20 Compare and Contrast Essay Topics on IT from the Academic Perspective

Academically, IT has great potential to help and reform the learning abilities of a modern day student. There is so much to talk about the changes IT can bring in the world of education. If you want to write a comparative analysis in the form of an essay, this guide should prove very helpful.

If you recall, the first in the series of these guides was 12 facts on it in the academic perspective for a compare and contrast essay, which helped you kick-start your research. This is the next part which will help pinpoint your research focus and choose a topic.

Here are 20 topics on IT in the academic perspective for a compare and contrast essay:

Codified Knowledge in IT System: Is It Required?
Teaching Methods with IT Systems
Issues in Adopting an IT Based System
IT-based Performance Measurement Indicators
Effects on Teaching Jobs: Tenures and Motivation if IT Is Implemented
IT Systems Integration in the Autonomy of Teaching Staff
Concept of Productivity Under IT
IT Implementation and Economies of Scale
How Non-Traditional Education Providers Can Offer High Quality Education through IT Based Systems
Cost Comparison of IT Learning System and Traditional Education System
Academic Administrative Record Keeping through IT Implementation
Ease of Access to Education through IT and its Economic Repercussions on Traditional Institutes
Ease of Preparation for Teaching Staff before a Lecture Due to IT System Integration
Concept of Online Portals and How They Are Beneficial to Students Who Want to Revise Lectures
Academic Research in IT-based Educational Systems
Is Complete IT Reformation of Educational System Financially and Administratively Possible?
Reprogramming IT Systems vs Retraining Teachers
Printed and Electronic Educational Material: What Is Better?
Outsourcing Teachers through IT Systems
Time Management in IT Systems: The Problem of Relocating Time and Resources

For now, here is a sample essay on one of the topics mentioned above. It is recommended that you read the following before we discuss how to write the actual essay,

Sample Compare and Contrast Essay: Issues to Adopting an IT-based System

In order to have full-scale implementation of IT strategies, methods and technology, one must understand and know how to address various issues revolving around the acceptance of IT in academic institutions. Even in nature or life, when we generally try to introduce change in an existing and established system, its first response is to fight back, much like immune systems respond to foreign organisms or bacteria.

Similarly when we talk about changing the education system, there is a huge divide between different school of thoughts, primarily due to fear of the unknown and the financial investments that follow. People love consistency and they believe the existing educational system is perfect in every sense, and that IT integration is a bit of a farfetched and not really necessary concept.

One of the biggest issues to full IT adoption is dealing with people who have invested in the traditional way of doing things like teaching techniques, how to scale productivity and faculty autonomy. Going in more detail of scale of productivity, for example, I believe the real factors are the student-teacher ratio, teaching loads and sizes of classrooms.

One solution to the above is teachers changing their perspective and allowing change. Simply saying that they prefer things a certain way isn’t enough; for progress’s sake, the systems need to be upgraded. The concept of faculty autonomy comes under scrutiny if interconnectivity is introduced, meaning the teachers and professors will no longer be able to control where, when and what they teach. This alone gives them reason enough to make sure that the system doesn’t get IT upgrades, and this ultimately, affects the students’ learning productivity and capacity.

Academic faculties are run by people and not everyone is good at their job, frankly speaking. Unfortunately, there is a sizeable amount of teaching faculties in the US who believe that productivity and quality learning is calculated through the sheer number of scholarships. Traditional teaching systems rely heavily on scholarship-based assessments rather than promoting education that can be used actively by students in their daily lives,

It is natural that teachers will see this as a threat and they would prefer more faculty members rather than adopting IT. None of them would be in favor of going for the additional expenses of investing in an IT system either.

But facts are facts; academic institutes have very little incentive to teach and a lot of incentive to carry out research work. This means that the institutes are heading towards more research work and seriously reducing class workload for students.

In educational institutes, nearly all departments give little attention to teaching itself and the overall learning process; rather, research is evaluated in detail while teaching and learning aren’t properly scrutinized. While teachers do put in extra effort and evaluate each student individually, departments, however, do not strictly regulate educational objectives and performance assessments.

Cost comparisons are where most IT proposals are rejected because traditional policy makers often can’t fathom the cost-cutting that eventually comes with an IT investment. For them, the initial investment is way too much, or so they think. Traditional policy makers have a “don’t change till it breaks” mindset and for them, it’s almost impossible to understand some of the rewards that come with making new investments.

This concludes our sample compare and contrast essay on IT in the academic perspective. Make sure to check our guide on this academic genre and subject in our next piece.

References:
The Joint Task Force for Computing Curricula 2005.Computing Curricula 2005: The Overview Report (pdf)
Using Information Technology to Enhance Academic Productivity. (n.d.). Retrieved July 19, 2016, from https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/html/nli0004.html
Alrafi, A. (n.d.). Information systems adoption: A study of the technology acceptance model.
Bouwman, H. (2005). Information and communication technology in organizations: Adoption, implementation, use and effects. London: SAGE.
Centre for Education in Science & Technology. (n.d.). Retrieved July 19, 2016, from http://www.cest.org.uk/importance-of-technology-in-schools/
Five Ways Teachers Can Use Technology to Help Students. (2013). Retrieved July 19, 2016, from http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2013/05/07-teachers-technology-students-education-west-bleiberg
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