Technology in the classroom: effects on student learning

Technology in the classroom has now become almost necessary in order to proceed with a course efficiently. Teachers have now incorporated technology not just to keep up with the changing times, but to keep up with the changing mindsets of students. Students nowadays tend to be more attentive if some sort of technological practice is used in the course. In the past five years, technology in the classroom has skyrocketed with not only notes, lectures, and assignments online, but the number of digital textbooks have also increased. We are in an era where technology is everywhere so it not only influencing the way we live, but also the way we learn.

In the article by Lavin, Korte, and Davies (2010) this exact issue of how technology is affecting the classroom was analyzed. The researchers conducted a study on how technology in the classrooms affected students behavior. The main point of the study was to see how the presence or absence of technology affected how students themselves perceived their effort and behavior in the class. Students were asked if the use of technology would make a difference in how they understood the class and gave their opinion on how the technology in the course would affect how they performed. The idea of the use of technology in the classroom varies depending on how professors interpret it. Some say that it benefits students because some find that technology could be beneficial to students because it makes it easier on students to become organized while other professors say that it could be distracting to students (Lavin et al., 2010). Students have reported that the use of technology, especially in the form of powerpoint slides enables the professor to interact with students more since they don't have to use chalkboards or white boards anymore and give their backs to students (McKinney et al., 2008). Overall, they found that students who had technology in the classroom and were asked about it being removed reported that they would have more negative experiences than those who did not have it in the first place. For example, a student whose professor used powerpoint slides in the class and then all of a sudden removed it, expressed that they would be more upset and rate the class poorer than a student who never had technology in the first place. Students who have never had technology in their classes and then had it added were actually more engaged in the class and gave better ratings because they thought that the class was more engaging and more appealing to their varying learning styles (Lavin et al., 2010).

Technology in classrooms has affected education in ways that seem to be immeasurable. There has reached a point where students now expect classes to have technology in it and actually avoid classes that do not. Education is turning out to be more about the newest technology and how it is being used in the classroom, than about the pedagogy itself (McKinney et al., 2008). Students no longer feel the need to attend class everyday and take diligent notes because they know that they will be able to find all these things online or on the school's Blackboard. Although the downright subject is not being affected, the way students are being taught and the way they are beginning to learn is being altered. This does not necessarily have to be in a negative way, though. Every person has a different learning style and different learning ability, and having technology in the classroom caters to a wider variety.

The impact that technology is having in the classroom is only in the beginning stages. Researchers are so intrigued by how much education and its pedagogy is changing because technology is a relatively new feature. But this will soon change. Technology advances exponentially, and in a couple of years, who knows what will be available. There is going to be a point in time where education will be all about the latest technology and it will be something that will be expected in every class. From digitizing books in order to save on paper and clean up the environment, to having full blown courses taught online so that more students could be reached simultaneously, we are only in the beginning stages of technology's advancement in education.