Isaiah Alexander 1

Isaiah Alexander

Emily Litle

Eng121001

03/12/2018

The World Of Technology

In today’s world there is technology everywhere; its impossible to turn anywhere without

seeing some sort of technology. Technological advancement is inevitable and growing rapidly.

Instead of sticking to traditional ways to get things done; which as such numerous flaws; I think

we should stop fighting the revolution and join it. Technology is beneficial in so much aspects,

however the greatest aspect has to be within the classroom; the impact technology has on the

classroom is that; it increase the engagement of the students all round, it sharpens their ability to

do more complex task and handle different equipment, it decreases the problems of shortage and

most importantly it improves grades.

Many arguments have arrived over the past years whether or not more technology should

be implemented in schools; whether the money in the schools’ budget should go to more books

or better changes rather than new technology and training of teachers for it. However, technology

has proven itself time and time again to show great benefits within schools.

Despite of all these benefits why technology should be implemented; people are yet

fearful of having it because of many overlooked disadvantages. Some of these advantages being

break down, cost or distraction. According to Kristen House, former instructor at Belmont

University, schools should be spending more money on training teachers, she said, “As

educators, we’re expected to do so much with so very little and instead of sitting down and

getting to the root of the issue, which is the student, we throw gadgets at the problem. House also
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states, “ A great teacher can do more for a student than any amount of money or technology you

can throw at it,” she notes “ gadgets go out of date and humans do not. We only get better with

age and with teaching and our gadgets all break down.”

First to begin, to have a good academic record from students, one must first have full

engagement; they must enjoy what they are doing and willing to be involved for them to be able

to retain information because that equals classroom results. Thats the only way possible to get

improved grades. Christen stated, “If their learning environment mirrors the ways in which they

engage with the world, they will excel in their education” (qtd in Costley 4). This means that

most people these days are growing up with technology right at their finger tips and right infront

their faces; it is impossible for them not to be heavily involved in technology so why should we

take that away from them and make them write in books; instead we should encourage students

by using what they already know so that they can have a sense of motivation and confidence

which would increase their engagements.

Also, technology sharpens the ability of students to do more complex tasks; in the future

students are going to have to be able to adapt to more difficult tasks and be able to do activities

on their own; which can be challenging for one that is taught in the traditional method of

learning. According to Jan Gahala (qtd. in National 4), “when used effectively, technology

applications can support higher-order thinking by engaging students in authentic, complex tasks

within collaborative learning contexts.” This prepares students for the future because the future is

full of being able to complete complex tasks and independently working.

Technology is simply used as a tool to get across to better skilled students for future

purposes.Technology can be used as a tool for establishing meaningful projects to engage

students in critical thinking and problem solving. “Technology can be used to restructure and
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redesign the classroom to produce an environment that promotes the development of higher-

order thinking skills,” says Kurt (qtd. in Costley 4). Tutkun goes on to say “The internet sharpens

one’s ability to search and analyze information” (qtd in Costley 6). The ability it takes to operate

technology strengthens the minds of students, hence making them more than capable to deal with

any task.

By far the greatest component of technology in life compared to the other benefits is the

use of it to decrease the level of shortages; physical classroom materials. Shortages play a big

part in our world because we do not have unlimited resources to please the human unlimited

wants. The late Dr. Jan Hawkins, former director of the Center for Children and Technology,

suggests that technology is a powerful tool that gives teachers, students and others new ways to

address problems such as shortages of materials, time, and professional development.With using

technology in the classroom; for example; using computers instead of books saves on paper and

computers are reusable, teachers sending work online rather than printing it out would cause

them not to have a problem shortage of handouts, typing assignments instead of writing them

would cause no shortage in pencils or pens and less time wasting. There are so much more

examples than can be brought up in this area that gives technology the upper hand over the

traditional method. An additional point to this is that it saves on time by allowing students to be

able to go home and get work done on their computers which also increasing their learning time.

According to National, students can extend their learning if they can connect from home to their

school’s network and to other courses and resources. The implementation of technology in

classes makes it possible for students to access work online so that learning can continue outside

the class and improvements can take place, this also allows time to be saved by not having to do

assignments in class.
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Lastly the most important aspect which everyone looks to that should separate whether or

not technology should be applied fully in the classroom is if it improves the academic levels of

the students. One study shown by an Advanced Placement calculus teacher at Bullis School

featured in US News & World Report; showed that there were improvement in grades. Roshan’s

students in the 2010-2011 school year scored an average of 4.11 on the AP calculus test,

compared to the 3.59 average among her students who took the test and were taught in the

traditional classroom setting the year before. And a third of the class-10 percent increase from

the previous year-scored a 5, the highest score a student can achieve on an AP test. Also another

project in Iowa feature by the National that has used technology to build professional learning

communities also is finding that students in classrooms taught by teachers who are participating

in the project are raising their test scores and showing signs of narrowing the achievement gap.

These examples shows that there is clear improvements in grades by technology in different parts

of the United States of America.

One great example that is currently being used in Otero Junior College specifically by

one of the English teachers is Nearpod. This is a tool that can be used on any device by students

where their teachers can orchestrate assignments and lessons to help them be more interactive

and engaged in each class session. Personally, being part of this class that uses Nearpod, I think

it helps me pay attention to the lessons being taught because it involves technology which I am

accustom being around and I feel a lot more comfortable with the materials.

Clearly there are many opposing facts that may challenge the benefits of technology

being applied in classrooms. However the benefits out weighs the consequences and it has better

results from testing than sticking to the traditional way. The impact technology has on the

classroom is that it increases the engagement of the students all round, it sharpens their ability to
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do more complex task and handle different equipment, it decreases the problems of shortage and

most importantly it improves grades.

Work Cited

Costley, Kevin C., associate professor. The Positive Effects of Technology on Teaching and

Student Learning. Arkansas Tech University, 30 October 2014,

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED554557.pdf.

Grinager, Heather. How Education Technology Leads To Improved Student Achievement.

National Conference of State Legislatures, November 2006,

http://www.ncsl.org/portals/1/documents/educ/item013161.pdf
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Lytle, Ryan. staff writer. Emerging Technology Has Positive Impact in Classroom. U.S. News

and World Report, 14 July, 2011, https://www.usnews.com/education/high-

schools/articles/2011/07/14/study-emerging-technology-has-positive-impact-in-

classroom

“Transforming Teaching. Together.” Nearpod - Create, Engage, Assess through Mobile Devices,

nearpod.com/.