The ongoing debate as to whether the use of technology in schools really does improve education is increasingly prevalent in an increasingly technological society. There are many arguments for and against this topic and I believe the two sides can strengthen each other in developing the answer to the question. There is overwhelming evidence in support of using technology in education and not nearly as much in opposition of it; however, both sides present strong arguments. On the one hand, when one takes in to account evidence from such authors as MacKinnon (2010), Nevin (2009), and Van Leeuwen (2007), one can see the benefits of using technology in education. On the other hand, when one looks at evidence from Abrami et al. (2006), Tell (2000), and Pribhai-Illich et al. (2009), one can see the drawbacks of using technology in education. I have come to the conclusion that the use of technology really does improve education, provided it is implemented and used correctly and competently.
MacKinnon’s study examines the effectiveness of immersing pre-service teachers in a fully technologically-advanced setting. The idea behind this is that teachers who have learned how to properly use technology in the classroom will be able to competently conduct their classes, which will inevitably include technologically-savvy students. In a similar vein, Nevin discusses the benefits of using technology and computers in the classroom easily and without spending a large portion of a school’s budget to implement and use them. He points to the fact that schools can use cloud computing and Google applications to efficiently show teachers how to use the technology without spending resources on training and technical support. A final argument for the use of technology in education is that, according to Van Leeuwen, students report enjoying using computers and word processing software in the classroom. If students enjoy what they are doing, they are likelier to be more successful in their endeavours.
The article by Abrami et al. makes the reader wonder if the use of technology in classrooms really does improve education and even posits that technology may be a threat to education in the classroom as we know it. The authors speculate whether a focus on using technology will lead to the users’ increasing dependency on it, as well as to a reduction in independent learning and isolation from one’s peers. They also note that having technology in the classroom does not guarantee an improvement in teaching and learning. Tell’s article focuses on an interview with an expert in the field of technology and education, Jane M. Healy, who wonders about the effects of technology on a child’s developing brain. Until we have a better understanding of these effects, we may in fact be causing harm to children. Healy comments that it is better to have an excellent teacher in the classroom without any technology than to have technology in a class led by a substandard teacher. A final argument against the use of technology in education is by Pribhai-Illich et al. They discuss existing social disparities in Canadian classrooms which will certainly be propagated by the extensive integration of technology in schools across the country; not all schools and school boards can afford to include technology in classrooms. The authors point out that the trouble with existing technology, let alone new technology, in classrooms is that there is a lack of culturally-relevant material for, and low computer literacy skills among, certain demographics.
The debate as to whether the use of technology really does improve education is an increasingly prevalent one. There are many arguments for and against it, as proven by the research gathered during this project. Although each side offers compelling evidence, I have come to a firm conclusion: technology really does improve education, provided it is implemented and used correctly and competently.
Lennox King
The question “does technology in schools really make a difference?” needs to be investigated deeply to understand what it means to improve education. Martin Barlosky inspired me to think of education as the “leading out of”. Answering questions like, What is education supposed to produce? Can help identify what an improved education via technology looks like. Is education meant to create intelligent members of society or to give skills to the up coming workforce? Education cannot simply allow technology to dictate what learning ought to be, we need to set the terms for how it should be used.
Before computer technology was introduced to schools we learned fine. As we compare learning from the past to now we would notice a steady increase of reliance on technology. Before when we had a math problem we first used our minds to solve it, now we rush to use a calculator. Before when we wrote papers for English class we had to know how to spell and use grammar, now we have spell check (and even that is not perfect) and we are losing language by way of texting. With technology moving into our homes, the transformation of learning should not be ignored. Before, our physical education classes encouraged us to pursue an active lifestyle beyond the class room, now we stay at home playing computer games. These are a few examples of how technology has influenced our education.
To answer whether technology is improving education we must identify what is the purpose of it. A big part of the Canadian education system is to create a workforce that can compete with the other world leaders of industry. If we consider making ICT a main component of our education system we must consider how this will effect the quality of our education. If computers becomes the focal point of Canadian education as it has within industry, we run the risk of creating a multi-tier system. Schools that have the most and the best technology will trump those that have the least and the worst. If we consider the urban and rural schools, a financial advantage is given to schools that have a large student population. Therefore a rural school would not be able to have a same learning experience as those that live in the urban areas.
Another factor to consider is the loss of humanity within education. One can argue that at the rate technology is going, the need for a teacher in the room may no longer be considered necessary. If the current trend of schools imitating industry continues then this may not be to far off. In some workplaces the boss no longer needs to be onsite to managed their staff, they use a robot proxy. Who knows if this will ever happen in our schools, but if technology supersedes the humanity in education then our society is going to suffer.
If the purpose of education is to create a tech-savvy workforce then yes, technology is improving education. However I’m of the belief that our education is intended to create equality. Therefore, I don’t believe that technology improves education it fundamentally destroys it. I don’t believe that the use of technology is bad. However when it comes to the improvement of education I’m not 100% convinced yet that it is.
Danny MacCalder
Today in Canada, the use of technology in education may be best appreciated by students in the secondary and post-secondary phases of their educations. However, the government states that technology has also bridged many gaps especially in the areas of distance education for which I do agree with. Students from remote places who cannot make it to school have the potential to receive everything they need via the internet using school wikis or websites. Also, with regards to students with disabilities of any sort, whether they are visual, auditory or cognitive delays, technology has offered beneficial ways for those students to gain a more equal chance than was possible in the past. The use of computer technology has brought educational opportunities to Canadian students that could not be available without such technology. This provides students with access to infinitely more information than was available during their parent’s generation of education.
Classrooms today in developed areas are more likely to be engaging in technology labs, a room with rows of students using internet connected or Wi-Fi enabled laptops, notepads, tablets or even students attending a video conference with another school on the other side of the world. They could be in a virtual classroom or may have been listening to a podcast or taking in a video lecture. Rapid technological changes in the field of education have created new ways to teach and to learn. Technological changes have also motivated many teachers to access a variety of information on a global scale via the internet to enhance their lessons as well as to make them competent and professional in their area of concern. At the same time, students can utilize vast resources of the internet to enrich their learning experience.
However, the tools of technology are not what I see as the only side of educational technology. I agree with the threat certain technologies and the mediums they are delivered in, can have on academic and thinking skills as we have learned from Clark and Sugrue. Marshall McLuhan stated that new media do not replace prior media but modifies or obscures them (McLuhan 1962). Essentially meaning that in the event of inventing the printing press, this new technology would not replace handwriting, but instead it will alter the way the prior medium is used. Today, the question is not whether electronic books will replace hard copy, printed ones, but how it will change our perception of them. I believe this is a fundamental aspect that needs to be focused on with regard to the technological tools used in education.
The twentieth century saw drastic changes in the approach to educational practices. The idea of technology no longer applied strictly to physical tools to help educate, but also to the theory and design of the instructional methods being used (Saettler 2004). The instructional design theories of Behavioralism by Pavlov, Watson and Skinner, Cognitivism by Piaget and Bruner and Constructivism by Bartlett all pioneered new ways of addressing education (Saettler 2004). Richard Meyer stated that meaningful learning is the product of building external connections between existing and new information (1984). He identified the selection, organization and integration of information as the three pinnacle stages affecting meaningful learning.
I believe educational technology is the technological tools, instructional theory and methodical designs that are all integrated and applied strategically to develop and educate students the most effectively and efficiently as possible. Additionally, I believe the systemic and systematic application of this integration will help find solutions to educational problems in the future. Furthermore, as a single entity, I believe contemporary technological tools can have adverse effects on education. However, if properly integrated with instructional technologies, I believe educational technology as a whole is significantly valuable and conducive to the process of modern education.
Gavan Quinn
Despite our group’s conclusion and the evidence in support of it, I believe that overall, the use of technology in schools does not improve education, but impedes it. It isn’t difficult to come up with a variety of advantages that technology offers to the learning experience, and it is perhaps easier to compile a list of pros than it is a list of cons. But the same can be said of many things, and for most subjects one can usually build a case in support of either side. For example: drinking tea helps prevent cancer but can cause kidney stones; alcohol consumption raises blood pressure but protects against heart disease. With these examples, and many other things which are neither all good nor all bad, the solution is to approach them with moderation. However, a balanced approach is not possible where technology is concerned, because it is ever-present, all around us and we often have no choice in whether we will use it or not.
In debating the use technology in education, the positives may outweigh the negatives in number, but in my opinion the negatives are of such a nature as to attack the very foundation upon which learning is built. My primary criticism of the use of technology in education is its effect on an individual’s powers of concentration. Computers, smart boards, the internet and a host of other technological devices all lend themselves to presenting information quickly, superficially and in fragments. They tend to present a combination of text, images, video and sound simultaneously or in close succession, which in my view distracts one’s attention and diminishes one’s ability to focus on any one piece of information.
An individual’s capacity for learning is directly related to his or her ability to process and retain information, but computer technology - and the internet in particular – seems designed to disable an individual’s attempt to focus on a single task for any length of time. When reading information on the internet, one can rarely make it through an entire paragraph without being prompted to turn one’s attention elsewhere by clicking a ‘link’ presented in the form of a highlighted word in the text. Each link then leads to another page of text, image or video which in turn presents more links to more pages, etc. This method acquiring knowledge erodes concentration and impedes one’s ability to absorb information.
It also provides an example of the superficiality of information obtained through technological devices. I’ve often felt that the internet is a place where one can find a bit of information on any subject imaginable, without being able to obtain an in-depth understanding of anything. The internet (which is one of technology’s primary resources for education) bombards the senses with sound bites, text bites, videos and images, encouraging the student to move quickly from one piece of information to another. While this may increase the speed with which one can research and obtain information on a topic, it is a question of quantity over quality, and the value of information made accessible through this type of technology is often questionable.
Having said this, I should add that in today’s technologically-based society, it is imperative that young students acquire the skills necessary to compete in the workforce. Using technology as an educational tool is therefore a practical necessity from which students will doubtless benefit, and I would encourage any young student to make technology as much a part of their education as is possible. However, just because our society has developed in such a way as to require the use of technology in education does not mean that our society is better educated as a result.
Kira Sfiligoi
Through our research, we discovered that if anything, this is a complicated issue with many statistics, opinions and studies that advocate either side of the debate. I cannot express enough distaste for choices are either yes or no and leave very little room to interpret the gray area in-between. There is so much more involved in this decision that must be accounted for. So I must express that I do believe that technology really does help education; with the caveat that the use of this technology must be guided by a creative and flexible teacher who understands it's potential. Computer based technology is a tool, much like a pencil or pen, and requires the user to learn its utility before demanding it change the face of education. Upgrading a school's technological resources without the knowledge of how to best utilize them is the a waste of school resources that could have best be used elsewhere.
I do agree that there is a disparity between what technology a resource rich and a resource poor school has access to and it's certainly not fair to the students. Technology is a privilege and I think as long as technological gaps exist in schools we create disparities. The lack of culturally relevant First Nations content isn't fair either. But as tech savvy educators, we have the opportunity and the privilege of altering this disparity and closing the gap. Open source software is not only free, it is fairly easy to use. When schools opt in for cloud computing and/or open source software they can direct their budget to educating their staff or providing more money for other school resources. We can create culturally relevant content and post it for free, for anyone to access it, provided they do have a way to access it. We can teach technological skills in our classroom alongside literacy and numeracy. These are not problems but opportunities to change the educational landscape.
I think that the use of a website in itself for this project is a strong advocate of technology's potential to share information freely with those who seek it.
Technology is extraordinarily useful for those who have exceptionalities and impairments. In the article Accessibility of e-Learning and Computer and Information Technologies for Students with Visual Impairments in Postsecondary Education, Fichten reports that although students do have better technological resources at home, their needs were still met at school. (Fichten p.553) Students who utilize laptops in classroom because they have modified writing needs would have a far more difficult time then they already do. As a teacher candidate, I could not imagine depriving a student of the ability to understand course material by not including technology in my classroom.
As educators, we have committed ourselves to a lifetime of learning. This also means adapting our curriculum to best suit the needs of the student. Teachers who are not tech-savvy are certainly not inept or bad teachers. But to deny technology's utility in the classroom is to deny our students every opportunity to learn that we can give them.
