Running head: new tech in schools and their advantages

New Tech in Schools and their Advantages

Erica Bacab
Professor Blake
EDU 214 1004
September 25, 2016
College of Southern Nevada

new tech in schools and their advantages

In an age where society is always on their phones, it is not surprising that new technology being
introduced to the public is now being integrated into todays classrooms. Although having new
technology in education is very beneficial, it can also be risky. Technology like the electronic
whiteboard, mobile devices and cloud computing have many advantages but also disadvantages.
Teachers who choose to use them in their classrooms have to always keep in mind how exactly
new pieces of technology will be helpful. Research on these pieces of tech can tell one exactly
how beneficial new technology can be in the classroom and how exactly they help both teachers
and students.

new tech in schools and their advantages

New Tech in Schools and their Advantages

As technology gets more advanced society has gotten used to having some sort of form of
technology in close proximity. Some people sleep with their phones next to them, remembering
to check them right before bed, and when they wake up in the morning. Others have to go
through training to used more advanced technology at their job. Overall, society is advancing just
as technology does. This also means that technology in classrooms are becoming just as
advanced. The use of electronic whiteboards, mobile tablets, and cloud computing really helps
with learning while making it easier for teachers to plan lessons.
Electronic whiteboards have become more common in classrooms. The use of the
traditional dry erase whiteboard has become more obsolete as electronic whiteboards take the
scene (Schweder, 2008). Electronic whiteboards require the use of a projector and a touch
sensitive board. With this, teachers can navigate through websites, images and other software
associated with the whiteboard without the use of a mouse. This can be very helpful for teachers
to do presentations without being glued to the main computer to use a mouse (Schweder, 2008).
When using an electronic whiteboard, many teachers will have the option to write notes on the
board and it will be digitally captured and saved as a file where it can be reviewed at a later time
(Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2015). This can be very advantageous for students because if they
miss a class, the professor can easily print out what the whole class went over for that day.
The electronic whiteboard has a variety of advantageous but some can say that it comes
with at least a few disadvantages. Because of their cost, many teachers have no say on the type of
electronic whiteboard they would like to have in their classroom. Also, because of the cost many
electronic whiteboards have different features for interactive learning (Lever-Duffy &
McDonald, 2015). Another sort of disadvantage is although some districts purchase the

new tech in schools and their advantages

electronic whiteboard for interactive use, many teachers will not plan interactive lessons. They
have become so used to regular projectors that they do not see a need for an interactive
whiteboard (Lacina, 2009). While the electronic whiteboard comes with many advantages and
not so many disadvantages, it is still taking classrooms by storm. Many large schools have
already installed 5,000 interactive whiteboards in their school districts (Lacina, 2009). Some can
even say that in a couple of years, electronic whiteboards will be an essential item in all future
classrooms.
A particular piece of technology that can also become an essential item in future
classrooms are mobile devices. Although many cannot see this item as useful, there are many
ways mobile devices like iPads and tablets have started being helpful in classrooms. Due to its
portability and quick access to the internet via wireless connection many teachers have started
using tablets in their classrooms. As Judy Lever-Duffy and Jean McDonald put it, They allow
teachers to carry their computer to make notes on lessons and activities, record, annotate
information about students behavior, and share information with students (Lever-Duffy &
McDonald, 2015, p.135). Not only are these items very useful for teachers, students receive a
great benefit from them also. In Las Vegas, there are some secondary schools that assign iPads to
each student and then the students return them at the end of the school year. This purpose is so
they have access to school materials like books and certain applications that teachers will make
use of in their lessons (Fabian & Maclean, 2014). Other positive aspects of these devices are
many secondary students can have their textbooks on their tablets. They can save strength from
carrying many textbooks at once from classroom to classroom. In the elementary school setting,
some kindergarten teachers make use of tablets in the classrooms to replace big bulky computers
for their students to play educational games on.

new tech in schools and their advantages

Though these mobile computers are very useful in the todays classrooms many still
believe that there are too many disadvantages for students to have access to them. A great deal of
negative feedback comes from teachers who see mobile devices as a distraction in their
classrooms. Some even say students will take advantage of school tablets and surf the web or
download unnecessary things onto them. Although this can become a huge distraction in
classrooms, Hannelore Montrieux, Ruben Vanderlinde, et al say that as long as teachers have
control of their classrooms and make it an understanding with their students that it is a learning
device, they should have no problem integrating these devices. One example of this is a fifth
grade teacher by the name of Jennifer Sieracki, that Lever-Duffy and McDonald interviewed.
She has 10 iPads in her classroom, and has them split between groups. Because she knows they
can be possible distractions she has set up a strike system. I can see the user history and know
what the students looked at (Sieracki atd. by Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2015, p.136) This way
when the students begin to become distracted, there are consequences that they are aware of.
This is just one example of overcoming the disadvantages of mobile devices in classrooms.
Tablets also have a counterpart called cloud computing which has been emerging into
schools as of recent. If anyone has ever heard of Apples iCloud, then they have a basic
understanding of what cloud computing is. As Lever-Duffy and McDonald put it, The cloud is a
networking environmentaccessed via internet, software and files stored on the cloud are
available to all who connect to it (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2015, p.134). Cloud computing
can also be accessed and many devices as long as you are on the network, like a tablet which is
why tablets and cloud computing make a good duo in education. Another version of a cloud is
Googles cloud, which has software like Calendar, Docs, Talk, and Gmail (Skiba, 2011). In
schools, cloud computing can be very resourceful. From a teachers stand point, because one can

new tech in schools and their advantages

access the cloud on any device, saving important lessons or documents from a home computer is
much easier. Teachers do not have to carry extra things like USB drives or their actual computer
from home to access these documents because the clouds storage can be access from any
computer as long as they are connected to the network (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2015). This
example is also shared by students. A cloud makes it simple to turn in homework or do things
like presentations in the classroom.
Although cloud computing has a great benefit in education, it does have its negative
drawbacks. Security has been a concern when it comes to cloud computing.
Cloud computing can leave agencies vulnerable to risks including confidentiality and privacy
breaches and unreliable access to agency data and systems (Akintomide, 2013). In educations
point of view, if a hacker were to cause a security breach, then not only will individual students
and teachers data be in jeopardy, but also the whole school district on the same network. If
schools were to take up cloud computing, they will need to be very careful regarding what
exactly goes up to the cloud because of this risk. While this risk is great, if security is better in
the future, cloud computing can become an essential benefit for all school districts.
There is a great deal of technology being introduced into todays society, many of which
is being prepared to be integrated into classrooms. While some have more disadvantages than
others, one could say that the advantages these new pieces of tech bring makes them a huge asset
to education. Technology is a very important part of education furthermore getting rid of it is not
something that will be happening in the future.

new tech in schools and their advantages

7
References

Akintomide, O. A. (2013). CLOUD COMPUTING: THE THIRD REVOLUTION IN IT.Library

Progress International, 33(1), 77-95. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.csn.edu/login?
url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1434865775?accountid=27953
Fabian, K., & Maclean, D. (2014). Keep taking the tablets? assessing the use of tablet devices in
learning and teaching activities in the further education sector.Research in Learning
Technology, 22doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v22.22648
Lacina, J. (2009). Interactive whiteboards: Creating higher-level, technological
thinkers? Childhood Education, 85(4), 270-272. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.library.csn.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/210394237?
accountid=27953
Lever-Duffy, J., & McDonald, J. (2015). Teaching and Learning with Technology. Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Pearson
Montrieux, H., Vanderlinde, R., Schellens, T., & Marez, L. D. (2015). Teaching and learning with
mobile technology: A qualitative explorative study about the introduction of tablet
devices in secondary education. PLoS One, 10(12)
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0144008
Schweder, W., & Wissick, C. A. (2008). Content area applications. Journal of Special Education
Technology, 23(1), 54-58. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.library.csn.edu/login?
url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/228469797?accountid=27953
Skiba, D. J. (2011). Are you computing in the clouds? understanding cloud computing. Nursing
Education Perspectives, 32(4), 266-8. Retrieved from

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http://ezproxy.library.csn.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/894330516?
accountid=27953

new tech in schools and their advantages