Technology’s Use in Education
Just about everyone you know loves the use of technology, whether that is for social, educational, work, or personal reasons. We all can say that once in all our lives we have used some type of technology for learning, by looking something up as simple as a definition of a word to what is the most common sign of technology being an educational issue. The use of technology in the education system has quite the change for how students learn, and how teachers teach today. The availability of technology right at the fingertips of students and teachers has brought great advancements to the classroom, but sadly it has also brought some negative factors that have gotten in the way. For teachers technology is seen as a much better source of teaching in the classroom for an entertaining, appropriate educational learning for students.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with using technology for education purposes. It actually has provided better abilities to make educational learning an easier, and possible more intriguing way of learning new knowledge. According to John Eddy, there are many ways for college courses when using technology, such as television, VCR, and even computer internet systems (1997). Today’s use of technology in education allows students and teachers to access more ways of learning and teaching. Before the great ability of technology for education, the most reliable source to access information were books and libraries. Since the computer was made, every year it has become remodeled with better processors and advanced the design of how technology looks and works. Such as computers are much faster and thinner that the original computer that was thick and bulky. Also, IPads and tablets have become thinner and range from small, medium and large. Without the use of our technology in schools today, students and teachers wouldn’t have the access or ability to work together and have an easier way of communicating with one another. This is why many students and teachers are very thankful for how far education has come with its use of different types of technology.
Technology has become so advanced over the years because as statistics and tests show how well technology use was for students and teachers, it became a source with updates to be able to provide a larger opportunity of accessibility. If earlier on technology was not seen as a good choice to keep around or an unreliable source for educational use we wouldn’t have the advanced technology we have today. Instead of having computers and TVs we would still have books, chalkboards, and radio stations to listen to weather and television. But due to such an increase of high ratings showing how much technology has become a great resource of learning and teaching, it continues to improve the style and forms of technology’s use in schools.
Many may not think that technology becomes a distraction during the process of learning. Though learning new things with technology as a tool is helpful, little do teachers know that it effects student’s learning comprehension and focus more than they realize it. There have been studies that show that if the use of technology is abused it becomes a distraction, not only at home but also in the classroom. If students become bored, they will find an alternate thing to do on their device to keep them occupied until the class or day is over. This is where teachers need to revise their method of teaching, and see what they may need to fix to help make the class more hands on learning. Things they may need to look at is that are they making the topic intriguing, are they engaging the students to interact with the teacher and one another, or are they teaching in a way that the students are able to comprehend the material. Technology becomes a distraction in the classroom when students are unable to have that connection with the teacher one on one in class. In Öznacar’s article regarding the accuracy of technology use in schools shows interesting percentages of administrators, teachers and parents (Öznacar, 2018). As students begin to have devices of technology introduced to them for their use in school, they don’t realize that having this access to technology is a huge privilege. This is not only a privilege for students but also for the teachers, for they could all just use books and paper, and only have the access to computers at the school. It has also been found in studies that the less interested the student is in the class the more the computer or tablet will distract them from actually focusing, as well as if the student is having trouble following the teacher during class time. Teachers must take note to know when students become uninterested and how they can keep them interested in the material being taught. The factor of students becoming uninterested could be caused by an uninteresting topic, or the way teacher are presenting the topic.
It has been found that technology has many positive aspects of its use throughout education. Unlike all the negative things people will hear about how bad technology is, while some may be true. There are very good aspect of technology being used by teachers in the classroom. Through recent studies there have been findings and results that talk and show how technology takes a positive action in education. In 2016 teachers in the United States took a survey about how they felt with the usage of technology with their students. From a chart on Statista a few topics voted were as follows: “Making learning more interesting, Allowing students who have mastered the topic to move on, Creating a customized learning experience, Allowing students who are behind in school to catch up,” and more (2016). It has been found in surveys from teachers about how much they love using technology in teaching and learning for the students. As Editor-in-Chief, David Nagel, stated in his article, what teachers love (and hate) about technology, that “students enjoy it and even ask for it” (Nagel, 2017). Most of the time you don’t read about teachers and students asking to have technology used in their education. Yet, David Nagel was able to receive results from surveys about teachers explaining how much they love using technology in class. The types of technology teachers enjoy that students have the ability to learn from are as follows: computers and tablets. Teachers like the use of these types of technology for students because it allows the students to work closer with one another, and give the students an opportunity to broaden their research. Also, the use of the technology in classrooms gives teachers a better way of reducing the amount of opportunities for cheating and that they are staying on task, as well as its an easier way to contact the students for educational purposes. The access teachers have now with technology to learn the levels of students gives teachers a better chance to help any possible struggling students. A theme topic, “It would only be a mistake if it were not the use of technology in today’s conditions.” was found to have a surprisingly percentage of teachers and parents who believe technology should be used in schools for education (Öznacar, 2018).
Overall, in the education system technology has brought learning and teaching to a whole new level. Without having the access teachers have today with technology most students may struggle, but teachers then have the power to teach their students proper ways to do homework without plagiarizing. Knowing that students have the access and privilege of using technology in the classrooms gives education a more advanced step into the future, but also needs to be carefully watched so students don’t abuse that privilege of technology in schools. As teachers strongly agree they want only the best for the students learning and comprehension for their education. Given the fact that everyone knows that technology is still to this day advancing every moment, gives those of the younger generation the chance to help the future generations for education use of technology in education appropriately rather than abusively. Technology is an amazing device to have, but many for that it is a huge privilege to be able to use for education. Though technology has its negative factors in education, it still has given education for students and teacher a whole new world of advancements for learning and teaching.
References
Deloitte. (n.d.). Perceived positive difference of classroom usage of education technology according to educators in the United States in 2016. In Statista – The Statistics Portal. Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/statistics/658500/us-positive-influence-of-education-technology-usage/.
Deloitte. (n.d.). Which things do you feel represent the biggest barriers to increasing the use of educational technology inside the classroom?. In Statista – The Statistics Portal. Retrieved October 9, 2018, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/658558/us-barriers-to-classroom-ed-tech-implementation/.
Eddy, J., Burnett, J., Spaulding, D., & Murphy, S. (1997). Technology assisted education. Education, 117(3), 478+. Retrieved from http://link.galegroup.com.proxy.library.maryville.edu/apps/doc/A19471178/OVIC?u=moren23464&sid=OVIC&xid=03af70a6
Nagel, D. (2017). What teachers love (and hate) about technology. T H E Journal (Technological Horizons In Education), (5), 4. Retrieved from http://proxy.library.maryville.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edsgao&AN=edsgcl.523560992&site=eds-live&scope=site
Öznacar, Behcet. (2018). Assessment of the contributions and psychological damages of technology to the education at schools by the individuals in these schools. BRAIN: Broad Research in Artificial Intelligence & Neuroscience, Vol. 9, p93–98. Retrieved from http://proxy.library.maryville.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=130423748&site=ehost-live.