There is no right or wrong answer when discussing the necessity of technology in the classroom. The technology used in a classroom will vary from school to school and even teacher to teacher. The real question should be focused on the amount of technology being implemented and the effectiveness of it. This was discussed in class the other day and I will gladly expand on it. I hear some people say that their school was "one to one" and I didn't have the slightest clue as to what that meant until maybe a year ago. Turns out "one to one" means for each student, there was a laptop or iPad designated to them for use throughout the school year. Talk about overkill. Do these schools no longer have computer labs? What was wrong with using those? My objection to this "one to one" situation is starting to become clear. It's not all bad, I suppose. There has to be some pros to this abundance of technology.
Coming from a high school that did not implement the "one to one" program, I find it hard to have a good perspective as to why being one to one put students at such an advantage. I should note that this conversation is revolving solely around high school students and classrooms. Therefore, online classes don't have an impact in this argument since those are only for college students. But wait, I read Kyle Koch's blog discussing online courses/homework at his own school and couldn't help but think that my school was just so out of touch from the rest of the world. Do high schools really offer online classes? I read farther into Mr. Koch's blog and discovered why -- staffing issues. The school district did not have enough teachers for each school to teach certain classes. Unfortunate circumstances really, but that leads me to believe technology is NOT all that bad! It is absolutely necessary for situations such as that. But that's about as far as it goes.
The only argument I have against school districts trying to force teachers to use technology is 'why not let them teach how they want to?' If the teachers' methods don't involve technology every class period but the material is taught effectively and the students are achieving exceptional test scores, why complicate things? Why would an administration go to that teacher and say, "Hey I think you should start having your students use their laptops more often."? If it's not broke, don't fix it. I can see how science classes, whether it be physical, life, or earth science, can benefit greatly from using technology every day in the classroom. The majority of that content is difficult to learn without having a visual of some sort to assist the students. Textbooks might not always do the trick either, since videos are especially useful in science classes. But outside of that subject, I don't believe everyday technology in the classroom offers a huge advantage. Relate it straight to math, and the majority of mathematical content taught in high school is learned through pencil on paper, recognition, relation, and repetition. Can the student recognize what the problem is asking them, relate it to a real-world application, and solve it repetitively until they have a firm grasp of the material? If the answer is yes, then I see no problem with not using technology. However, if the answer is no, then the teacher may want to explore new teaching methods involving technology and more student-interactive options.
Clearly I am not a fan of the excessive technology being used in high school classrooms today. Granted, I came from a high school that hardly used technology, and my teachers were excellent using only the textbook and whiteboard. I am confident that I too can be a successful math teacher without all of the technological gadgets being used in today's classrooms. However, I am prepared to come to Math 371 every day with an open mind in hopes that I will learn all of the positive features that technology has to offer in the classroom.
Zachary Schroeder
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