Impact of technology—the great debate

By Dennis Essig
College of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
March, 2011

The technology debate was about whether or not technology is good or bad. I personally feel that it is a debatable topic, and that’s probably why we were going to have the debate. There are many positive reasons to have technology and there are the draw backs that sometimes make it not worth it.

I feel it is positive in the classroom because students need to learn the use and implication of the technology when they go into the “real world.” It’s also important because it gives them access to just about anything they could ever have questions about by using the internet. There are also so many technological resources for teachers that make learning more fun and engaging for the students. Teachers can use a smart board or and overhead projector to display fun review games like family feud or jeopardy. I have also herd teachers saying that the student’s love the opportunity to use the smart board because they can write on it answering questions and it’s like a digital toy almost to some kids.

Technology is also good because it can be used for different activities like web quests, online homework, online review, it also allows quicker communication between teacher and parents, students and administration. Students love to be on the computer and if they are given assignments that they can use the computer to complete they will be more likely to do it since they are already on the computer anyway after school. Having a review session or review blogging online the students can ask questions and answer them for each other so they are working with each other to clarify material. The teacher will need to monitor and make sure students are on the right track and if they’re not they just need to correct them or ask them questions to guide them in the right direction.

Technology can be bad in that is can fail. As a teacher you always need to have a backup plan in case something goes wrong. You also need to make sure students are using it appropriately because there is so much good content available online but there is also a lot of bad or misinformation available. Students can also be distracted by technology because they are too fascinated with the “cool new thing” as opposed to paying attention to the content the teacher is presenting using it. Some student will view the smart board as a toy and only want to use it because they want to play not learn from it.

In my opinion there are more benefits to technology and the benefits most definitely outweigh the negatives of using it. It’s just important to make sure the students are using it for its intended educational purpose and it will only strengthen the way they learn. In my teaching I plan to use technology to help motivate my student’s. I want to create lab activities where students can model and demonstrate different plate boundaries. Depending on their computer skills I will use different programs to do this such as paint, Photoshop, flash, or Dreamweaver.