Running Head: THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM 1

The Use of Technology in the Classrooms

Name

Northcentral University
THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM
2
The Use of Technology in the Classrooms

Last week I came across some articles which had an in depth discussion on the impact of

technology on education. Instantly, an idea sparked my mind on this interesting topic on how

technology was perceived by students in my high school generation and how it is negatively

affecting their academic performance more so with the emergence of iPads, iPhone and the

digital televisions. This idea revived the memories of how I was addicted by the use of

technological deceives during my high school career and how life could be without these

devices. However, in the current society, the concern for many American teachers is about usage

of technological devices by most of the students in the classrooms, a problem which is hard to

ignore.

In the current generation, technology is a major component of the high school students.

Besides, technology will be more integral for the younger generations considering that

technology keeps on evolving on a daily basis (Asamoah, 2019). Therefore, technology use in

the future is not expected to decrease rather it is expected to grow rapidly every year. Notably,

technology in classrooms has led to the loss of focus for majority of the students in the in the

current schooling system. This has cause more students to become poor problem solvers in

relation to critical thinking challenges. The usage of technological devices in class rooms has

hampered the learning ability of majority of the students in the current schooling program.

Notably, technology was initially used in the schooling system to obstruct students’ focus

on scholastic tasks. It is without doubt that majority of the students’ dislike school and perceive

schooling as a boring aspect of life. Besides, when the use of technology had not been advocated

for in the schools, students that were not interested in a certain subject found it hard to escape the

listening to the teacher. However, with the evolution of technology and the advocacy of
THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM
3
technology in the school, students are in a position to turn their phones whenever they are bored

during the class hours. Besides, technology has advanced, perceived making it easier for students

to be use phones as a distraction tool during a learning process. According to Asamoah, (2019),

the ability of students to focus on schoolwork has largely decreased with the rise of technology.

His went ahead to support his claims by examining a surveys carried out by Pew Internet project.

The survey’s purpose was to examine how the students in the modern generation have

been affect by technology negatively and the impossibility posed by technology for students to

remain focused on school activities. Based on the article the author states that there is belief

among the teacher and the students that frequent use of the technological devices is hindering the

students’ attention span. The author went ahead to prove the claim by showing how the have

noticed a massive decline on the students’ ability to focus in the eight hours span they interact

with them. Besides, considering that the survey was conducted on different teachers from

different learning institutions, it is impossible to ignore the evidence plotted against them

(Gerakios, 2019).

In addition, teacher have noticed an alarming reduction of classroom attention for

majority of the students in the current generation. Besides, they state that the situation has

worsened with the introduction of technological devices in the classrooms. Likewise, Gerakios,

(2019), also agreed that the focus span of students in the current society has greatly diminished

stating that technology is to be blamed for the witnessed decline. To back up his claims, he again

backed his claim by following a study which had been conducted by a Duke University professor

where he stated that technology was negatively impacting our young generation considering that

they use they computer and technological devices for other purposes other than learning. He

went ahead to state that several studies had been carried out in the recent past supporting the
THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM
4
claim. For instance, in most case students use their technological devices to stream videos and

login the social media network like the Facebook, Instagram or Twitter instead of utilizing the

devices for learning purposes (Gerakios, 2019). Besides, students find it easy to spend time in

this sites than educational sites which could be helpful to them hence developing they learning

process. In return this affect their learning performance in the long run.

Moreover, the excessive use of technology in the classroom has lowered the students’

ability to think critically for solution in complex problems. Besides, studies have shown that the

students ability to navigate through different academic challenges has been affected negatively

by the excessive use of technology on the classrooms. In addition, the impact is more adverse for

the students whose parents give their children unlimited access to technological devices like

phones, television and video games (Singh, 2020).

In relation to subjects, whether science, English or math, there has been a challenge for

students to confidently solve the problems posed in these subjects and any other subject. Besides,

with the use of technological devices in the classroom, students have stopped to use their critical

thinking skills, instead they rely on the internet for solution to their complicated problems.

Therefore, instead of working hard to try and solve different solutions they turn for the solved

solutions causing them to slowly lose their ability to think critically an aspect which is

fundamental in the adulthood stage. Therefore, it is important for people to realize the looming

problem posed by technology, by preserving the students’ ability to critically solve problems as

other researches have stated (Singh, 2020).

Additionally, the students’ ability to solve different challenges has also been

acknowledged as an issue due technology use. Asamoah, (2019), discussed about the students’

inability to solve different challenges. In the research he conducted amongst teacher, he stated
THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM
5
that it was clear that students were lacking the ability to read different passages assigned to them.

Besides, a student cannot become a good writer by watching texting, watching YouTube or using

the email. The use of technological devices as lead to a significant shift of attention on students’

aspect of being proactive to barely even be in a position to read a simple paragraph in high

school. Therefore, the students’ inability to read has been associated with technology as it has

deprived the students’ ability to engage in semi-meaningful actions which complement their

ability to solve different problems.

However, to curb the aspect of use of technology in the classroom, their need to be laid

out guidelines to curb the issue. First, the school management have to develop specified

guidelines which will control the usage of technological devices in the classrooms. That is, the

school managements and teachers have to develop an electrics policy. This will help the students

develop electronic etiquette which enables them to be more accountable. The second aspect is

the establishment of consequences if a student disrupts a classroom section using a technological

device. Sanctions always act a deterrence factor in many scenarios.

Therefore, if there are consequences associated to use of technological devices in the

classrooms, this may force the students to conform and adhere to the set rules. Third is using of

key phrases to restore students focus (Unser, 2017). Besides, we are living in a modern world

where students have the ability to access technology at a very young age hence their class focus

might frequently be draw away, therefore teachers should in a position to develop captivating

words which enables them draw the attention of the students back. Fourth aspect is by assigning

the students more practical assignments which do not require the internet search or assistance

from any technological device. This will help the students develop the ability to critically think

while improving their skill to solve problems. Besides this will help the students learn that the
THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM
6
internet is not the solution to everything rather they can solve academic challenges without the

assistance of the technology (Unser, 2017).

Conclusively, the use of technology in the classrooms has greatly be implicated in the

students’ performance. The excessive use of technological devices in the classrooms has greatly

lowered the students’ ability to solve complex problems. This is because technology has replaced

the students’ ability to engage in practical activities which exposes them to challenges which

require critical thinking skills. Besides, the technological devices also provide the students with

ways of solving problems without actual thinking, an aspect which is lowering the students’

ability to solve critical problems.

Technology dependence has also caused the students’ inability to solve multifaceted

challenges. However, to solve this problem there are four major aspects which teacher can

integrate in the learning process to help curb the issue of phone usage in the classrooms which

include, develop specified guidelines which will control the usage of technological devices in the

classrooms. The second aspect is establishment of consequences if a student disrupts a classroom

section using a technological device. Third is using of key phrases to restore students focus and

lastly is assigning the students more practical assignments which do not require the internet

search or assistance from any technological device.

THE USE OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM
7

References

Asamoah, M. K. (2019). The two side coin of the online social media: eradicating the negatives

and augmenting the positives. International Journal of Ethics Education, 4(1), 3-21.

Gerakios, P. (2019). Education in the Computer Age: Information Technology and Its

Effects. Reflective Practice in Teaching: Pre-service Teachers and the Lens of Life

Experience, 119.

Singh, M. (2020). Impact of Technology In Indian Education System. Advance and Innovative

Research, 349.

Unser, C. E. (2017). A Study on the positives and negatives of using technology in the

classroom.