Effect of Technology on Learning

By , September 9, 2010 9:39 pm

Prompt:

Comment on the first two articles and how they relate. What effect does technology have on student learning? What implications are there for educational techology leaders?

Response:

The thought that resonated strongly with me after reading these articles is the idea that using technology in the classroom at its potential must be facilitated by strong competent learning professionals. Both articles imply that without leaders in the classroom, technology by itself is not necessarily enhancing student learning.

The first article, Technology in Schools, emphasizes the lack of capitalization on the benefits and augmentation to learning that technology can provide. It clearly states that “advocates [of technology in the classroom] have over-promised the ability of education to extract a learning return of technology investments in schools.” But overzealous educators are certainly not all to blame. Technology in Schools proceeds to identify some of the barriers that educators have failed to surmount in order to more fully and effectively use technology in the classroom. The article attributes the lack of successful integration partially to the misconception that such a process would be easy. This is something we discussed in class. Education is steeped in tradition; it would not be an easy thing to integrate technology into the classroom at a rate equivalent to the rate technology changes. By the time we achieved a fair level of technology in the learning environment, we would have already made advances that put our old systems to shame.

Now this is an especially interesting idea considering that this study was funded by Cisco Systems. That is the same company responsible for some of our biggest advances in technology in our life-time; we are talking about TelePresence, Borderless Wireless Networks, and Virtualization, all revolutionary ideas. Essentially what they are saying through this article is “We are coming out with really cool stuff, it would be great for the classroom, it has been proven to enhance learning, but we need to get to a point where we can get this into the learning environment.” And the article has research that proves “across all uses, in all content areas, technology does provide a small, but significant, increase in learning when implemented with fidelity.”

And this is where the second article Technology Student Learning overlaps. This article admits that “the role of teachers is paramount in guiding the development of students’ higher-order thinking skills during learning activities involving technology tools.” We haven’t progressed to the point where we no longer need teachers in the classroom, but we fall short on the role that those teachers need to assume in regards to learning with technology. Technology can certainly aide learning, however leadership is an integral process to aligning the use of technology with standards and school improvement goals.

The role of a teacher in a classroom setting cannot be negated in any circumstance, but it is time we recognized the integral role technology plays in our lives, in our occupations, and in our future. Both articles point out more successful students have gained a competence with technology and feel comfortable around it. It is a teacher’s job to aide this process by augmenting learning with technology so students are prepared for the world they will encounter once they leave the building.

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