is that it reduces the contact time between students and faculty members. The time saved can be used to discuss the implications of what independent learning a particular student has done. Academic sessions can be held where students won’t feel the need to ask codified-knowledge related questions, there will be other platforms from where their questions can be answered and this will result in educational discussions rife with meaningful topics. If the traditional structure of courses is replaced entirely with a masterful learning format, then even better results can be achieved. Costs compared to traditional courses can be high in the beginning due to the investment aspect, but it will pay off tremendously in the long-run.
Through information technology schools can level up to the standards of research universities. This will give birth to a new wave of innovative leaders that will be capable of doing great things from an undergraduate level. Even nontraditional education providers can come up with better ways to deliver high level education because of IT integration at very competitive prices. Information which wasn’t even accessible to graduates until a few years ago can now be given to students at an early age.
IT can give birth to a lot of automated systems that can deliver structured-knowledge with performance measurement indicators, all very easy to understand. For one thing, graduate-level education will become accessible to every student.
One of the main advantages of IT integration is the reduction in time and resources when a teacher has to prepare for an hour-long lecture beforehand. This becomes not only time consuming but leads to unnecessary and extra work. Once there is integration of IT in the educational system, the structure that exists in the course can be amplified through an interactive online portal. This will provide much needed relief to both students and teachers, but students particularly because they won’t feel any additional burden to keep up with classes.
IT will help save costs in the long-run. While older teachers may have problem getting use to the IT system, new generation is already used to operating computers and can easily use them to deliver lectures, reducing training time and cost as well. Plus, with teachers catering to more students in the same time, overall cost would reduce as well.

Now that you have some facts in hand, you can move to our topics section or part three called: how to compare and contrast in an essay on information technology.

References:

The role of Information Technology in Education – Fedena Blog. (2015). Retrieved July 19, 2016, from http://www.fedena.com/blog/2015/10/the-role-of-information-technology-in-education.html
The Role of Information Technology in Education – Hitachi Foundation. (n.d.). Retrieved July 19, 2016, from http://www.hitachifoundation.org/our-work/business-and-work-grants-program/initiatives/past-initiatives/24-the-role-of-information-technology-in-education
Using Information Technology to Enhance Academic Productivity. (n.d.). Retrieved July 19, 2016, from https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/html/nli0004.html
Bouwman, H. (2005). Information and communication technology in organizations: Adoption, implementation, use and effects. London: SAGE.
Need and Importance of Information Technology in Education. (n.d.). Retrieved July 19, 2016, from http://wikieducator.org/Need_and_Importance_of_Information_Technology_in_Education
Alrafi, A. (n.d.). Information systems adoption: A study of the technology acceptance model.