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Derek Roggenbuck Nancy Elliott English 111 12 November 2013 Is Technology Helping or Hindering Academic Development? Through the years, the presence of technology has become more and more prevalent in the learning experience of upcoming scholars. Whether it be online research techniques of Google, or the document sharing methods of email, technology can be a helpful tool to success. However, the effects of technology on students academic development could have negative results as well. Online search engines replace the traditional profession of tracking down a book, possibly making research too easy, as well as making plagiarism more and more effortless. The Internet brings me to ask the question, is technology really helping us? or is it hindering the ability to fully develop the minds of learning scholars. Some teachers believe that the only way to fully research and understand a topic is to do it the old fashion way, with a physical book or newspaper to hold in your hands. On the other hand, many teachers have adopted online teaching methods, making online videos for their students to take notes on. I personally was in an experimental partial online and partial in school class where the entirety of learning that went on was done over indirect video, then the time spent in class was dedicated to completing homework. This method was successful in the sense that if there were any questions on the homework, they could be answered. Although this technique was helpful for me, some of my classmates struggled with this concept. I, like most people find human contact essential to acquiring new information, which is the only reason I believe this process worked for me.

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A more innovative method that requires zero human contact is an online courses. In my experience, the effectiveness of online classes is far less than in class teaching, especially with math classes. The concept of an online math class to me is almost inconceivable. Numbers and equations need to be taught with verbal examples, not read off of a list and memorized until the test then forgotten minutes after. Anna Ya Ni, a professor at California State University analyzes the controversial effectiveness of online classes in her paper Comparing the Effectiveness of Classroom and Online Learning: Teaching Research Methods. Ni agreed that as access to the Internet and World Wide Web has continued to grow, public administration programs have increasingly adopted Web-based instructional mechanisms (199). Ni observed students taking the same course both online and in class at California State University. The name of the participants were kept confidential to protect the students identities. The students were allowed to choose between a face-to-face class setting or an online class based on their schedules, and general free decision. She displayed two hypotheses to be answered: differences in online and face-to-face learning effectiveness, and if there is no real difference between online and face-toface classes. Another point to look at is the differences in interaction in online and face to face classes. Karen Swan from the Research Center for Educational Technology at Kent State University defines interaction as reciprocal events involving at least two actors and/or objects and at least two actions in which the actors, objects, and events mutually influence each other (Swan, 4). She then describes that the interaction between a computer and a person is the person inputting information and the computer changes depending on what the person inputs. This however is the only form of interaction that online courses have to offer, and Swan explains that there are three

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different types of interaction that affect learning: peers, instructors, and content. All three types are important in determining how a student learns new information. Content interaction is how a students uses his information and resources efficiently. This is the only one that applies to online learning. Instructor interaction involves teaching, discussion, and everything else a teacher does with a student, and this varies depending on the student. The last type is peer, which you can only get in an online class through messaging and email. Online interaction can be perfect for some who are shy or soft spoken; however, I believe that face-to-face interaction between people helps us evolve and grow, so eliminating it from the learning process is negative. In the end there are pros and cons to both methods. The biggest positive attributes to online study is independence to work at your own pace and confidentiality to work by yourself. The biggest negative attribute is that the main source of information is through text and online lectures, where you can't ask direct questions to the instructor. The inability to ask physical questions eliminates the possibility of a physical answer. My definition of a physical answer is a verbal communication possibly coupled with text to answer a question. Physical answers help me because when I hear and see an answer to a question I remember better than just reading off a page. In my experience with online classes, there have been many different instances where I would have liked to ask the teacher a question, but couldn't because there was no way to ask him through email. Since the class was an online statistics class, when I asked a question, the only thing the instructor could do was tell me what page the lesson was on and an example. Obviously the lesson I had reviewed was confusing me, what I really needed was someone to verbally explain to me what the right way to execute the problem. This failure to communicate taught me to learn helplessness, which significantly reduced my grade in the class. The social

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type of interaction (including instructors and peers) is what I believe is the most important asset to succeeding in any learning environment. The idea that subjects can be taught over the Internet possibly over long distances is a rapidly expanding idea. The Department of Education groups online courses with distance learning, which they categorize as earlier technologies such as correspondence courses, educational television and video conferencing (13). Past studies have shown that these methods don't really help or hinder learning. So if theres no difference between online and in class courses then why isn't the whole worlds school systems governed by online classes? They obviously eliminate the cost of books, paper, pencils, and so on; also, an instructor doesn't have to be constantly watching students so he can handle more than a normal traditional classroom. Never the less, I believe the reason behind why we haven't turned into a cyber controlled academic system is because of the flaws I mentioned earlier; in other words, online isn't all its cracked up to be. However, another point the Department showed was that there is an increase in mixed online and in class courses (13). This mixed idea scares me the most because as I stated above, I participated in a class identical to this concept, and it was a disaster. Its seems like the more studies I look at the more I feel that my story is in the minority; however, many students will agree that there are more flaws than needed with online learning. Controversially the biggest flaw in online classes is the little effort it takes to cheat. Cheating is the greatest problem with any classroom full of peoples opinions as resources. When you make the classroom a personal computer, and the peoples opinions the near limitless information of the Internet, cheating becomes easier than ever. The Internet provides enough information to cheat on any subject imaginable. Kristyan Kouri, a sociology

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teacher of 17 years at California State University believes that quality of education should come before saving some money. The article A Culture of Cheating in Online Classes Kouri stated that there are two possible reasons for an increase of cheating in her class; one theory is the large amount of students squeezed in classes, another is that the format of online classes themselves are flawed (Kouri 2013). The oversized quantity of students per class makes it hard for instructors to monitor and thoroughly examine papers to check for plagiarism. My online statistics class, for example, has a total of 57 students headed by one instructor to oversee all assignments. I can only imagine that a class of that size, with all the discussion forums and written summaries to read, it must get overwhelming. She states that there is little to stop them from paying another student to take their exams for them (Kouri 2013). Since there is zero face-to-face contact with instructor and student, there really is no sure fire way of telling if a student is who they say they are. Because of the uncertainty factor that comes with this lack of contact, teachers are mostly forced to take the word of every student, hoping they are being honest. In conclusion, the independence that comes with online courses obviously makes cheating easier. For those students that are practicing this dishonest profession aren't absorbing the information from that class, and are ultimately cheating themselves. However, for those students that are genuinely giving the concept a honest and worthy attempt, online classes can be the perfect solution to those with limited schedules or limited funds. Whether it be a mother wanting to earn a degree, an ambitious information-starved student, or simply a person who wants to work at their own pace, an online class can be the solution. Because a person can work at their own pace, they can finish courses and earn degrees in possibly a shorter time, which allows them to get a job and start making money faster.

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Another reason people may lean towards the online method of learning is how much cheaper it is to get an education. William Bowen, president emeritus of Princeton University made a point that although cost should not be the main point of focus on education, it is always on peoples minds, which I fully agree with (2). Next he states that online classes are going to continue to get more and more popular because of the economy, and financial status of the public (Bowen, 7). Which brings be to his last important point which is that us students can't be automatically skeptical of the online teaching method; as well as to be patient because as teachers and institutions get more advanced the productivity will improve. In conclusion, no one really knows how to get online learning to a more successful, productive, and honest. I believe that there are ways to improve the system. For example, as Kouri stated, theres not really a way to tell if kids are cheating on their courses; however, as technology advances, there are more tools to access. A weekly video chat between instructor and student to verbally test the student to make sure theyre fully learning the information. On the other hand, as Kouri also stated, the amount of students assigned to a certain class is increasing, which would make a weekly video chat with every student impossible. My solution to this problem would be to assign more instructors to sections of a class to lighten the load on each teacher, and to further assure students are being honest. As far as the inability to learn mathematics over the Internet, that may just be my problem; however, my first math class was successful because I could ask my questions to a real life teacher. So, I believe the future of online classes relies mostly on the ability to compromise with verbal and total indirect contact between instructor and student. Hopefully, a solution can be made to solve these problems in the

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future, but I believe it is a simple as waiting for time to present new technology and fix bugs in the online learning method.

Works Cited Ni, Anna Ya. "Comparing the Effectiveness of Classroom and Online Learning: Teaching Research Methods." Journal of Public Affairs Education (2012): 199-212. Web. 7 Nov. 2013.

Swan, K. (2003). Learning effectiveness: what the research tells us. In J. Bourne & J. C. Moore (Eds) Elements of Quality Online Education, Practice and Direction. Needham, MA: Sloan Center for Online Education, 13-45.

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development,Evaluation of Evidence-Based Practices in Online Learning: A MetaAnalysis and Review of Online Learning Studies, Washington, D.C., 2010.

Kouri, Kristyan. "News." A Culture of Cheating in Online Classes. Los Angeles Daily News, 30 July 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.

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Bowen, William G. "The Potential for Online Learning: Promises and Pitfalls." Educause. N.p., 7 Oct. 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.

IDEAs Not Studies---(facts) IDEAS!!!! Cite after quote (lst nme, #). chain ideas off each other Transition 1 source per page (or almost a page) 5 Sources How to change online learning (to be more successful) Using Past Sources 1) http://www.naspaa.org/jpaemessenger/Article/VOL19-2/03_Ni.pdf 2) http://cguevara.commons.gc.cuny.edu/files/2009/09/learning-effectiveness.pdf 3)http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf 4)http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20130731/a-culture-of-cheating-in-onlineclasses-kristyan-kouri 5)http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/potential-online-learning-promises-and-pitfalls