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Kanah McDannell 3/25/1 Professor Eaker Final Draft Education is the key to success and has been the building blocks of our nation. The United States has a system with three mandatory levels of education. These levels include elementary, middle, and high school. Many things affect the United State education system. I believe that technological advancements has the largest effect on the nation as a whole and it is what makes the United States function from day to day. So what happens when you place technology into the classroom? How does technology effect education? Depending on the opinion of the person that you ask you may receive multiple viewpoints. When discussing this topic parents, teacher, and students each carry their own voice. Each of these voices has facts and research to back them up which makes this topic controversial in todays educational system. Parent are always looking for what is in the best interest of their children, which sometimes can to lead to skeptical feelings about having technology in the classroom. Through my research, I found that many parents agree with the statement that technology is nothing but a distraction to students. When parents become skeptical about what is going on in their childs classroom, they tend to look to teachers for support and guidance. In an article written by Mitt Richtel, in the New York Times, the research found during the Pew Internet Project was described. This project surveyed different teachers and their viewpoint on technology. The article states 75% of the teachers that have technology in the class had mostly positive effect on their students, 90% of BEHAVIOR the teacher said an easily distracted generation with a short

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attention span in the classroom, 715 of teachers said that the technology somewhat effected their students attention span in the classroom, and 76% believe in the Wikipedia problem.(Richtel) These statistics show that although teachers like having technology in their classroom, they say that it creates a distraction within the learning environment. Results such as these support parents accusations that technology does create a distraction for the students. When students are distracted, they miss out on valuable information that they will need for the course. This idea causes parents to believe that technology only has a negative and distracting effect on education. Another voice that speaks in this debate is the voice of teachers. Based on their personal experience in the classroom, teachers feel that when technology is used, it positively impacts the attitude of themselves and their students. In a research study it was shown that attitudes of students and teachers were positively improved when technology was incorporated into the classroom. In this study, teachers that had technology incorporated in their classroom had a more positive approach when teaching lessons than without technology. (Christensen) They say that this attitude change is caused by the flexibility that the teachers have when teaching their lesson. When teachers have the freedom to create new and unique PowerPoints, Prezis, or other forms of presentations, they have a more positive delivery during the lesson. When the teachers make this positive delivery, it impacts their students and they will act more eager toward what they are learning and be more engaged in the presentation. When the teacher has a positive attitude about what they are teaching, it also creates an all-around more optimistic environment for the students. Understanding that technology can positively impact the mood of a teacher and the students in their classroom encourages its existence and also encourages teachers to use technology more frequently due to the effect it is having on their students.

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Although students voices are often over looked their opinion is perhaps the most important. We are now living in a digital century and from this point forward, the world is going to become more and more technologically based. This is encouraging students to be more intrigued by what technology has to offer. Our sources conclude that introducing technology into the classroom now can improve a childs creativity level. (Richtel) Technology gives students the resources to work with programs to create things like PowerPoint presentations, Movie Maker productions, and music remixing. Each of these programs allow the students to learn multiple ways to display information based off of the audience that they are trying to reach. For each level of education, technology can be applied in different ways. For elementary school students there are many applications and games that help students learn the foundations of their education. Some examples of these applications and game are Computer Vocabulary and Make a Robot (www.abcya.com). These games help students learn to follow directions and be creative. In middle school students can take classes that are one hundred percent technology based. For example, many schools offer keyboarding and it allows students to learn a skill they will use for the rest of their lives. They play fun interactive games that allow them to learn how to type quickly and efficiently without looking at the keyboard. For the high school age group, the possibilities are endless when it comes to using technology for creativity. Multimedia and Web Design courses are a prime example of the advancement of technology and creativity. This class allows individuals to learn how to create websites, edit photographs, make videos, and make multimedia presentations. The progress made from one education level to the other will allow the student to have creativity growth throughout school. The creativity that they gain through allowing technology into the classroom motivates students to work harder because they believe that it will help them throughout their lives.

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Technology opens many doors for individuals when they use it properly. As important as technology is to the United States, many people debate whether it is needed in an educational setting. When discussing this topic, parents, teacher, and students each contribute the most valued opinion. Each of these voices have their own supporting facts that back them up and as we move forward into the future and technology becomes more integrated into the classroom, we will see how it affects the classroom as a whole.

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"ABCya.com | Kids Educational Computer Games & Activities." ABCya.com | Kids Educational Computer Games & Activities. 2012. Web. 04 Apr. 2013. Christensen, Rhonda. "Effects Of Technology Integration Education On The Attitudes Of Teachers And Students." Journal Of Research On Technology In Education 34.4 (2002): 411-433. Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 12 Mar. 2013. Jamil, Mubashrah, and Jamil Hussain Shah. "Technology: Its Potential Effects On Teaching In Higher Education." New Horizons In Education 59.1 (2011): 38-51. ERIC. Web. 17 Mar. 2013. Richtel, Matt. "For Better and for Worse, Technology Use Alters Learning Styles, Teachers Say." Technology Changing How Students Learn, Teachers Say. The New York Times, 01 Nov. 2012. Web. 12 Mar. 2013.