Technology in education: can you get too much help?

Up and down the country first year higher education students will be coming towards the end of their first term.

For many, they will have left home for the first time. It's an overwhelming, exciting and exhausting time that is about to get even more stressful; it's the first time they've had to turn essays in.

I always left essays to the last minute. I avoided starting them until I was under a huge amount of pressure (which I had let increase needlessly). I don't think I was alone in my reticence to get down to work.

It's a (lack of) approach that has led to a large problem; in 2017 an article in The Guardian suggested that "more than 20,000 students a year in the UK are paying for essays to get degrees".

Therefore software which writes an essay for you, but is not plagiarism and is recognised as your own work is likely to be very popular! YouMakr use AI to provide original text, and the intellectual property is yours.

It is just one of a slew of new EdTech products offering advantages to students of all ages. However what impact will they have on the education sector, and are they fair or inclusive?

Recently I was asked to write for Unleash, and my first article focused on this particular issue. On the 14th of December Tech Talks will ask whether education is offering a fair deal for students.

Do you think technology is making access to technology more, or less, accessible?