The effectiveness of technology use in the classroom has turned into a controversial issue. While many teachers and students feel that it's best to use technology as it enhances teaching numerous others feel that it causes a lot of challenges and that it is a waste of time. If technology is as effective in the classroom as much teachers believe it to be; why do some students dislike it so much?
In order to objectively respond to this question, 3 articles were examined. 2 out of the 3 relate how the usage of technology in the classroom frustrates students while the last one translates the thoughts of students who feel that technology in the classroom has responded with their need. So the issue is not that technology is not effective but alternatively that some teachers must be mindful about technology use in the classroom and others must be trained to be able to properly use technology to instruct to ensure that students do not view technology as obstruction learning but as an enhancing tool.
After summarizing the 3 articles that have been reviewed we will have a way to prove that there are 2 sets of students who claim to dislike technology in the classroom: Those people who are improperly exposed to it by their teacher and those that didn't give themselves enough time to familiarize themselves with it. We will then be able to reach the logical conclusion that those same students would appreciate the worthiness of technology in the classroom if their teachers used it properly. Let us first summarize the articles that individuals are referring to.
This article "When good technology means bad teaching related that lots of students feel that teachers and professor use technology as a way showing off. Students complain of technology making their teachers "less effective than they would be if they stuck to an address at the chalkboard" (Young) other problems related by students include teachers wasting class time to teach about a website tool or even to flab with a projector or software. When teachers are new to the technological tools, they will likely waist additional time attempting to use them the technological software that's used the absolute most in accordance with students is PowerPoint. Students complain that teachers utilize it instead of the lesson plan. Many students explain that it makes understanding more challenging "I call it PowerPoint abuse" (Young). Professors also post their PowerPoint Presentation to the school board before and after class and this encourages students to miss more classes.
Another problem reported in the article with the usage of technology in the classrooms is that lots of schools spending some time to train their staff about how to use a particular technology but it generally does not train them on "strategies to use them well" (Young). The writer thought that schools must also give small monetary incentives to teachers and professors to attend workshops.
Within an interview made out of 13 students, "some gave their teacher a declining when it came to using Power Point, Course Management systems and other classroom technology" (Young ) some of the complains were again about the misuse of PowerPoint's and the truth that instructors utilize it to recite what's on the scale. Another complaint was that teachers who're new to technology often waste class time because they spend more time troubleshooting than teaching. The last complain mentioned is that some teachers require students to comment on online chat rooms weekly but that they do not monitor the results or never make mention of the the discussion in class.
Similarly, the article "I'm not really a computer person" (Lohnes 2013) speaks to the truth that students expectations in terms of technology is concerned is very different. In a study completed with 34 undergraduate university students, they advise that technology is an integrated part of a university students life because they have to do must everything online from applying for college or university, searching and registering for classes, pay tuition and that along with being integrated in the administration, etc. technology can be popular to instruct and is valued by higher education.
Those students, however, feel that technology poses a barrier to success because they struggle to align with the ways in that the institution values technology." Students explains that technology is used in her freshman year to turn in assignments, be involved in discussion boards and blogs, emailing the professor, viewing grades and for a wide variety of other administrative task including tracking the next school bus. This particular student whose name is Nichole says that she doesn't own a notebook but shares a family group computer. She features a younger brother who also uses the computer to accomplish his school work so she consequently has to keep up late to accomplish assignments. She states "technology and I? We never had that connection" (Lohnes). Nichole dislikes the truth that her college requests that she had more contact with technology than she's conformable with. Nonetheless, she explains that as she started doing those school online assignments so frequently she came to realize that these were not that bad.
Certainly one of her issues though with technology is that she had come from Puerto Rico of a year prior entering college and that she never had to use the computer so much there. The articles relates that other college students like Nichole have admitted that they're "reluctant technology users" (Lohnes) This article wants to spell out, basically, that although most people would expect that college students prefer technology and already are knowledgeable about it," that assumption is faulty" (Lohnes).
On one other hand, the article "What Screenagers Say About... " Senior high school age students were asked by what they looked at technology but most expressed liking it. One said about PowerPoint: "My history teacher did an excellent job with Power Points. He would put them online, which created for really great reviews." (Screneagers, 2011) Others expressed how technology was who they are and that teachers should understand like that after they text in class, they are not being rude but that they have gotten used to multi tasking. Another student invites teachers never to hesitate of technology "Teachers shouldn't hesitate of technology. Understand that it's exactly how we live our lives. So don't just push it out. Learn to manage with us and exactly how we work." (Screenagers, 2011)
Another student however, expressed how she prefers simpler technology that her teacher is more comfortable with rather than advanced that the teacher doesn't manipulate well "The most important thing for teachers is to be comfortable in what they're using. It doesn't have to be super high tech. My math teacher used a projector, and it had been one of my personal favorite classes. Then I'd go to the other class where the teacher used Power Points and the SMART board, but I didn't get any longer from it because she wasn't more comfortable with the technology" (Screenagers, 2011) Students spoke about their appreciation for nearly all forms of technology used in the classroom. Another said "Certainly one of my teachers used Skype. That's face-to-face interaction. If I had a trouble with some math problem I was focusing on, I really could take a picture of it and use it the Skype screen. She could see where I was making my mistake. It surely helped." (Screenagers, 2011) The bottom line is that those high school students wanted to let teachers know which they love technology and that it is already a good part of the daily routine but that it must be used properly in order in order for them to enjoy it.
Similarly, they summarize a couple of things which they dislike as well. One of the list, they said: reading on the pc, paying a great deal for an on the web textbook and the truth that they often forget anything else if they get trapped with using technology.
Nonetheless, they had far more positive things they liked in technology like like that some teachers would text a question in order for them to think about before class, so if they do not know they answer, they would speak with classmates to discuss the possibility for the solution before class. This allows them to visit class prepared. They also like using Skype, emailing their teachers instead of going to speak to them in person. They also enjoy discussion boards. The advice they want to convey with their teachers is to make sure that they are more comfortable with whatever technological tools they are using, to offer them more freedom to use the good sites and those at the center range when they are surfing the internet using school computers and to realize that technology is part of the lives.
After summarizing those articles, we could note that the students mentioned in Youngs, 2004 dislike technology because their experience with it was not satisfactory. In other terms, several students dislike technology because some teachers are not mindful about technology use or they need additional training. Like, some students are frustrated because they think that instructors waist their time when they are not properly trained to use the technological tools. Others disliked the truth that some teachers had PowerPoint presentations that have been either not meaningful or they would just read whatever they wrote and add no additional comments. Those examples are called "bad teaching (Young, 2004) and they are actually terrible examples that teachers shouldn't follow because technology is not meant to help teachers do minimal work or even to adopt poor teaching practices. Somme students related that PowerPoint was widely employed by teachers so that they even call it PowerPoint abuse.