Mercier 1 Ruth Mercier 7544 Dr. Beth Impson ENG 411A 12/9/13 Technology: Should It be Used in Elementary Classrooms?

The debate over whether or not technology should be used in the classroom is fairly recent. For the last several years, researchers have been trying to determine the positive and negative effects of exposing young children to technology. Incorporating technology into the curriculum of young students will involve making changes in the current curriculum, which would include the need for new materials, time, training, and money. The altered curriculum would result in changes in the ways students learn, in their ability to comprehend new material, and possibly in test scores. All of these factors will influence the way elementary students develop scholastically, which will in turn influence how successful they are through the rest of their education. It is vital that not only parents and the public be well informed on this issue, but also those entering the education work force because there are good and bad implications for whatever decision is made regarding technology in the classroom. In their article, Teachers Views on Factors Affecting Effective Integration of Information Technology in the Classroom, Tamar Levin and Rivka Wadmany, researchers and writers of all areas concerning education, discuss their study of elementary school teachers and their use of technology based on interviews, questionnaires, and observations. The authors learned that most teachers use different kinds of technology in their classrooms, such as PowerPoint and Excel, but they are not even close to incorporating technology into the curriculum. For example, teachers often are not using technology intended to encourage student

Mercier 2 involvement, such as interactive whiteboards. One of the main reasons for this is that the incorporation of technology in the classroom and the current curriculum do not correlate. Recent technology does not have anything to do with the curriculum itself: it mainly has to do with organization and presentation of the curriculum. While this type of technology is helpful, technology that is directly related to curriculum is a necessity according to common core state standards. Students need to be exposed to various types of technology so that they will be prepared for todays work force. The other main reason technology is not being integrated into curriculum is that teachers must be trained and properly equipped in how to effectively use and incorporate technology in their curriculum. Another aspect of this study involved the addition of several types of technology to the classrooms at the school where six teachers taught. The teachers were given specific training in how to use the technology and attended weekly workshops that continued once the school year started. Tutoring was then available for teachers who requested extra help. The teachers incorporated technology use into their curriculum on their own as well as used some ideas suggested by leaders of the study. Levin and Wadmany used responses that teachers had given on their questionnaires and the teachers verbal explanations as well as patterns of their teaching in the classroom to determine how the teachers view of technology-incorporated curriculum had changed over the course of this study. The data showed that the teachers moved away from focusing on outside deterrents, such as the lack of reinforcement from authority figures such as principals, and began taking the responsibility for technology-incorporated curriculum on themselves. Levin and Wadmany also discovered that as time went on, teachers became less focused on technical and organizational factors in incorporating technology and became more focused on determining

Mercier 3 how to best correlate it with their curriculum. One of the biggest negative aspects of technology use in the classroom perceived by these teachers was the fact that their personal conceptions of education and how the classroom should be run had to be changed. Once they were able to break the mold of traditional teaching methods, they were able to focus on learning how to incorporate technology into their curriculum. All the teachers agreed that the incorporation of technology was very useful and that the students responded well to it. Through observations and written assessments of teachers and students using technology, this study shows that with proper training and guidance, technology can be a very helpful asset to teachers as well as prepare students to enter the highly technologically focused work force they are growing up in. An entirely different point of view on the use of technology in the classroom is given by researchers of the development of the education process, Yuankun Zhu and Xiaofeng Guo, in their article, Meeting the Digital Natives. This article is a written analysis of a study they conducted in Shanghai of K-12 students and their teachers, to find out how successful teachers had been in integrating technology into the classroom and to determine how teachers and students accept and use technology inside and outside of school. Some of the initial findings of Zhu and Guos study are that students, including those in young grades, know more about technology than their teachers do. Not only are they more familiar with how to use technology, but their generation has been shaped by it. When trying to decide if technology should be integrated into the classroom, it is important that it be recognized that two different generations with different backgrounds in technology are attempting to work together on this issue. The generation with less technological experience is attempting to teach the more experienced generation through the use technology. The small amounts of technology being used in classrooms are being adapted for educational purposes by teachers, who, according

Mercier 4 to this study, are overall less technologically experienced. Other concerns regarding integration of technology in the classroom were raised by this study as well. Teachers attitudes toward technology in the classroom were one of the biggest problems where integration is concerned. The majority of teachers simply do not have the knowledge and skills to effectively use technology in the classroom. Many of the teachers that Zhu and Guo conferred with stated that they are open to using technology in their classrooms, but their lack of ability and their lack of confidence cause them to not be eager about attempting it. The other perspective on this issue came from students. The majority of students said that they developed their technological skills at home rather than at school. The suggestion made by Zhu and Guo is that if students are learning how to use various kinds of technology in their homes, perhaps such an emphasis on technology in school is not as necessary as some consider it to be. Other results that Zhu and Guo found in their study had to do with how students and teachers view technology. Interestingly, students thought of technology as being more useful in class than outside of class, while teachers viewed technology as being more useful outside of class. Teachers value the use of technology in the scholastic world, but for different reasons than students value them. According to this study, students believe technology has more productive purposes in school (research, for example), while teachers believe technology has productive purposes relating to school, but having to do more with preparation, organization, and presentation of lessons. The intent of this study was to find the differences in how teachers are integrating technology in the classroom as opposed to what students are expecting. Some of the main conclusions Zhu and Guo drew from their findings were that students of all ages have much more access to technology at home than they do at school and students began using technology

Mercier 5 much earlier in their lives than their teachers had. The result is that students are already very familiar with various types of technology without any use of technology in the classroom. Zhu and Guo also discovered that teachers mainly view technology as a way to help them accomplish the tasks they are responsible for. Teachers that were part of this study said that efficiency and competency were the two factors they believed to be the most important concerning the introduction of technology into the classroom. They were also the two main things teachers across the board felt they were lacking the most. Another conclusion drawn by Zhu and Guo is that social influences and personal factors are the two things that affect the use of technology in the classroom. Teachers will be less likely to use technology in the classroom if they are intimidated by the unfamiliarity associated with new technology, for example. Information supporting both sides of integration of technology in classrooms can be found. The implications of each side shed light on why this is an important matter. If technology is integrated into classrooms, a positive effect is that students will receive training in school that will equip them for the current society and for todays work force. Another positive aspect is that teachers will have more options for presentation and instruction of curriculum. However, some negative aspects to having technology in the classroom is that equipping schools with technology will be very expensive. Using technology also has the potential to unnecessarily distract students from the course material. Positive and negative aspects also accompany the absence of technology in classrooms. If technology is not present in classrooms, more emphasis would likely be given to human interaction which is very important for developing children to have. It would also not require teachers to spend extra time learning how to use technology and developing ways to incorporate it into curriculum. The potential to not be up to date in what is

Mercier 6 being taught is a negative aspect as well as the simple fact that a lack of technology in the classroom will likely cause students to not pay as much attention to the material being taught. Technology use in the classroom is a subject gaining attention in todays society. It is an important topic because both sides of the issue have implications that will affect the growth and development of students. Regardless of whether or not one will ever have a child, it is important that this issue be considered because taxpayers fund education and the next generation will one day be our countrys leaders. Without a well-rounded education, this generation will not be prepared for the work force, much less be prepared to lead our country. Enabling students to receive the best kind of education possible is a part of every citizens responsibility.

Mercier 7 Works Cited Gu, Xiaoqing, Yuankun Zhu, and Xiaofeng Guo. "Meeting the "Digital Natives": Understanding the Acceptance of Technology in Classrooms." Journal of Educational Technology & Society 16.1 (2013): 392,n/a. ProQuest. Web. 1 Dec. 2013. Levin, Tamar, and Rivka Wadmany. Teachers' Views on Factors Affecting Effective Integration of Information Technology in the Classroom: Developmental Scenery. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education 16.2 (2008): 233-63. ProQuest. Web. 8 Sept. 2013.