Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Rachel Mercer
Abstract
Integrating technology into education is a must in today’s society. There are many factors that
play in to this argument. The greatest of these factors are the need for students to be able to
function in today’s workforce. Technology integrations serve to make the education process
much easier. Integrating technology also allows students to be more creative and think outside of
the box.
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Technology has a strong future in education: It is quickly becoming the driving force
behind education. Today’s students must possess advanced technological skills in order to
function in the most basic of jobs. Without these technological skills student’s and ultimately the
nation as a whole will fall painfully behind in today’s global economy. There are many reasons
for focusing on technology in education, but the greatest of these reasons are to create students
who are engaged in meaningful lessons, capable of communicating, and collaborating effectively
One of the greatest problems in education today is the inability to effectively engage
students in meaningful relevant material that will truly impact them in a manner that will
stimulate their desire to learn. There is much competition for the attentions span of this
generation of students. They are born with electronic gadgets in their hands. It quickly becomes
the way they interact with their environment at a very early age. Mark Prensky argues that these
“gadgets” provide our kids with unforced learning. He states, “Modern computer and video
games are terrific at providing kids with unforced learning opportunities at every second, and
sometimes even fractions thereof. And despite what the press would often have you believe; the
overwhelming majority of this learning is positive” (Prensky, 2006). Our students are taught to
be active. Television engages them almost immediately. Videos vie for their attention on a
constant basis. Some are even engaged in traditional activities like soccer or baseball. This
makes the concept of walking into a classroom, sitting quietly, and focusing on what they are
being told a very difficult task. The argument has been made that A.D.D. is a serious problem
for many students. However, a more appropriate term would be E.D.D. (Educational
Disengagement Disorder). Today’s students are simply too far removed from most of the
material they are being presented with for it to become meaningful and relevant to them. Prensky
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also argues that the game play that is available helps today’s generation to develop thinking and
collaboration skills that they so desperately need. Technology allows the possibility to bridge this
infusion were impossible. They are able to communicate with other students and peers both
synchronously and asynchronously. This is also the manner in which they communicate with
teachers and even their parents. IM’s, blogging, chat rooms, and text messages are just a few of
the ways in which our students are communicating today. In education we must simply learn to
communication holds great potential. Students who are in a lab setting with the appropriate
privileges can instant message a teacher a question without fear of looking ignorant to the rest of
the class. This increases the likely hood that that question will be asked. Chatting among
themselves is one of the favorite forms of communication for some students. Allowing students
to chat enables them to work quietly, yet simultaneously on a group project. Prensky also points
out that not only can these students chat, but they can also multi-chat. In his article he points out
that many parents marvel at the number of chat windows their children have up and running at
the same time (Prensky, 2004). Some asynchronous technology based educational opportunities
are also available. Blogs allow for online reflection, or responses to writing prompts in a manner
that allows for an authentic audience. If students can take ownership of their work, and know
that others aside from teachers will be viewing it, they are more likely to commit themselves to
the task at hand. Student’s can communicate via email. According to Prensky in an article
recently written by him, “This type of communication has great advantages, including the time to
reflect before you write or answer. While the “etiquette” that has evolved for email demands a
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quick response, that response does not have to come within the hour or even the same day. So,
even as fast as email is “it is the Native’s reflective” form of communicating” (Prensky, 2004).
Texting is another popular method of communicating among today’s generation. Students today
have even created their own language to speed up the process of communicating via text. In the
same article he clearly defines some of this terminology for us. “Correct” spelling is replaced by
whatever is readable. Anything that can be done with one key is: “k” for OK, “c” for see, “u” for
you (as in cu later). Numbers replace their homonyms (as in t42) and the way characters look on
the screen takes on meaning. Abbreviations are well-known (LOL=laugh out loud.) Brief
communications like H4T5TNT (home for tea at five tonight) are common, and are often made
up among particular users. And a semi-secret (but widely known among the Natives) code has
evolved to protect texters privacy, as in “GTGPOS” (got to go, parent over shoulder.)” (Prensky,
2004). There fear that springs up from this method of communication is that students will forget
periods of time. The other side of that argument is that this form of communication has opened
some students up to communicating period. In most schools cell phones are still prohibited, but if
educators would be more open minded to the education possibilities, perhaps this can change. It
was just pointed out that students are very comfortable using this form of communication, so
why not make it work in education. One way this could be done is for a grammar teacher to tell
her class to text her the correct answer, and the one who texts the correct answer with the correct
grammar will receive bonus points on the next test, or she could just count it as a daily grade. At
this point the students are beyond excited that their teacher is savvy enough to include
technology at this level in the lesson plan. If education could reconcile itself to this level of
change and accommodate the needs of today’s learners, it would achieve student buy in once
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again. Students will be engaged, interested, and even excited about learning, because they will be
The most important factor for determining the future of technology in education is realizing the
world has changed. Society has moved from an industrial society to an information society, and
is quickly moving on to becoming a conceptual society. The World is Flat addresses the many
changes that have taken place globally in the last couple of decades. Unfortunately, it seems,
America is quickly falling behind as other nations take the lead technologically. This is easily
seen in the amount of outsourcing that goes on in this country. The World is Flat points out that
many tax returns are being sent electronically to India, as well as MRI scans, and other various
technology rich jobs. The World is Flat also argues that the average student in India, China, and
Japan is much more technology savvy than that of the average high school graduate (Friedman,
2006). Several other books and articles have also pointed out that America is lagging behind
desperately in education due to lack of funding, resources, and commitment. It will take a great
deal of commitment on the part of parents, teachers, students, and other educational decision
makers to integrate and enforce implementation and integration of the necessary technology
integrations in order to prepare this generation of students for the emerging technology
dependant global society. As mentioned earlier the emergence of a conceptual society also
makes a strong argument for ensuring technology integration in today’s education process. The
book A Whole New Mind makes the argument that most of the products needed today have
already been developed. It argues that an individual (most likely a left brained individual) saw a
need and developed a tool to accommodate that need. However creativity generally takes place
in the right hemisphere of the brain, and it is this set of individuals who will make aesthetically
appealing improvements to already developed product in order to keep them in demand (Pink,
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2006). One way to consider this occurrence is to think of a standard toilet bowl brush. When it
was created people were just happy to have a toilet bowl brush. Today people want a toilet bowl
brush that is ergonomically correct, and with a detachable head for easy disposal. The creation of
such a toilet bowl brush required someone with creative thinking capabilities, and preferably
with the ability to design it in a soft ware program for easy deployment. This is why, according
to Daniel Pink, “right brainers will rule the future” (Pink, 2006). As he argues in his book
today’s generation must be able to think outside the box in a technological, ever-changing
society.
In conclusion, the need for technology in education is ever present and growing at a very rapid
rate. If integrating technology, and giving students the needed skills to survive in today’s tech
savvy world is not looked at microscopically and implemented immediately, America will
continue to lag behind technologically. In addition more and more of today’s students will
become disenchanted with education and drop out. Without technology in education everyone
loses. The students lose out, the parents lose out, and even the teachers lose out on the
References
Prensky, Marc (2006). Don't bother me mom i'm learning. St. Paul, Mn: Paragon House.
Prensky, Marc (2004).The emerging online life of the digital native. 14.
Friedman, Thomas L (2006). The world is flat. New York: Picador/Farrar, Straus Giroux.
Pink, Daniel (2006). A whole new mind. New York, New York: Penguin Group.
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Appendix
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Footnotes
1
Each footnote number must correspond to the sam