Related Into & Response

One of the reasons there are different results as to whether or not technology is effective is because hardware and software vary among schools. Also, teacher certification and diversified lesson-plans vary the results as well. Finally, vary in-depth studies as to the effectiveness of technology in a classroom are expensive so few have been conducted.

These three reasons for the feelings about technology in the classroom to be diversified make sense. Just like in a science experiment there are many variables and in order to make these variables disappear you either need a lot of money or a very good education. Both of which tend to be expensive.

"Some critics feel that computer technology encourages asocial and addictive behavior and taps very little of the social basis of learning. Several computer-based applications, such as tutorials and drill-and-practice exercises, do engage students individually."

These critics are obviously looking in the wrong places. There is a ridiculous number of things that one can do on a computer that is both education and requires cooperation. For example: online bulletin boards, making a class website, making movies… Also, no one says that if you put a computer in front of a kid they can not get out of their chair. The standard teaching methods can still be used, computers can just add to the overall creativity of a class.

"Unlike other media, computer technology supports this learning principle in at least three ways. First, computer tools themselves can encourage rapid interaction and feedback. For example, using interactive graphing, a student may explore the behavior of a mathematical model very rapidly, getting a quicker feel for the range of variation in the model. If the same student graphed each parameter setting for the model by hand, it would take much longer to explore the range of variation. Second, computer tools can engage students for extended periods on their own or in small groups; this can create more time for the teacher to give individual feedback to particular children. Third, in some situations, computer tools can be used to analyze each child’s performance and provide more timely and targeted feedback than the student typically receives."

These are some ways in which technology can be used effectively. The one about getting feedback faster really hit home for me. Last year, and parts of this year, have been spent waiting for grades. What really bugs me is when I write a fairly long piece of writing and I get assigned another before I have time to read the feedback from the old one. I feel as though I am not growing as a writer and I just continue to do the same things wrong over and over again. Using computers could solve all this. If this works, technology in the classroom will have my full support.

Many of today's "educational programs" are not at all based in educational theory. They are produced by untrained programmers who are hired because a company want to make an attractive game that will hook kid's interests and fool teachers into thinking that is is good for their students. It takes a well trained educator to be able to sort through the soil and find the diamond.

It seems to me that the problem with technology in the classroom is not that they are actually "bad", but that there is so much stuff out there that teachers are hard pressed to find things that are actually beneficial. There is not denying the fact that there are many enriching ways to use a computer, the teachers just need to be enthusiastic and work on finding truly beneficial ways of integrating technology.


It has been proven that children learn better when exposed to activities that engage the student in the learning process. If technology is a way to engage children, it can;t be all bad, right? Along with that, teachers need to make sure that what they are doing on the computer is age appropriate. A computer does not an Einstein make. pretty self explanatory.

Almost 90% of the English teachers stated that their students only used computers for word processing. This is a waste of money. If all kids are using is a typing program, they mind as well just use an electric typewriter and be done with computers.

The unhealthy part of technology in education is that kids will go home, maybe use their computer for homework, and then play games and waste time on the machine.

One of the reasons computers are getting a bad wrap in school is because the teacher starts to use the computer in place of teaching fundamentals. If the teacher uses technology to further learning and enrich already taught principles, this is when computers start to have a positive effect on children.

Improved learning is dependent upon the quality of instruction and not on the medium through which it is delivered.


So far, it would seem that technology in the classroom can be effective, under the correct circumstances. The tools need to be used to their full potential. No one in their right mind would use a drill press instead of a whole punch, and the same goes for computers. If all you need them for is typing, they are just $2,000 typewriters.

Computers in the hands of incompetent instructors do more harm than good, and in this sense technology does not improve or heighten academic performance. This is one of the reasons MLTI has been successful. Before computers went out to all the students, teachers got professional growth and education from a crew of Apple tech. supporters. The education of children is a noble and worthwhile profession, but if a computer is only going to complicate communication between the teacher and students, just forget about them.