Synthesis Essay On Technology In Schools

McAllen school district in Texas recently spent twenty million dollars on I-pads and I-pods for students. The funding for the school district is coming from a combination of local funds, federal grants, and stimulus money. The schools in that area are considered some of the poorest in the nation(Ryan Holeywell). In schools around the world the students are starting to use technology in the classroom such as I-Pads, I-Phones, and other types of devices. Technology has changed Students day to day life, it has modified how and what students are taught negatively and positively.

It is easy to lose track of time while using the internet. There are a million distractions such as social networks, online shopping, and YouTube. Before you know it, two hours have passed and none of the work that was supposed to get done is done. By having technology in schools, it plays into these distractions. How is a child supposed to focus on learning when just a click away is a more interesting and more entertaining source of information (Source E)? Using technology in curriculum should not be encouraged because it is taking away from the education children receive.

Certainly technology has always impacted both students and teachers in the classroom. The invention of Guttenberg’s printing press in 1451 brought the printed word to the masses and made learning more accessible to the common man. The introduction of the pocket calculator in the 1970’s freed professionals and students from the slide rule and made learning and performing mathematical calculations much less time consuming. Fast forward to today and the technological opportunities are stunning. Students today carry around cellular phones that are far more powerful and magnitudes smaller in size than many of the first computers! Too often many of these technologies, cellular phones, personal music and portable video game systems are seen

phone or having doors open automatically for instance. This seems to be especially true for schools who have been shifting more cloud based infrastructure. It's not uncommon for things to go wrong when taking a test online , such was the case in one of my middle school years when It was time to take the end of instruction exam online the services went down for some unknown

Technology has allowed information to be spread faster since its creation. This information has helped students globally. From getting them excited about learning, to exposing them to other cultures, technology has made a huge imprint on students. It has also harmed them in ways they don’t even realize. Since technology has been introduced, plagiarism has increased, and originality has decreased.

Technology today is further along and more complex than it has ever been. Technology has found its way in our everyday lives one way or another. From our cars becoming self-driving, to technology being widely used in the school system. However some people, believe that technology should be separated from the schools, saying it causes more harm than help. I, on the other hand, completely disagree. That could not be any further from the truth in all reality. Technology gives us much easier ways to learn, a streamlined way to communicate with teachers, and can provide more creative freedom than without it.

Portable technology such as iPads and tablets in the classroom have become such a norm in today’s society, and students and parents are believing that this is a good thing. Are they really considering all of the effects of technology and how often it is being used? What is it doing to the education in schools? Chou et al. states that as of 2012, there were over 2000 school districts that have adopted different types of electronical devices and this amount is “growing rapidly” (11). According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, that is about 11,000 schools as of 2000. If this trend continues, almost all schools will have switched to using technology such as iPads and tablets in the classroom. Teachers and administrators believe that this technology increase has helped students learn more effectively, and more importantly, they believe that it is more cost effective than staying with the hard copy textbooks. Teachers in K-12 schools should continue to use traditional textbooks instead of replacing them with tablets because of the student’s ability to retain more information, have a lesser chance of being distracted, and the cost effectiveness of staying with textbooks.

On the surface technology in the classroom as free use is just asking for distractions

current technology than the school’s staff. Teachers in turn are placing emphasis on the schools to

The education world has been greatly influenced by rapidly changing technology and the increasing availability of information. Schools have advanced by leaps and bounds when it comes to incorporating technology into the learning environment, however, many more advances need to be made. In all areas of the country, educators are trying to help students keep up with technology, but there are more changes that are essential for preparing the next generation for the future.

The use of technology in schools has a great effect on not only students, but teachers as well. Today, we mostly think of technology as computers, but it is much more than that. In fact, one of the first technologies used in the classroom was the chalkboard.

Education has found its way into the loop of technology. Teachers are using ipads and laptops during class time to help conduct experiments, or share a presentation. This is allowing the students to gain instant access to the information they are seeking. Students also receive the opportunity to complete their homework online and print off their assignments instead of just using paper and pencil. Another pro for Technology in Education, there are countless sources out there which help enhance learning. In one research conducted, they compared the performance of teaching kids how to read a clock. One group was coached by an online app, another was shown by a toy clock, and the last group was trained by a drawing example. The results revealed that the children that were taught by the toy and app exceeded the paper drawing group (Galetzka).

Schools have not always been filled with electronic devices as they are today, and believe it or not, all school work was done with books, papers, and pencils. Students in the past had to work hard to do their assignments, and they had to think more about what they were doing. In today's schools, teachers, and students, do most work on electronic devices, with online resources, which is not real teaching or learning. Students need to have hands on learning, instead of learning everything from screens in front of them. While everyday life is also adapting to the use of technology, students should be taught how to go about their lives without it. The excessive use of technology in schools is leading to less creativity in students, less social interaction, and too much dependency on technology for simple things, which will make the real world a difficult place in the long run.

Education is one of the most important professions in the working world. Technology has done many things for us in today’s society especially for education and schools. Technology in the school system has impacted the students and teachers in many positive ways, including virtual field trips, testing tips, teacher resources, class web sites, and lesson plans. With computer use in our schools, we have access to many different sources and various types of learning.

It is no secret that technology is starting to take over many parts of daily routines. As a future educator I have seen how technology has creeped into daily routines in classrooms. It is standard that classrooms are equipped with a desktop computer, a tablet for the teacher, a smartboard, classroom desktops, laptops, or tablets. Should technology be incorporated into classrooms as much? Specifically, my research paper will examine the cons of replacing textbooks with tablets. While technology can be helpful in a classroom setting, we should stick to old ways and keep textbooks around. By exclusively using tablets in place of textbooks, we must accept issues such as cost, maintenance for the tablets, training to use tablets and the technological problems, how compatible the apps are for each brand of tablet, health concerns, touching on all of the different learning styles, distractions in the classroom, and suggestions of what to do instead of replace textbooks with tablets. There are many factors to take into consideration before making such an immense update to the learning process. School technology coordinators should reevaluate this transition because it affects the students, teachers, and the school as a whole.