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Monique Porter Dr. Gary Pinkston Computers in Education R531 24 February 2014 Educational Technology Today Technology and the affects it has on education has been the topic of discussion for years. Politicians, teachers, scholars, and parents have all argued the pros and cons of having technology invade the lives of children in the educational system. There are social, legal, and ethical issues that have a dramatic effect on how education looks in our society related to how it is approached in the realm of teaching. In the late 80s and early 90s, students were exposed to computers as a tool for writing and playing games. I remember in 5th grade going to the computer lab to learn how to type by playing a typing game once a week and that was about it. During this time period computers were in the homes of rich and upper middle class families, mostly white families. Today, there are multiple technological devices found in the homes of almost all of our students. A person could find tablets, desktops, laptops, and smart phones in the classrooms and in the homes. It wasnt very common as it is today to find multiple computers in every classroom or being used by students. Yet, with the coming of age, computers started to become more and more important in the world of education. By the mid-90s, the states and the local education systems started to realize the importance of technology. Grants from companies like DELL, Microsoft, Macintosh, and state money were being created to help support some schools with computer labs and instructional

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training for teachers to be able to incorporate technology in the classroom. School courses were being incorporated in schools, so students male and female could be exposed to the possibility of being a part of this growing technological age. But there was still a problem, more males than females were jumping on that train to engineering success. The video gaming industry presented itself as a male content driven business. In the community, video games consisted of fighting, car racing, shooting, battle games and the like. Males seemed more apt to wanting to seek further knowledge on the process of being a part of such a fascinating and fast growing trade. Thus, the majority of females didnt find an interest in it until recently. Today there are many women in the field, but not enough to equal their male counterparts. School systems are taking notice and trying to develop programs to get girls more involved computer science and engineering. Nevertheless, there were still issues. With the opening of the World Wide Web, teachers began to wonder about their privacy and the privacy of their students. Computer hacking and file stealing became a big problem not only in the schools, but in the community. By the year 2000, kids and adults were breaking music and online publication copyright laws. More cyber safety laws and computer protecting software like firewalls, Norton Security, MacAfee security, etc. were created to help stop a lot of stealing and invading of personal information, but even today individuals who are tech savvy and have criminal intent find ways around it. As Technology started to evolve, so did our classrooms and students. This brought along the issue of the Digital Divide. At first it was just about schools obtaining the finance resources to provided classrooms with computers and internet connectivity. Later, it became the separation of students who have access and parental support for technology use in the home and the ones who did not. Parents who were actively evolved in their students education were able to guide and monitor their technology use. Whereas, students who did not have the support or the devices

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where at a lost. They couldnt really get the full benefit of being engaged and practicing what they learned in school with the use of technology, because they didnt have the tools at home. Another problem was presented by a former administrator of Paul Cuffee School in Providence, RI, Michael Obel-Omia. Obel-Omia Stated: It may be exciting to put a laptop or iPad into every students hand. But if it doesnt teach critical thinking, reflection, compassion, citizenshipis this the best investment for these kids? Skilled adults are needed in the lives of students to make an iPad more than a toy. As an educator, I have noticed that many teachers use the technology in their classrooms as a reward for students instead of a tool to enhance some of the qualities and skills listed above that are desperately need by our students. I also agree that if we provide educators with proper and meaningful training on the great uses and resources found on the tablets, SmartBoards, Laptops, and etc. they would have the knowledge and confidence in the resources to use them as an enhancement to their lessons rather than a projector for worksheets or a gaming center. For example, there is a new type of technology called Augmented Reality (AR). This program can enhance and provide more student participation to any lesson. What is does is it overlaps digital information on top of real-world surroundings and you can see it through a smart phone or tablet. It projects a 3-D image enhancing a persons view of his or her surroundings. There are programs for, reading, math, art, science, history, and just about anything under the sun. One really great program for educators to use with their students is the Augmented Reality Development Lab, developed by Digital Tech Frontier. It has prebuilt educational modules for all content areas as well as a module builder for building new software. Another one is Google

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SketchUp. This is an AR modeling program where teachers and students can assign simple attributes and create an engaging experience. AR is allowing the 2-D world to become interactive and exciting for students and teachers. It puts the device in their hands to help build spatial and temporal concepts, offers self-paced learning and opens the door to more collaborative interaction. Teachers can also integrate technology in a new teaching approach called Classroom Flipping. Flipping the classroom is where students learn about the content being taught outside of the classroom first through reading chapters and /or watching lecture videos. The class time is spent using what they have gained prior knowledge on to integrate problem solving, discussions, debates, and independent or collaborative projects. This approach allows the teacher and the students more time to interact meaningfully and provide a more hands- on minds-on environment. Unfortunately, there are some positive and negative outcomes to following this approach. The positives: 1. Provide an incentive for students to prepare for class. 2. Provides a mechanism to assess student understanding. 3. Provides in-class activities that focus on higher level cognitive activities.4. Provide an opportunity for students to gain first exposure prior to class (Brame, Flipping the Classroom). The Negatives: 1. Making videos, PowerPoint presentations and text interesting and not so time consuming. 2. Accountability for students utilizing the information given prior to the lesson. .3 Not enough feedback given by students, because they are not present during

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the creation of video lectures.4. Not enough proper instructional training on the approach for teachers (Digital Media in the Classroom, Pros and Cons of the Flipped Classroom). All in all, as technology continues to grow and transcend beyond imaginable dimension, education will soon have to start adapting and evolving to support the needs of this for ever changing force. Yes, there are always going to be social, legal, and ethical issues surrounding it, but as educators he have to train the students how to use and live with technology the right way. The students of today are high tech geniuses and they need all the guidance and support possible to succeed in the era of technology. As Teachers we have to come to the realization that enhancing our curriculum with technology is not a chore, but a way of differentiating the content and exposing the students to the outside world and challenging them to think outside the box.

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Work Cited Agarwal, Anant. "What Aspects of E-Learning Will Have the Biggest Impact in the Next Decade?" Social Issues in Computing. N.p., 16 Dec. 2019. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. <http://socialissues.cs.toronto.edu/2013/12/e-learning/>. Ashong, Carol Y. "JOLT - Journal of Online Learning and Teaching." JOLT - Journal of Online Learning and Teaching. N.p., 2008. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. <http://jolt.merlot.org/vol8no2/ashong_0612.htm>. Brame, Cynthia J. "Center for Teaching." CFT RSS. The Center for Teaching Vanderbilt University, 2008. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. CALVERT, SANDRA L. "Age, Ethnicity, and Socioeconomic Patterns in Early Computer Use." Age, Ethnicity, and Socioeconomic Patterns in Early Computer Use 48.5 (2005): 590-607. Sage Publication, Jan. 2005. Web. Day, Lori. "Bridging the New Digital Divide." Edutopia. N.p., 3 Jan. 2013. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. <http://www.edutopia.org/blog/bridging-the-new-digital-divide-lori-day>. Houghton, Robert. "Social, Legal and Ethical Issues Chapter: Computers in Education." Social, Legal and Ethical Issues Chapter: Computers in Education. N.p., 2006. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. <http://www.wcu.edu/ceap/houghton/edelcompeduc/Ch13/Ch13SocialLegalEthical.html>. Lina. "Augmented Reality in Class! It's Fabulous!" Edutopia. N.p., 3 Oct. 2013. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. <http://www.edutopia.org/groups/technology-tools/598441>.

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Pros and Cons of The Flipped Classroom." TeachHUB. Digital Media in the Classroom, 2009. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. Sams Aaron, and Brian Bennett. "The Truth about Flipped Learning | ESchool News." The Truth about Flipped Learning | ESchool News. N.p., 31 May 2012. Web. 23 Feb. 2014. <http://www.eschoolnews.com/2012/05/31/the-truth-about-flipped-learning/>. "Zero to Eight Childrens Media Use in America 2013." Commonsense Media (2013): 7-29. Web. 2014. <http://cdn2-d7.ec.commonsensemedia.org/sites/default/files/uploads/about_us/zeroto-eight-20131.pdf>.