Alex Abston-Ivy, Maddie Burch, Marilyn Butterworth, Jack Haskins, Nikkie Karimian

Professor Barbara Presnell

UWRT 1104 - 043

19 February 2019

Technology in the Education System

Cohen, Shawna. "The Low-Tech Classroom." Today's Parent, vol. 31, no. 10, 10, 2014, pp. 54-54,56.

ProQuest,https://librarylink.uncc.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/156146

3405?accountid=14605.

“The Low-Tech Classroom” by Shawna Cohen presents the argument regarding technology in
classrooms from the perspectives of educators, which I believe will bring variety into our sources. She
begins with explaining how Stacie Smith, a teacher, was totally on board with the idea of iPads in her
class- she even went as far as to raising $40,000 to implement the technology. After 3 years of seeing just
how her K-6th graders interacted with the laptops and tablets, she regrets the decision. She says “If I had
to do it all over again, I would have made a different choice.” This is where I believe we could open up
the “con” side of our project. Stacie felt like “the money could have been better spent on sports
equipment.” As she realized just how negatively the technology was to her pupils. For example, she
points out that it disabled human interaction, shortened attention spans, and limited creativity. Although
she observed this in a younger group of students, I definitely feel that this could be applied to older aged
students since this article was written in 2014. These children would currently be in our target age group.
The article then shifts to several other perspectives. I really enjoyed the perspective of a Waldorf School
teacher, since we got a good grasp on the background of these schools in class. He says he sees an
“epidemic of ADHD in our schools. You have to ask how a child learns to bring sustained attention to
something when he’s having profound amounts of media exposure.” This definitely bolsters Stacie’s
argument of a shortened attention span. The Waldorf teacher also sprinkles in some scientific knowledge
as well- “TV can negatively stimulate the developing brain, disrupting healthy neurological and
psychological development.” This article was enhanced by its attention to the counterargument. A small
paragraph was dedicated to how a Canadian school board member favored the use of technology as it
opens doors for opportunities students might not have otherwise (again, something that would apply to all
ages.) Darren McKee says “For those kids who may never have an opportunity to see Mount St. Helens,
teachers can download a virtual field trip onto the server.” The article is wrapped up my discussing a part
of the classroom that’s just as important as the students themselves- the teachers. The author goes to say
that “most schools don’t have the resources to train their teachers so extensively, which means their
SMART boards aren’t always being put into good use.” I liked this point, but there wasn’t much
information to back this up. Overall, I believe my source is a good one. This isn’t a cut and dry research
paper, but something that explains real world examples of the implications of technology. She ends the
article by saying “We’re programing our children to be addicted to technology” which sums up her stance
perfectly, and even swayed my opinion. The way this sentence is written definitely makes you think,
especially after reading all she had to say.

Inan, Fethi A., and Deborah L. Lowther. “Factors Affecting Technology Integration in K-12

Classrooms: A Path Model.” Educational Technology Research and Development, 21 July 2009,

link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11423-009-9132-y

“Factors Affecting Technology Integration in K-12 Classrooms: APath Model” by Fethi Inan and
Deborah Lowther describes the role technology plays in the classroom. It talks about technology for
instructional preparation, technology for instructional delivery, and technology as a learning tool. You
need to know the purpose of technology in classrooms to understand the positive and negative effects. To
start, Inan and Lowther stated that almost every school has one computer or laptop for every 4 students,
but in the same section they went on to say that this fact posed many worries because of the relationship
between the teacher and the technology used. The idea was that technology could definitely be an asset in
the classroom, but only if the teacher is experienced with the tools. Soon after the point about the
teachers’ roles, the different types of technology roles were grouped. One role was instructional
preparation. This could refer to the tools used to give instructions such as ebooks, or online
powerpoints.The second role was instructional delivery. This one could refer to illustrating certain tasks
with technology through the use of projectors and smartboards, for example. The third and last role was
the use of technology as a learning tool. I believe this role to be the most broad because it could relate
anywhere from online homework to math games online.
The rest of the article was kind of irrelevant for our project because Inan and Lowther continue to
talk about the teachers’ perspective and beliefs, and we are trying to focus on the thoughts of the students
and the student’s perspective. Overall, I think the most important part of the article was the sections
describing each technological role in the classroom. Although this article focuses on grades K-12, I still
believe the article to be relevant to our topic. The teaching styles and teacher roles do relay into the
college environment, so I believe this article could apply and support grades K-college. The article was
published in 2010, but I don’t think this diminishes the testimony of the article due to the fact that smart
phones did have a role in society in 2010. I look forward to finding more articles that give more ideas and
opinions on our inquiry in hopes that I can come to my own conclusion when this project is complete.

Rich, Motoko. “Study Gauges Value of Technology in Schools”. The New York Times. 13 June, 2013.

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/14/education/study-gauges-value-of-technology-in-

schools.html. Accessed 11 February, 2019.

This article I chose independently for my group’s topic, technology and schools, has an
interesting (and unique) perspective compared to the other articles and sources I came across during
research. The article, “Study Gauges Value of Technology in Schools” in the New York Times, by Rich
Motoko, he mainly provides summaries of certain reports and studies that prove no correlation to positive
or negative effects of technology in schools.
 The article begins by questioning the worth of the investments in technology by school districts.
Then it goes on to state why it may not have been worth it. Motoko writes in review of a study by the
nonprofit Center for American Progress that the students that used the technology for practicing math had
no improvement according to their testing. School districts feel the need to upgrade their technology but
do not have a reason why, other than to have more resources. This statement makes sense to me because
there can’t be any other reason for getting more technology integrated into schools other than to fulfill the
need to feel like the students have all the resources. But, as this article highlights, the technology weighs
no difference in what the students take away from their education.
There is also the possibility that the technology isn’t used for further learning in school but for
distractions or non-educational purposes, as mentioned in the article, “... 73 percent of students who took
the 12th grade National Assessment science exam said they regularly watched a movie or video in class.”
Motoko goes on to quote Ulrich Boser (senior fellow at the Center for American Progress), saying that
technology “doesn’t seem to have dramatically changed the nature of schooling.” Motoko seems to have a
trend in what his purpose is for this article, which might be to inform his audience of the unproblematic
technology that everyone seems to be obsessing over.
John Pane, a senior scientist at the RAND Corporation, is someone else who Motoko mentions.
Pane brings another perspective that suggests the quality of the education in a school district depends on
the quality of the technology and its strategy. Motoko says that “He found that high school students who
used the program... showed gains on their state-standardized math tests that were nearly double the gains
of a typical year’s worth of growth using a more traditional high school math curriculum.” Motoko
concludes the article by referencing Steve Ritter, chief scientist at Carnegie Learning, who mentions a
benefit of technology is that, when used right, technology can be used to “gain a deeper understanding of
concepts rather than simply drill math problems.”
In my opinion, this article is a perfect source provides ample evidence for my group’s research
and provides an outside perspective that is neither on the positive side or negative side of the effects of
technology in education.

Rieman, Jan. “Composing Through Distraction: Yes, I Really Write This Way.: Re: Composing: A

Journal By Writers For Writers, vol. 1, The University Writing Program at UNC Charlotte,

2017, pp. 46-52.

When I first read through this journal for the Studio 4 assignment, I noticed that this topic is very
similar to some of the research my group is conducting for our inquiry project, which is why I am
changing my source to this journal entry. The author, Jan Rieman, is a professor at UNC Charlotte and
teaches multiple subjects. In her writing, she speaks about what distracts her when it comes to her writing
and how she is able to come back from those distractions. Ms. Rieman talks specifically how technology
distracts her the most. She states, “Probably because it’s easier to respond to something external like an
email than it is to invent/create/figure out what I want to say. Or perhaps it is because making a phone call
or depositing a check is a concrete, immediate act that gives me a near instantaneous sense of
accomplishment while the payoff I get from writing is through various stages of delay gratification.” I
was a bit surprised that the older generations find technology distracting while present in their work
space. I thought that they would be less likely to check their phones because most are “anti-technology”
since they did not grow up with it. I do agree with the author when she says that there is an immediate
sense of accomplishment. When I am working on papers, I often remember that there are small tasks that
I still need to accomplish like sending an email to a professor. We feel the immediate sense of satisfaction
when we can check it off of our to-do lists. When we write papers and complete assignments, sometimes
it is a while before we can hear back from our professor or peer for a grade or suggestions to make the
paper better. This journal entry proves that it is not just millennials who have had technology impact their
school work and ability to get tasks complete.

“Technology in the Education System”. Survey. 4 Feb.-10 Feb.2019.

United States Department of Education. Office of Educational Technology. Transforming American

Education Learning Powered by Technology. J. Murrey Atkins Library, Nov. 2010,

permanent.access.gpo.gov/gpo3612/netp2010.pdf.

The article that I picked out for our research is called Transforming American Education
Learning Powered by Technology. This from the U.S. Department of Education and is very long and
holds a lot of helpful information within it. For example, in the context it has some subjects such as
Learning: Engage and Empower, Assessment: Measure what Matters and Infrastructure:Access and
Enable.This is all information that we could use towards of project because, it shows us what the nation
wants to achieve nine years ago and we can compare it to where we are today.
Within the different categories, there is a lot of information that helps me out in understanding
what our government wants to do with the common core. Common core is education system that our
nation is trying to create. This would make all school districts around the country learn the same topics
each year in school. So, a first grader in florida will be learning the same material as another child would
in California.
In this source, I found it very interesting that on pages 19-21 in the text, it talks about how
different types of social groups would use this technology to help them out. The different groups they
have it split up into are low-income and minority learners, English language learners, Learners with
disabilities,early childhood, adult workforce and seniors. For example, in the early childhood stage, it tells
me that educational television is helpful and so it computer-based activities.
In a different section from this source it goes into depth about opportunity for change. This
includes information about how education has changed dramatically over the past 40 years with the
integration of technology into the education field. This has allowed students and teachers to learn what is
the best way to have students learn.
Overall, the rest of the article is pertaining to what the goal was for the next couple of years was
with kids incorporating technology into their academic life.This goes on in depth to go into sections such
as learning, engage and empower, redesign and transform, teaching, prepare and connect and measure
what matters.We can use this data that I have found to go into depth about that the government wanted
technology to be used for in the classroom. We could tie in the fact that different age groups have
different ways on using the technology and different ways to use it. With the data that we found in our
research, we can tie