Byers 1 Joshua Byers Ms. Caruso English 1102 25 July 2012 Educational Technology Technology in the classroom.

We all know about it and we all have experienced the changes of it throughout our years of school. Many of us have graduated from using books and crayons to using e-books and computers and tablets. Technology has come a long way since we were all children. So the question stands, how is all this technology affecting the way we learn? In the 1990s, only 3 percent of schools in the US were connected to the Internet (Kennedy). Many schools only had one or two computers in their library. These were mainly used to look up books that were there and not for Internet. The Clinton administration was trying to have every classroom and every library connected to the Internet by the year 1994. By 2005 this had nearly happened. 94 percent of all classrooms and libraries in the United States were connected to the Internet (Kennedy). In Missouri, students whose classrooms were equipped with technology and Internet scored higher in every subject of the Missouri assessment program (Why Technology In Schools). Using this technology in the classroom has not only improved their learning but it has deeply engaged the students and they are much more interested in learning because they are no longer just listening; they are interacting with learning. Technology has also proven to raise attendance rates and graduation rates in schools (Why Technology In Schools). We cannot deny that technology is improving how we
Chris Keziah 7/26/12 12:19 PM
Comment [6]: Technology maybe?

Chris Keziah 7/26/12 12:09 PM

Comment [1]: Reviewed by Chris Keziah

Chris Keziah 7/26/12 12:12 PM

Comment [2]: ;

Chris Keziah 7/26/12 12:13 PM

Comment [3]: Great question to start the paper with

Chris Keziah 7/26/12 12:11 PM

Comment [4]: Delete all thats as they are unneeded and take away from professional aspect

Chris Keziah 7/26/12 12:16 PM

Comment [5]: Consider combining sentences

Chris Keziah 7/26/12 12:23 PM

Comment [7]: It would be helpful to have actual stats showing that there was a increase in attendance.

Byers 2 learn but is there going to be a point when there is too much technology being incorporated into the classroom? My mom is a first grade teacher in North Carolina and she recently told me about how every classroom is getting iPads to help their students be more interactive with learning. She already has 6 computers and a Smart Board in her classroom already. While talking to her she mentioned that the children are starting to see school as a place to play games now instead of learning. I know technology is supposed to be helping students learn, but in cases like this, too much technology can hinder the students ability to learn. Students are going to be drowning in this technology and wont use these tools as they are designed to be used. These children are using the same technology at school as they are using at home to have fun. Technology isnt technology if it already existed when you were born (Glasgow). This quote says it all. Technology is not new to children as it is to us. Children are now born into all the technological advances that have been made in our society. This is part of why schools are deciding to add more technology to their classrooms every single day. A single teacher in a high school in America has access to a student about 5% of their full day. The Internet, however, is available to be accessed 100% of that students day so why not incorporate it into learning (Glasgow). That way the student has a way to look something up or get help if they are not in that 5% time span that they are with their teacher. Technology also allows students to learn at all times of the day. They are no longer just waiting until their 40-minute class, they are going out and researching things and learning new information on their own (Glasgow). Mike Glasgow makes an excellent point in his article Technology In Education- Why. He talks
Chris Keziah 7/26/12 12:28 PM
Comment [15]: Make italics

Chris Keziah 7/26/12 12:40 PM

Comment [8]: Focus on how the technology is making the student like to learn and not feel as if they are learning. So in a sense it is giving the students the impression that learning is fun.

Chris Keziah 7/26/12 12:21 PM

Comment [9]: Mla for interview

Chris Keziah 7/26/12 12:22 PM

Comment [10]: Spell out

Chris Keziah 7/26/12 12:24 PM

Comment [11]: Will not

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Comment [12]: Just a thought but you could throw in a comparison between the learning technologies children use at home as compared to school.

Chris Keziah 7/26/12 12:26 PM

Comment [13]: I really like this quote.

Chris Keziah 7/26/12 12:27 PM

Comment [14]: High school teacher

Byers 3 about how students are no longer just being taught, but technology has given them new ways to learn. Teachers can now give out assignments that not only cover topics learned in the classroom, but also these projects are requiring students to conduct their own research outside of the classroom setting (Glasgow). Technology in schools is not only helping the way we learn. It is also changing how student turn in their work done in the class. The University of North Carolina at Charlotte has a technology requirement in their English Department that requires that a technology component such as Moodle is being used throughout the classroom. Students now turn their papers in online instead of hand them in. This is a great tool because not only do you not have to worry about bringing a paper to class and misplacing it, but if you ever forget an assignment, they are all listed online at anytime for you to go check. Technology has also helped stop plagiarism. Companies such as Turn It In and other sites are helping teachers by scanning students projects and papers and comparing them to anything that has ever been on the Internet. Although this is a great tool for the teachers, there are some downsides for the students. When you turn a paper in on Turn It In, the website gives you back a percentage of what amount of the paper it thinks is plagiarized. It will take key words found on the Internet and even if your paper was written in your own words, it will stay say some of it is plagiarized from somewhere. When I was a child, everything had to be handwritten. This meant that your drafts and final paper were written on notebook paper with pen. I remember countless times where I was writing a final paper and made an error and had to restart that entire page I was working on. I had scribble marks and the papers themselves did not look clean cut. Then came the invention of Microsoft Word. Microsoft word changed the way we write
Chris Keziah 7/26/12 12:34 PM
Comment [19]: I would reword this to say that a word processing program became readily available

Chris Keziah 7/26/12 12:29 PM

Comment [16]: Could add in how students are teaching themselves are learning how to use there resources more effectively

Chris Keziah 7/26/12 12:30 PM

Comment [17]: Reword into a more concise sentence

Chris Keziah 7/26/12 12:32 PM

Comment [18]: Elaborate on this subject matter more. I think there is more to be revealed about the downside of this and the effects on students.

Byers 4 papers and really anything we write today. John Naughton put it best when he said, I could type away, backspace and delete and overwrite and revise as much as I liked. And no matter how much I hacked away at the draft, I always had a fresh-looking paragraph on which to build. (Naughton) Hes absolutely write. People finally had a way to correct and take out words without compromising the entirety of the paper. But with this program, not everything is positive. Since people have started using Microsoft word, they have been using their own handwriting less and less. They have also relied so much on the spell check of Microsoft word that their spelling has begun to decline. They trust a machine to do the job that we were taught as kids to do ourselves.
Chris Keziah 7/26/12 12:36 PM
Comment [21]: Could rewrite into one complex sentence

Chris Keziah 7/26/12 12:35 PM

Comment [20]: Right, continue next sentence

Chris Keziah 7/26/12 12:36 PM

Comment [22]: Beginning

Byers 5 Works Cited Glasgow, Jake. "The 21st Century Teacher." Technology In Education. The 21st Century Teacher, n.d. Web. 26 July 2012. Kennedy, Mike. "Resources." Keeping up with Technology in Schools. American School And University, 1 Mar. 2008. Web. 26 July 2012. Naughton, John. "Has Microsoft Word Affected the Way We Work?" The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 14 Jan. 2012. Web. 26 July 2012. "Why Technology in Schools? | EdTech Action Network." Why Technology in Schools? EdTechAction Network, n.d. Web. 26 July 2012.