Teachers' attitudes toward computer-based programs and student disruptive behavior

¶ … Technology on Disruptive Behavior

What is the effect of teachers' attitude toward the implementation of a computer-based program on disruptive behavior?

Disruptive behavior from students is one of the nightmares that the teachers have to go through when they are teaching in class. The students with this problem keep on intervening appropriately in class while others are trying to read. The computer-based program will have different effects on disruptive behavior for the students. For some instances, it is possible that the effect will be positive leading to students having better attentiveness in class. However, there are cases when the computer-based programs will lead to even more disruptive behavior for the students. Thus, the effectiveness of these programs is all-dependent on the attitudes of the teachers.

When looking for solutions for the disruptive behavior, it is imperative that there is an assessment of the reasons that led to it. There are cases when the disruptive behavior of a student is brought about by failure of the student understanding the teacher (Dziegielewski 2010). The main reason for this could be the inappropriate methods of teaching. In this case, a computer-based program may not be of much help to the learning process. The computer-based program may control and regulate the students, but the bottom-line is that the students did not understand the whole process. The attitude of the teacher is thus extremely valuable for this case. If the teacher thinks that the computer-based program is indeed an alternative to the class behavior, then the program will not work. In such a case where the teaching model of the teacher is inappropriate, it may be suitable that there is no implementation of computer-based program. If the teacher follows a positive attitude and uses the computer-based program as a supplement and not as an alternative, then the program may have utility. In such a situation, the teacher is probably going to realize the root of the problem. After realizing the frailty of the teaching models, the teacher may opt to change it and modify it to fit the students appropriately. Thus, changing of the teaching model to influence the learning process is all dependent on the attitude of the teacher towards the computer-based program (Dziegielewski 2010).

If the teacher is of the opinion that the computer-based program can improve the group participation of a class, then it is likely that it will work efficiently. If utilized well, the computer-based program can improve group participation of a class and thus limit the disruptive behavior. In this case, the teacher's attitude will have a positive impact. The teacher should explain to the students how beneficial the program is to them and teach on how it can improve their groups. After this, the teacher should form small groups and monitor them with the computer-based program. If the teacher is of a negative attitude on the program in respect of the group work, then it will become a failure. In such an instance, the teacher is likely to continue using the old groups, which may have large numbers that are uncontrollable. Thus, the attitudes of the teacher are particularly valuable in matters of using computer-based programs to improve group participation.

A factor that changes when there is the use of such a computer-based program is the feedback aspect. When using the program, the students tend to offer more feedback than they were earlier. There is also an increase in interaction from the students. Most computer-based programs tend to offer the students with new viewpoints and thus more perspectives to think from than earlier before when the teacher was teaching normally. In this aspect, it is essential to note that the teacher's attitude towards excessive interaction can affect the learning process (Dziegielewski 2010). Consequently, this increases the chances of computer-based program not working efficiently. If the teacher is open to discussion and interaction, then it is likely that the computer-based program will work effectively. The students are likely to open up more to a teacher who has a positive attitude towards open discussion and interaction compared to the cold teacher. If the teacher is cold to the students and then the students want to interact freely, then this poses a problem. The teacher is likely to shut them down. Thus, there is little effect of computer-based program, and instead of improving the students; they increase their disruptive behavior since they tend to look for other ways to express their newfound knowledge and views.

One of the objectives of a computer-based program is to improve the connections of the theory taught in class to the real world contexts. A reason why most students display disruptive behavior in the classroom is that they are bored with the content being taught by the teacher. Where a teacher does not relate the content to real life experiences, the students become bored or they ask many questions that end up disrupting the class activities. Using computer-based programs; the students have an opportunity to relate the theory to real world contexts (Dziegielewski 2010). However, there are different types of teachers who may have different attitudes to this. If the teacher does not like many questions and explanations, then the students will have no one to answer their questions. Consequently, the students become more confused and thus more disruptive in class. If the teacher encourages this type of interaction, the students become active and thus reduce disruptive behavior. Thus, the success of computer-based program is all-dependent on the attitudes of the teacher.

Question 2

Teachers' perspectives or attitudes toward the implementation of a computer-based program on disruptive behavior

The teachers' responses and perspectives or attitudes to the computer-based program on disruptive behavior bases on various compelling issues. The issues regard the effectiveness in the management of the challenging disruptive methods. The early and original ways of managing the behaviors were ineffective due several factors. The inclusion of the computer in the management simplifies and eliminates the formerly difficult issues in the sector of managing the behaviors. The perspectives of the teachers and the attitudes are in the support of the system arguing that it abridges the works entailed in the process of managing the issues (Spiegler & Guevremont, 2010).

The teachers encourage the user-customized software that assists the teacher in the analysis and assessment of the trends in the students. The teachers love the computer-based approach due to the swiftness in counter reacting to the behavioral challenge in the students. In the modern world the teacher, spend more time with the children than their parents. This prompts the teachers to fill the gap in the trend. Initially the behavioral management issues were at the stake of the parents majorly. However, the change in the education prompts the teacher to take the role of the parents wholly to facilitate the regulation of the behaviors. The teachers gain the major opposition from the new electronic gadgets that penetrates in the school system though other schools have consistently fought a losing battle against the trend.

The teachers' attitudes are that the government and the other stakeholder bodies should finance and see the forthcoming of the new software that quickens the behavioral management and control in the students. The existing ones do have their own limitations of the government ought to eradicate (Spiegler & Guevremont, 2010). The government through the body that controls the media contents has to put in to the mechanism of the regulating the socially damaging contents. The achievement of the teacher purpose is the pivot to a learning process. The challenges that undermine the process would definitely result in a retrogressive educational approach. The teachers indicate that their role in the behavioral issues should have assistance. Students mostly interact between one another.

The teacher gets inclusion in case another student reports the other in case of the mistreatment. The teachers shape the case in the favor of the harmed students. The teacher understands that the students are complex to aid. Some students show a different behavior while at home. However, the teachers know his or her behaviors to be crude (Spiegler & Guevremont, 2010). The computer-based management expands extend or the boundaries or the population that the teacher can single-handedly manage in any case. This is vital in the process that a new trait emerges amongst the students that would require emergency measures. The approach of the teachers is mainly advisory and in case he views it to be beyond that then he recommends to the school administration to assist. In understanding that the behaviors of a student interferes with the learning process of the other students the teachers assume that the computer-based approach assists the entire population of the students. It acts as a mass control path that would hastens the process of the student behavioral safety.

The teachers counters the notion that computer based approach increases the psychological safety of the students. This handles the unworthy trends amongst the students such as leaning on the rear props of a chair, hazardous use of tools and the laboratory apparatus, intimidation of other students, and continuous teasing and persecution of classmates. The teachers acknowledge that the other disruptive behaviors propagates the destruction of the school property therefore computer-based management results in the upstaging of the security of the school properties. This eminent vandalism is prominent in the cases where the students would like to have money selling the school properties.

The teachers separately attribute the poor morals of the students to inexperience and the ignorance of the students. Involving of computer-based programs in the student behavior management clears the doubt in the effectiveness of the management of the issues entailed. The perspective to the approach assists in the enhancement of the Developmental period of the basis of the Phase learner. They view the approach to increase the contact between the teacher and the student in the countering of the trends emergent in the process. They attribute the computer approach to the advancement in the mastery of the life skills for the students. Since the computer programs have various categorical classifications, the teachers claim that they are suitable for ages of the students. However, the approaches in the bolder students require more caution (Spiegler & Guevremont, 2010). They contend that the programs may not have the predicted influence in determining the character of the student in any one way. They concur with the ordinary criticism that the computer-based program is wholly ineffective in the absence of well-trained personnel on the management of the computer issues.

They acknowledge the daunting challenge of the implementing the system in the school denoting the financial burden it may expose the parents. The teachers are not in the opposition of the project but they claim the school would still need a recruiting of the professional well versed in the behavioral modes of the behavior control. They insist that the influence of the parents is very important in the process of the behavior regulation amongst the students (Spiegler & Guevremont, 2010). The teachers claim that the role of the parents is not replaceable by either the computers or the teachers. The teachers acknowledge that the effective approach is determinable by the parental time allocation for their children. The teachers face numerous challenges and unruly students may view them as mere haters

Question 3

How did the students respond to the computer-based program? Qualitative

The computer-based program had several effects to the response of the students in that some of the students monopolized the class discussions. These led to lack of participation by the other students where contribution on learning dwelled on a certain number of students. They dominated the class discussions by contributing to almost all or any topic that was raise by the teacher. Getting a wide aspect of ideas on various topics was a tremendous problem in that the ideas were coming from the same students. There is a wider probability of getting diverse thoughts on the program if the students are contributing fully. This has a negative influence the program and it influences the results of the program at the end of the whole exercise. The other students begin to feel like they are not part of the team and this leads to loss of focus (O'Donnell & Smith, 2011).

The feeling of isolation can lead to distress by the students and annoyance in accordance to the disruptive behavior. The class in the end will not have the chance to explore a wide field in their learning process. By having a whole classroom take part in the learning process, it gives the teacher, a chance to get different aspects about the thoughts and ideas of the students concerning the topics of interest raised in the class. The various perspectives by the students hence make the learning process far much appealing. By engaging all students in the topics of discussion, the teacher builds the moral of the entire classroom. Those students that felt isolated do not have to feel neglected anymore. Therefore, by implementing the computer program there is an immense loss of diverse opinions on the topics of discussion in a classroom that puts the entire learning process to risk.

Another effect of placing this computer-based program to practice in a classroom is apathy. This is whereby one has students lacking an interest in the program, and they eventually become less interested. There are students who time after time sleep in the classroom and they do this since they are less interested in the program put forward for learning (O'Donnell & Smith, 2011). This kind of attitude is highly regarded as disrespectful and if not monitored it may lead to poor performance by the students. There are certain rules that need enforcing to smoothen the learning process for better performance at the end of the learning session and have the students participate fully. When these students show, less interest or concern it implies that the learning session is of less importance to them.

It is the teacher's duty to make sure that students take part in all proceedings in the classroom by implementing rules and regulations that restrict them from doing things that are diverting their concentration in the classroom. Hence, the students should not have the will to choose what they get to do in during the sessions. Their response to this computer program might have been negative, but the students need guidance by their teacher in making certain decisions make the program a success. Let the students see the value of having this program in place and they will corporate maximal. The students may have shown a lack of concern during the program, but the teacher on the other hand, has the power to change what will help students. The disruptive behavior by the students is something that can revolutionize from how they think of it to something that is of value to their learning (O'Donnell & Smith, 2011).

Chaos is another out come from the implementing of the computer program. This is evident by the murmuring of the students during the learning program. The tendency of interrupting the teacher during learning spreads from one student too others. This leads to lack of focus and inappropriate behavior by the students that put the learning process at risk. The students noticed other unauthorized behaviors in the session of the program that reduced the level of concentration. Failure by the teacher to manage this disruptive may lead to spreading of the attitude to other students who were focus or other interfere with their learning. If the behavior is uncontrolled, then it will spread and become uncontrollable for the teacher. This will lead to plenty of disadvantages during the implantation of the computer-based program (O'Donnell & Smith, 2011).

The best way to manage the idea of chaos is by taking note of students that take part in the learning process positively then rewarding them to create competition among the entire classroom. This will build the morale of the students who had little or no interest to put an effort in taking part on the program to win a price at the end of the program. The chaos is manageable though they spread exceptionally fast and that is an immensely significant problem for the effectiveness of the program.

The environment has to be appropriate for the program to be successful. There are students with anger issues and cannot control it thus creating an unsafe environment for the program. This is considered unsafe for the progress since it causes harm to the students and their learning. These students may release their anger to fellow classmates or the teacher as well which brings distress to the classroom environment. It is thus the teacher's responsibility to ensure that the students have an appropriate environment for the program. The program brought about tension in the classroom between the teacher and the students since they were both involve in the success of the program (O'Donnell & Smith, 2011).

Question 4

What impact does the computer-based program have on disruptive behavior and the student's academic achievement (Sub-question) Quantitative?

Using computer- based program in class is sometimes disruptive and affects the academic achievement of many students. Students may tend to adopt disruptive behavior in cases where they intend to use the computers for other purposes rather than the intended purpose by the teacher. This program has many disruptive qualities for students as they use computers attain academic value, which is not the reason many of these students do not apply with their computers in their free time. A computer- based program can affect a student's academics either positively or negatively depending on how best the student applies the program.

In the changing world, we are living in today the computer is the main source of information for many researches, and educational studies. Computer- based programs provide students with academic information, which supports their academic achievement. In a classroom with computers, the teacher can easily ask the students to look for extra references in case they do not have sufficient physical reference books in the class (Leaman, 2009). Since many writers put their books online nowadays, students can easily access these books to refer when they need. However, in case a student lacks interest in what the teacher requests referencing, the student can use the same computer to access other materials not necessarily helpful to the course. This disrupts how much the student will concentrate, and how he will learn. This will have a negative impact when it comes to the final assessment of how much students understood the subjects at hand.

The internet provides a safe and quicker means of information transfer. Students and teachers need a safe medium of transferring information to facilitate a healthy learning environment. With computers in class, students can send e-mails to teachers any time to confirm anything they might need to learn. This is a quick means of communication, and takes even less time for the student to reach the teacher, and if both parties have dedication, learning becomes easy. In addition, a computer program provides students with means to check their academic understanding when they finish with their papers. Software like grammar checker and plagiarism checker will help students manage their works in class, and present it in high quality standards that will in turn improve the level of education. The main problem with these checkers is they sometimes have different adverts in their homepages.

Most of the adverts do not support education. Most will come from social Medias, which most of the students are active members. This poses serious temptations to these students to connect to these social sites to connect with their friends. At their age brackets, socializing is a main part of their life, which can at times disrupt their view on what should be their priority in their lives. This will cause the students to ignore the positive purpose of such a site, and take an interest in other activities that are not helpful to their academics (Leaman, 2009). This habit is even worse considering that many of these social sites are addictive. At first, the students may connect simply because of stumbling across an advertisement in an educational site, but with time, they will log in on their own free will.

Another big disruption of these computers in a student's life in the classroom is that it is hard for a teacher to monitor what the students are doing. When using a computer a student can multitask in different windows, and tabs. The little time a teacher gets to see what the student is doing, the student can put on the right window for a moment. This keep the teacher from suspecting the student is misusing the privilege of computer-based program.

Disrupting behavior among students is sometimes emotional. A computer- based program that allows students to access communication mediums during the time of study brings about disruptive behavior (Leaman, 2009). Many of the information these students might access might be emotional in nature. This is the reason why many teachers and education authorities does not allow electronic gadgets in education fields. These computers will allow these students to get information from many sources, which might be disruptive in nature. Disruptive behavior among these students will lower their concentration in class, and affect how much they understand.

After learning for some time, students take tests to prove how much they understood. With a computer base program, it is easy to cheat in an exam as they can transfer information without an examiner suspecting. This deteriorates the level of academic understanding a student acquires. This will have disruptive abilities as students feel they do not have to learn much as during the exams they can use computers to attain better grades (Leaman, 2009). This undermines the level of concentration the students will apply during classes as they feel they have easier ways to pass, which is the main purpose of being in a learning system.

Many stakeholders in the student welfare feel that computer-based programs are suitable for the students if authorities can control how the students apply these computers. A means of control is the best way of controlling these computers. If the administrative authorities in a learning institution can create, a domain that can control the application of these computers-based programs students can use them to achieve academically. However, in applying computer-based programs the teaching authorities need to apply it selectively to students who can handle the responsibility of the program. These computers can cause disruptive behavior among students, which will in turn lead to poor academic achievement.

Interventions used by teachers in addressing reactive and proactive behavior

Teachers have significant role of dealing with proactive and reactive aggression. This will help accomplish the teacher's primary goal of maximizing student learning. However, many students do not regard learning maximization as one of the major goals of attending classes (Davey 2011). Apart from the basic needs such as food, shelter, and clothing, every student aims at gaining a sense of belonging whether in the intermediate or secondary grades. They also want to feel the sense of value from different quarters. All students would want everyone to value their presence besides valuing themselves and striving to make important contribution while in school, at home, and any other places where they come interact with their peers and adults. Reactive aggression is associated with the negative results usually originating from perceived threat. Individuals with high levels of impulsivity and underlying anger engage in this form of anger expression (Davey 2011).

Proactive management strategies focuses on creating relatively positively structured classrooms with a view to improving success of students where motivation to learn is genuine. Apparently, many students prefer to study in an environment where teachers give them opportunity to learn on their own. Learning to them does not necessarily mean teacher different tutors coming to guide them in classrooms on various concepts depending on subject specialization. Students would want o explore their abilities in various fields with academics sometimes emerging to be the least in their priority list (Davey 2011). Incidentally, the primary goal of the teacher is to impart knowledge on the students by adhering o set guidelines as dictated by the curriculum. Therefore, most of the proactive management strategies focus on enhancing teaching of the subject matter, skills, and strategies. The teacher would play his or her part of delivering the subject matter, appreciating its importance, and giving the students enough time to digest the various concepts related to the subject matter. Through acknowledgement of the subject matter and relating it to the contemporary society, students would develop interest in it and begin to associate with the topic under study.

The tutor should however be cautious about possibility of distortion of the subject by proactive students whose motive could go beyond the normal understanding of the subject matter (Davey 2011). The effective teaching skills are the most powerful management tool in a teacher's arsenal. It is necessary that teachers apply such strategies before occurrence of behavior problem. Thus, they act as preventive measures. The process of managing proactive behavior may sometimes prove futile in certain schools (Davey 2011). Hence, the student upbringing even before joining an intermediate or high school is a matter that prompts many teachers to develop keen interest. A section of students brings into the classroom the history of inappropriate behavior conditioned or learned in them long before the teacher eventually met them. The most effective and efficient approach to the management of proactive behavior is through simultaneous provision of proactive and reactive support to students though application of class wide management support. Class wide systems encourage win-win system of interactions between teachers and students (Davey 2011). The class wide management systems prevent undesirable student behavior through clearly stated behavioral expectations and shared rewards hence are proactive n nature. Similarly, they are reactive as they provide structured approach to delivering consequences, which are immediate, and naturally happening.

Overall, the proactive and reactive strategies would offer structured approaches to monitoring of large group behavior that would also provide continual feedback to students. Providing students with tokens or points that could eventually exchange for extrinsic rewards such as prizes, parties, and candy among other forms of reward is a vital step towards realization of class wide system (Morgan 2005). Teachers should determine their expectations for student behavior, identify rewards and consequences to intervene with behavior expectations, make a decision regarding frequency of monitoring student behavior, and develop a system for monitoring student behavior.

Majority of students are in their adolescence and frequently resort to reactive behaviors in an effort to wrest control from their parents. As such, they leave parents in a quandary as to how the latter could respond to such behavior, which most parents regard as undesirable. Reactive behaviors would in the long-term make children appear to be selfish, argumentative, out to get away with everything that they want (Morgan 2005). Such situation would parents, just like the children, to become reactive. Before long, the situation degenerates into a fierce altercation and drawing of battle lines with little hope for solution to the problem. Teachers have a responsibility of guiding students to become responsible people as they grow into adults. The teacher would begin by inviting the parent for a private session where the parent discloses the history of the child in terms of behavior since childhood and account of his or her proactive and reactive behavior (Morgan 2005).

The teacher together with parent of the student should come up with a collective agreement t on best way of dealing with the aggressive student. The genesis of aggressiveness would be a matter of interest to both parties (Morgan 2005). Although proactive behavior is goal-directed and designed fundamentally to accomplish set objective, attainment of elucidation is inevitable since such behavior would g beyond physical violence. The cognitive as well as emotional dissimilarities provide an evidence for support for the distinction between reactive and proactive aggression. Collective responsibility of teachers, parents, and students towards finding a solution to proactive and reactive behaviors in the lives of students is inevitable (Morgan 2005).