What do the teachers think?
When asked, three middle school teachers all had similar answers to the same three questions:
1) What technology do you --and your students --regularly use in class?
2) Has using technology affected the student's attention span?
3) How has using things like computer made it easier --or harder --to learn?
When asked, three middle school teachers all had similar answers to the same three questions:
1) What technology do you --and your students --regularly use in class?
2) Has using technology affected the student's attention span?
3) How has using things like computer made it easier --or harder --to learn?
Most of the answers talked about using technology daily in class. At this middle school, students use apps like Google Drive every single day to write papers and create a PowerPoint, sometimes as a class. The students also do a lot of researching on computers during class. Using technology helps some kids focus. Some seem to be mesmerized with it, and on a computer it is easy to get off task. The teachers also mention how this frequent use of technology seems to damage their students' speaking and face-to-face communication skills. A thing they really like about using computers is that it allows the teacher to bring more interaction into the lesson. Although using technology makes things easier, a big problem it can cause is plagiarizing. Overall, all of the teachers enjoy teaching with the benefits of technology and they all think it helps the student, too.
A study published on Pew Internet.org talked about technology in the classroom. Here are some of the more notable results:
- More than half of teachers of teenagers (ages 12-17) say that the internet has a "major impact" on accessing content and resources, sharing ideas, interacting with parents, and interacting with students.
- 73% of advanced teachers say they/their students use cell phones in class
- Almost half of teachers say they use e-readers, and a little less use tablets.
- 62% of teachers say their school supports the use of technology, and a little more than that say their school provides training.
- Teachers of higher wealth students are 10-20% more likely to use tablets or e-readers in their curriculum, and the students are more likely to use cell phones to look up info.
- Around half of all teachers say their school helps provide resources for using digital tools.