Technology in Education: A Blessing and a Curse

Written by Rogelio Simon-Perez, First Literacy Office Manager

Technology has reshaped the way nonprofits deliver education and support. From virtual classrooms to donor management systems, the digital shift has opened doors that once seemed locked.

Yet, with every new tool comes a new challenge. For adult learners, educators, and nonprofit administrators, technology is both a powerful enabler and a potential barrier. This post explores the dual nature of technology in nonprofit adult education — its blessings, its curses, and finding balance between technology’s promise and the heart of education.

The Blessings of Technology

For adult learners, technology creates new pathways and expands access, opening doors for many adult learners who have historically been left out.

• Asynchronous modules, microlearning, and mobile-first lessons allow for flexible scheduling that fit around work, caregiving, and health needs.
• Multiple entry points such as self-paced courses and the opportunity to earn degrees and certificates online allow learners to build momentum without high upfront risk.
• Built-in accessibility features like screen readers, captioning, adjustable contrast, and text-to-speech enable fuller participation for adult learners with disabilities .

For educators, technology can enhance instruction and professional growth, helping educators refine their craft and better support diverse learners.

• Authoring tools and open educational resources can reduce prep time while supporting rapid iteration and localization. The First Literacy Resources for Educators Page leverages search technology to make it easy for educators to share, view, and download free resources.
• Learning analytics that identify skill gaps and trends, enable differentiated feedback and targeted practice that help educators meet learners where they are.
• Digital communities of practice such as virtual Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), shared lesson repositories, and peer coaching platforms help educators share effective strategies and learn from one another.

For administrators, technology streamlines operations, supports data-informed decision-making, and can free up capacity for mission-critical work.

• Integrated Customer Relationship Management Software (CRMs) centralizes donor, volunteer, and learner records improving reporting and stewardship.
• Automated workflows such as e-signatures, digital intake, and attendance tracking can reduce manual tasks and errors. E-signatures allow documents to be signed electronically, eliminating the need for printing, scanning, and mailing multiple forms. Digital intake streamlines the process of collecting information from various constituents by using online forms that automatically populate a database, reducing data entry mistakes. Attendance tracking tools can automatically record participation, saving time and improving accuracy.
• Automated email campaigns ensure timely communication without manual effort. Campaigns can be used to send reminders, updates, and personalized messages based on triggers such as enrollment, donations, upcoming events or attendance.
• Outcome dashboards provide real-time visibility into completions, job placements, and retention. These dashboards pull data from multiple sources and present in an easy-to-read format, allowing administrators to quickly see what’s working and where improvements are needed. For example, a dashboard might show that retention rates are dropping for certain programs, signaling the need for additional support. This timely insight is critical for strategic planning as it allows leaders to identify gaps. Moreover, this real-time insight supports strategic planning by enabling organizations to set data-driven goals, allocate resources effectively and adjust programs based on trends — rather than relying on reports and guesswork.

Technology Expands Learning

For adult learners, educators, and administrators’ technology allows for scalability. Virtual cohorts connect learners across rural and urban communities, providing educators and organizations an opportunity to expand reach without new physical sites.

When First Literacy launched hybrid professional development, workshops were offered both in person and online, making it easier for educators outside Greater Boston to participate.

Technology also deepens content relevance. The Osterville Village Library used funds from a First Literacy grant to expand their “Book Tasting Series” — an immersive, café-style literacy experience where participants “sample” books and media in multiple formats, from traditional print to Wonderbooks, Launchpads, bilingual resources, AR/VR books, Playaways, and language-learning databases. This initiative leveraged technology to provide accessible, engaging, and inclusive literacy tools for individuals with diverse learning styles, language backgrounds, and literacy levels.

The Curses of Technology

Despite its strengths, technology also exposes deep access gaps that have resulted in a digital divide. Many adult learners face technology barriers that create friction and widen inequities.

• Unreliable broadband or restrictive data caps, such as those set by an Internet Service Provider (ISP), disrupt learning continuity.
• Older phones and low-spec laptops often struggle with modern platforms, creating challenges that can drive dropout.
• Shared devices can interrupt participation due to connectivity or hardware failures.
• Hidden technology costs such as peripherals, repairs, and paid apps add financial strain.
• A lack in accessible design or captions can exclude learners with disabilities.
• Machine translations without cultural adaptation may confuse or alienate multilingual learners, reducing trust and engagement.
• Limited digital literacy can be a barrier to enrolling in online classes and make it difficult for students to access resources that teachers use as part of their curriculum. Blue Hills Adult Education used a First Literacy grant to develop a summer digital literacy program to combat this exact problem. The goal of the program was to help students learn how to access and use the many digital resources available to them.

Educators also face many challenges. While there are benefits to leveraging technology in the classroom, technology can complicate the teaching process making it harder to adopt technology deeply and effectively.

• Tool overload and context switching can erode focus and increase educator burnout. Context switching happens when educators constantly shift between different platforms—such as grading systems, communication apps, and lesson planning tools—throughout the day. Each switch requires mental effort to refocus, which interrupts deep work and adds cognitive strain. When combined with too many tools, this constant juggling reduces efficiency, creates stress, and can contribute to burnout.
• Brief, one-time trainings without ongoing support often leading to “training debt”, shallow adoption and frustration.
• Abundant data can skew assessment toward what’s easy to measure rather than what’s educationally meaningful.

For administrators, technology can improve efficiency but may also introduce new layers of difficulty. When systems don’t work together, administrative burden grows instead of shrinking.

• Non-integrated systems may result in duplicate data entry and create conflicting records.
• Proprietary formats and long contracts lock organizations into tools that may no longer meet their needs, reducing flexibility and making switching to another provider more expensive over time.
• Managing privacy, accessibility, and security across multiple tools increases compliance risk, especially for small teams with limited technical capacity.
• Software updates, security patches, and device lifecycles can require ongoing resources that aren’t always budgeted.
• Grant-driven tech purchases can create cliffs when funding ends, leaving programs with tools they can’t maintain.
• Limited local IT support can turn routine issues into extended outages causing delays and frustration.

Finding Balance

By embracing technology thoughtfully, educators, adult learners, and administrators can ensure equity and human connection remain at the heart of adult education.

Supporting adult learners in the digital age means doing more than providing access to technology. Building digital literacy is essential and offering hybrid learning options can provide the personal touch of in-person support along with the flexibility that is necessary for many adult learners.

Ongoing training and peer support for educators will also make technology adoption more manageable in the classroom. While teaching methods should always lead, incorporating digital tools can be a nice addition to improve engagement and outcomes.

Lastly, administrators must play a key role by choosing modular, interoperable systems that integrate smoothly and reduce duplication. Strong governance around data privacy, accessibility, and vendor flexibility will also help prevent lock-in and compliance issues.

By keeping these considerations in mind, we can recognize technology’s blessings and curses and build an ecosystem that empowers learning instead of complicating it.