Technology in Education 1

Running Head: Technology in Education

Technology has a Strong Future in Education

Rachel Mercer

William Carey University

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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

in today’s technology advanced global economy.

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

gap. Technology provides the opportunity to effectively engage students.

Today’s generation of students are communicating in ways that prior to technology

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

leverage this technology to our advantage. The possibility of synchronous in class

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

how to communicate appropriately after communicating in an abbreviated manner over long

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

learning on a level that they can comprehend.

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

possibilities that technology integrations provide education.

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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