Technology Use in Classrooms Essay

When it comes to teaching in a classroom, technology has played a huge role when it

comes towards the education of the students. Technology can be useful for both the teacher and

the student. When it comes to the roles of educators changing due to technology, some people

believe that technology is the classroom is a good thing. According to the website

TheGuardian.com, Mike Britland wrote an article called How Has Technology Transformed the

Role of the Teacher, he mentions how he believes that technology is a good thing to use in a

classroom because it gives the students more freedom to be able to look up information while

collaborating with others and while also being independent (2013). He also mentioned in his

article that he is a firm believer that technology can engage students such as: they can guide their

own learning by using different resources provided from the internet, they can record or film a

group project together, and communicate together as well (2013). According to the website

http://blog.techoneglobal.com, Jessa Laure Anne Palo wrote an article called 5 Ways How

Technology Changed the Students’ Life in Classroom, which mentions how teachers are

gradually becoming a facilitator towards to students because they encourage students to use the

internet to use the internet to increase the students learning on a particular topic as well as

encourage collaboration (2016).

According to the website iGrad.com, Laura Callisen wrote the article The Future is Now!

How Technology Has Changed Students: A Revolution in Education. In this article, Callisen

mentioned how in an elementary school classroom, the use of technology allows for students to

work on their reading, writing, math, science, and social studies skills by playing educational

games (2015). She also mentions how around the world, there are people who would like to take
college courses but the college is too far from where they live so by using the internet, they are

able to take the classes they would like while remaining at home (2015).

When it comes to technology being used in classrooms, there are quite a few advantages

on why it can be a good thing to use. According to the website edtechnology.co.uk, I found an

article that does not have an author called Five Ways Technology Has Changed Teaching and

Learning which happened to have been written in 2016. The website mentions how using

education allows for educators to create lesson plans because it can allow for students to use

interactive activities and provide different resources such as games, assessments, videos, etc.

(2016). The website also mentions how technology engages students in collaborating with their

peers to work together to problem-solve together (2016). The website also mentions how

technology allows for students to access their assignments and activities using the internet

(2016). According to the website TeachHub.com, Janelle Cox wrote an article called Benefits of

Technology in the Classroom, which mentions multiple benefits. One benefit mentioned was that

since technology is being used more and more every day, the students felt that using technology

in the classrooms prepare them for the future where technology will be more present (2009).

While in my field placement, I noticed that the class that I was mentoring in did not have iPads

but they had computers at the back of the room. These computers allowed them to work on

educational games and it allowed for the students who had a disability/handicap to be able to

work on their homework. I think that a limited use of technology could be useful to further a

student’s understanding of something by allowing them the opportunity to look things up.

According to the website brandongaille.com, Brandon Gaille wrote an article called 23

Advantages and Disadvantages of Technology in Education. This article mentions how

technology will distract the students because they are constantly going to check their phones for
notifications and they might try to look something else up (2018). The website also mentions

how technology makes it easier for students to cheat because they can email answers to an exam

or homework assignment to each other as well as look up answers (2018). This website also

mentions how technology can be a disadvantage to some students because in some households,

parents do not always have to funds to buy technology or wi-fi for their child(ren) so there are a

few children who do not have the opportunity to use it (2018). While in my field placement

during my sophomore year of college, I went to Walton Charter Academy and most of the

students in the school come from families who have financial struggles. When it came to

technology, most of the children in the school did not have a television, phone, or computer. It

made me realize how some families in the world are not able to buy technology for the kids. I

think there should be an alternative so the children who do not have technology or wi-fi at home

can still do their assignments just like everyone else.

Word Count: 833 (not including the title or references)

Britland, M. (2013, June 18). How has technology transformed the role of a teacher? Retrieved from
https://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/jun/18/technology-transform-
teaching-students-schools
Callisen, L. (2015, May 05). The Future is Now! How Technology Has Changed Students: A
Revolution in Education. Retrieved from https://www.igrad.com/articles/how-technology-has-
changed-students
Cox, J. (2009). Benefits of Technology in the Classroom. Retrieved from
https://www.teachhub.com/benefits-technology-classroom
Five Ways Technology Has Changed Teaching and Learning. (2016, July 1). Retrieved from
https://edtechnology.co.uk/Article/five-ways-technology-has-changed-teaching-and-learning/
Gaille, B. (2018, February 07). 23 Advantages and Disadvantages of Technology in Education.
Retrieved from https://brandongaille.com/23-advantages-disadvantages-technology-education/
Palo, J. (2017, December 29). 5 Ways How Technology Changed the Students' Life in Classroom.
Retrieved from http://blog.techoneglobal.com/5-ways-technology-changed-students-life-
classroom/
 Is Technology Important
Essay Question: Do you think that it is important to incorporate technology in the classroom?
How much do you incorporate?

When it comes to incorporating technology in the classroom, I think that technology

could be an amazing resource as long as it is used wisely. When it comes to using technology in

a classroom, there are many different resources that a teacher can use that involves technology

that can help a student’s learning while keeping them engaged in the process. According to the

website Mytechdecision.com, Jessica Freeman wrote an article called 11 Online Learning Tools

for the Classroom. She listed quite a few resources that could be very useful in the classroom.

One resource that was listed was TEDtalk. According to the website, Ted talks are actually a

very nice resource to use because they are educational videos that inform students about a

particular topic such as health, education, math, etc. (2017). Another resource that is used in the

article was Quizlet. While using Quizlet, teachers and/or students are able to create flashcards to

help prepare for a test or quiz that can be shared to other people (2017).

According to the website wabisabilearning.com, Lee Watanabe-Crockett has an article

called 25 Great Online Education Tools Modern Teachers Love Using. This article also mentions

a lot of great online tools that I would love to incorporate in my own classroom. One tool that

they listed was Schoology (2018). The website explains how is used through K-12 and allows for

teachers to include assignments, grades, resources, etc. (2018). From personal experience, I used

this throughout high school and I really enjoyed it because as a student, I am able to look at my

grades any time that I liked and I was able to communicate with my fellow peers and teachers.

While I was in school from 5-12 grades, we used a smartboard to do interactive activities in

class. When it comes to my own classroom, I am hoping that I am fortunate enough to be

Smartboard website, educators have the opportunity to create interactive lessons for the students

to do using the smart board (2019). I like the smartboard because from personal experiences, I

was able to present my presentations on the smartboard, watch videos, go up to the board and

write my answer, etc. I hope that I can use this tool to help my students be successful in the

future world of technology.

When it comes to how much technology should be used in a classroom, I think that we

should really limit how much access that we give the students. I am a strong believer that if we

have access to iPads or computers, we should let the students look up a question they may have

as well as be able to play educational games. According to the website liesaboutparenting.com,

Ashley Trexler wrote an article called 5 Side Effects of Too Much Technology. In this article, it

mentions how too much technology use can cause a child to lose most of their creativity because

with having the internet at their grasp, they take ideas from the internet rather than just use some

ideas and create their own twist on something (2017). The website also mentions how it could

damage their development because if the children are given too much technology access

especially in classrooms, they rather play on their iPads or computers instead of playing during

recess (2017).

The website teachertoolkit.com has an article called Is Too Much Technology Bad for

Students which is written by Ethan Miller. Ethan mentions how when there is access to too much

technology, it could lead to cyberbullying (2018). When children have access to their own

laptops, iPads, phones, etc. students can send out very harmful messages or emails without being

completely monitored. I think that educators should find a way to monitor the usage of

technology in the classroom and if they hear about a bullying case, they should try to put an end
to it. The website also mentions how if a teacher is trying to teach using one form of technology

and have students jump from two to three others, it can easily confuse the student and impact

their learning process in a negative way (2018). According to Matthew Lynch’s article The Dark

Side of Educational Technology, he mentions how some students are not fortunate enough to

have access to technology especially at home (2016). He mentions that it is important for

educators to limit the amount of homework that needs to be done using technology because the

students who do not have access to it, fall far behind in the future when it comes to their

education (2016). I believe we need to find a balance between how much technology will allow

and when the right time to use it is. I think that if my class has access to computers or iPads in

the classroom, I will let them use them during class but I will make homework not be on

technology.

Word count: 852

Freeman, J. (2017, July 20). 11 Online Learning Tools for the Classroom. Retrieved from
https://mytechdecisions.com/mobility/11-online-learning-tools-classroom/
Lynch, M. (2018, August 16). The Dark Side of Educational Technology. Retrieved from
https://www.theedadvocate.org/dark-side-educational-technology/
Miller, E. (2018, June 19). Is Too Much Technology Having A Negative Impact On Us? via
@TeacherToolkit . Retrieved from https://www.teachertoolkit.co.uk/2018/06/19/too-much-
technology/
Technologies, S. (2019). Transform static content into interactive lessons with SMART Learning
Suite . Retrieved from https://www.smarttech.com/en/Products/Education-Software/SMART-
Learning-Suite
Trexler, A. (2017, December 19). 5 Side Effects of Too Much Technology. Retrieved from
https://liesaboutparenting.com/too-much-technology/
Watanabe-Crockett, L. (2018, July 16). 25 Great Online Education Tools Modern Teachers Love
Using. Retrieved from https://www.wabisabilearning.com/blog/25-great-education-tools