How does this issue affect learning/achievement?
The educational impact that technology application has on teaching and learning is extremely high. As you have seen in my research and from several examples, integrated technology is affective in student learning and has risen the interest that kids have in school work and assignments because now most things are online.
With technology so prevalent in classrooms today, more time is being invested into teaching programs, software, new gadgets, devices, how to explore the internet and use search engines, etc. With so much time going into these lessons, there is less teaching now when learning is happening with students. Two writers, Charles C. Bonwell and James E. Eison, wrote an article called, "Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom." They explained that students do learn from simply listening to someone talk because all learning is inherently active and that students are involved when someone is speaking. However, we are not just created to listen and learn, but we are also created to do something in action and experience it through movement and interaction. They say that students should engage in "...higher-order thinking tasks as analysis, synthesis, and evaluation." They go on to say that several studies have shown that students are much more partial and desire actively learning far over the traditional lecture teaching. It is skills that are developed through active learning, but content is learned well through lecture.
Another article, called "Active Learning", explains that a typical classroom structure with a lecture and text book is only passively learning. This can lead to a "limited retention of knowledge." This picture below was displayed along with this article and I think it is a great representation in scale form on how our brain learns and in what ways.
In my personal experience with the impact of technology having on education and teaching as a whole, has been mostly positive. I see clearly that the positive outcomes out weigh the negative and that more students are feeling engaged and interested in learning. I am currently in a 1st grade classroom and when they get to use the computers to do their homework or research something they get so excited and anxious. They love playing the games on the computer, even if they are education related. It is different than playing outside or with friends. Going online and using technology is completely different from every other experience for a kid to have. They get really excited for it, and then keep going back and back until it becomes habit to always be online and spend the majority of your time playing, browsing, etc.
Looking at technology from an optimistic point of view, it is extremely easy to pick out strengths and reasons why it improves technology, however, on the other end of the spectrum, technology can be a very huge distraction for kids. It keeps them online rather then in reality. It takes them away from exercising regularly and inhibits them from being as active, physically as they would be if they didn't have the internet or computer/video games to drive them to the screen. According to, "Negative Effects of Using Technology in Today's Classroom", by Julia Klaus, she states that technology can do a disservice if used inappropiately. She points out that some of the negative effects that using technology for schooling can have, are that it takes away from valuable learning time, it can be overused, and can also turn an educational experience for a student into a fun game online.
As a future teacher, I believe that it is critical that I look at technology from all sides and don't just focus on how helpful and wonderful it is, but also pay just as close attention to the reasons why it shouldn't so easily be integrated into campus. There are numerous amounts of advantages and disadvantages to technology, as well as reasons why to, or why not to use it as a supporting tool in teaching children.
