Throughout the years, school districts and businesses have been trying to make the learning systems more organized and effective. But what is it like to be a student now vs before the digital age? How does the technology of today save teachers as well as students time and help them keep track of their work, if at all?
“Students lose fewer assignments with technology. Technology has also probably helped students receive higher scores and grades; however, I do not believe that it helps students actually learn more,” said Mr Opitz. “Some of the technology that allows students to work at their own pace and skill level can make it easier to teach and can be better for students.”
Teachers are worried about over reliance on AI. “Students often rely on the technology to do the work and thinking for them instead of learning to think and work for themselves,” said Opitz. “When students abuse the technology and seek to merely entertain themselves with it or take the easy way out by using it to plagiarize, it can hinder a teacher’s influence in the classroom.”
Math teacher Mr. Burton has noticed how technology affects behavior in his classroom. “I have to often ensure that students are staying on task when on their screens, but it really isn’t a huge problem as long as I get to move around the classroom. The only other issue I run into is students using technology to assist themselves to get answers without actually understanding the content. It provides quick and easy solutions, but it doesn’t help them in the long run,” said Burton. “
Science teacher Andrew Taylor has also seen students lose focus because of technology. “Sometimes students get distracted by games, YouTube shorts, shopping online, or something else when they should be completing class coursework. It’s all about using the technology for what it’s intended for in the moment,” said Taylor.
But was it better back in “the day” when students and teachers used paper and pens? “It might have been harder to stay organized with all the papers, but it was also easier to stay focused. Students seemed to take their work more seriously and process at deeper levels when done on paper rather than just copying and pasting answers that go into the cloud and are shared with the world,” said Opitz.
SVHS has a “No cell bell to bell” policy. Does withholding cell phones from kids during class make a difference? “I have noticed an improvement in focus since phones have been taken away. I didn’t have a severe issue before, but I have noticed positive trends,” said Burton.
Mr. Taylor agrees. “Students are more engaged in class and far less distracted by cell phones. This change is making it easier to learn,” said Taylor.
Big TVs are a common sight in every classroom, and they can help in a lot of ways, “A TV screen can be helpful to depict information that would be hard to do on a typical whiteboard. At times there is information that is difficult to show, but the tv screen can sometimes bridge that gap,” said Burton.
“I love having the TV to Airplay what I’m annotating and demonstrating on my iPad for student note taking. It’s so quick and easy to hit a link on Canvas and watch a clip of a science concept. I would be lost without being able to model and display science concepts on the TV,” said Taylor.
History teacher Ms. Stauffer shares many helpful video clips with her students on her TV. “The tv is also important for maps. How we are able to implement technology with a large tv is really great, compared to how media could be used when I was growing up. Most of us are visual learners in some sense, and it is great to show primary sources and video clips for a lot of social studies content. Also, students can participate in polling programs and other things that can be shown on the tv and get ideas of how others think.”
Ultimately, technology in classrooms is constantly evolving, and although it can be a problem at times, it can help students keep track of their assignments and get better scores. Technology also helps teachers a lot with their work, make their instruction more efficient and effective.
