Technology Use in Tomorrow School

Technology Use in Tomorrow School

Individual Assignment #2

Technology Use in Tomorrow’s School, by Barbara Means, discusses the increasing influence that technology has over education. The article explores the three different stages of this very special relationship between the two: the past, the presence, at the same time, suggests an imaginary scenario for the future. It also highlights numerous benefits and potential advantages that are brought about thanks to the rapid transformation of technology.  Even though I acknowledge and support the use of electronic equipments to enhance in-class experience for students, it would be limiting to ignore the negative consequences of this tremendous trend. This essay will seek to discuss whether or not students truly benefit from this trend or we are much better off with the traditional way of education.  

In the past, technology was mostly used as the general tools for educational purposes, with the further boost from the rise of the World Wide Web and search engine. Long gone was the day when having internet access at school and in every class was a privilege. Thanks to President Clinton’s national educational technology goals in 1996; by 2000, over sixty three percent of American public classrooms had Internet access.  On one side of the argument, this was an amazing step, making the-“the world at your finger tips” –dream closer to reality. Students were able to explore knowledge beyond text books, and theory; being provided with both facts and opinion freely offered online. As stated from the article, the potential of technology did wonders in providing conducive conditions for meaningful learning; connection to outside experts; visualization and analysis tools; scaffolds for problem solving; and opportunities for feedback, reflection and revision.  However, in the late 1990s, the success of this phenomenal was limited due to the uneven distribution of technology privilege. The majority of American students, who enjoy mainstream educational practices, did not have the opportunity to explore such enriching devices as ThinkerTools, Knowledge Forums or GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) program. The reality showed that barely seven percent of the teachers reported having their students use e-mail more than three times in a school year. As the result, technology, in a way widened the already existed gap between financially capable schools and the less capable one. At the receiving end, students who could benefit from such privilege were able to perform better. From the article, we learned that: “In a carefully controlled study, middle school students who had used ThinkerTools outperformed high school physics students in their ability to apply principles of Newtonian mechanics to real world situation”. Thus, it was still debatable whether such privilege teaching method was necessarily healthy for the American education system.

While the use of computer and internet were such privilege in the past, it is now predominant that students make use of technology in every aspect of today education. Low-cost, light-weight, wireless learning appliances make it possible for the majority of the student body to best benefit from the most updated technology. The article also goes on to provide readers with the imagery of a future classroom where all students have the opportunities to make full use of electronic educational appliance. In years to come, our young learners will be fully exposed to technology since young. The use of internet connection frees students from the restricted knowledge provided in text book. Furthermore, it also removes the space constrained as every learner will be connected to other students of different schools or even different continents. In small groups, students will explore certain topics, key in their answers in the “MathPad”, from which the teacher will check every student’s answer to make sure no one is lost. In my opinion, potentially this future school will be able to provide each and every child equal opportunity and similar class room experience, especially the less vocal learners. However, it would be limiting not to address seriously the numerous concerns that the technology-based education possesses. First and foremost, I do wonder if our students are ready to be exposed to such enormous amount of information. In another word, have we, as educators, prepared them enough to deal with opposing sources and opinions regarding the same matter? More than often, students are confused between facts and opinion, unable to make informed judgment regarding the reliability of sources. Furthermore, with the increasing dependency on technology, we are virtualizing the whole schooling experience. While it will soon be, certainly, easier for any students to key in “rabbit” to their Google search, pull out some outstanding picture from Google Image to identify a rabbit’s look, obtain all kinds of research papers regarding the animal’s behavior – on top of that, through Youtube they can watch all kinds of documentary for free to have a deeper impression and understanding of the species;  I still wonder the child will still be able to preserve his thirst for hands-on experience, seeing the real rabbits with his own eyes, listening to the sound of its movement, touch the soft fur – tugging all this information into his brain as “beautiful childhood memory” rather than digital information. Nevertheless, nature still holds the almost magical ability to nurture a child’s soul, which technology with its long list of possible harmful effects to the health may never achieve.

In conclusion, while the idea of a technology based education, with all the potential benefits is truly fascinating; we as educators should take a step back and weigh the pros and cons of such change. As technology is taking up more and more spaces in education, what exactly is it going to replace? And whether this trade is worthy in the benefit of our students’ future.