Link: https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/lightyellow3/
Author: Jenny Zou
Jenny Zou Outline
Hook: Have you ever looked through your bookbag and found hundreds of pieces of looseleaf paper that are scattered everywhere; a crumpled artwork or a half ripped calculus homework sticking out of your folder? Have you tried to do your history homework that’s due next period in your math class where you wished you had your phone?
Statement of the problem/debate: The lack of school funds makes checking out computer carts a pain in the ass for many teachers. Those who end up without one just give up and try some other day. There are also teachers who even question the use of technology in classrooms. Is it really benefiting students or are they hindering academic progress? Studies showed how there are actually more benefits as to drawbacks from incorporating technology in classrooms.
Thesis Statement: Technology is critical to student performance as it offers a wide range of opportunities and information. Schools are at a disadvantage without access to new technology.
Body Paragraphs
Subargument #1: Has an obvious impact on student grades.
Support 1: “Students with full access to technology scored at least half a standard deviation higher on the NAEP, relative to those without access.” (Blagg & Luetmer, 2020) Study from NAEP showed how the older you get, the bigger the impact it is with/without technology use. It can be shown by the achievement gaps between these two groups of students.
Support 2: “For example, Massachusetts, which posted the highest 8th grade math scores on the 2019 NAEP, also reported the highest percentage of 8th graders with access to the internet and a computer at home (93 percent, tied with New Jersey). However, the small number of 8th graders surveyed in Massachusetts without access to a device and/or the internet at home are, on average, more than 40 months of learning behind their peers with technology.”(Blagg & Luetmer, 2020)
Support 3: Online learning/Covid-19. Keeps students on track and learning even on times where they can’t meet face-to-face with teachers. An example would be during Covid, where we can’t imagine how school will be like without technology. Students might go on for several months or even years without education.
Subargument #2: Development of skills
Support 1: Encourages self-paced learning. Those who need extra help can make time out of classrooms to practice and catch up. Resources are accessible 24/7. Students learn to self-teach in areas where they feel are lacking. (Himmelsbach, 2021)
Support 2: Problem solving skills. “Children need to know how to search, research and frame the question they are really asking, and this is a vital skill that learning technology develops. Learning how to code can help nurture the problem-solving skills that are central to success in formal education and beyond.” (Immerse Education, 2021)
Support 3: “Children who don’t develop technological expertise will be left behind in the digital revolution. They may also miss out on the secondary benefits of learning technology skills, such as building problem-solving and logic skills. It’s been proven that learning new skills also equips children with a developmental mindset, which also improves learning agility (quote research).” (Immerse Education, 2021)
Subargument #3: Offers unlimited resources, opportunities and information.
Support 1: “Help keep both students and teachers organized. They have so much access that I can say ‘Okay let’s look this up’ and you can find it where your book restricts you to just what’s in this book but it’s finding a way to implement it only one needed. ” ( LilPesono11, 2015) Students aren’t only limited to textbook information, but also all the information out there.
Support 2: “Schools can use digital resources in a variety of ways to support teaching and learning. Electronic grade books, digital portfolios, learning games, and real-time feedback on teacher and student performance, are a few ways that technology can be utilized to power learning.” (DOE, n.d)
Support 3: “Online learning has the potential to improve educational productivity by accelerating the rate of learning, taking advantage of learning time outside of school hours, reducing the cost of instructional materials, and better utilizing teacher time. These strategies can be particularly useful in rural areas where blended or online learning can help teachers and students in remote areas overcome distance.” (DOE, n.d)
Counterclaim: Technology is hurting students both physically and mentally.
Support 1: Technology serves as a big distraction to students, since it’s so easy to change from tab to tab. It’s too easy to lose students during lectures. (LilPesono11, 2015)
Support 2: Another problem is penmanship. Students are losing the ability to write or read handwritings. (LilPesono11, 2015) A teacher explains how some students weren’t able to read her handwriting on the chalkboard which was normally in scriptive where they had learned when they were young.
Rebuttal: “teachers reported individual students performing better. Self-esteem and motivation were measured and reported to be strong at all sites Student attendance was up, and instances of discipline problems in ACOT classrooms ranged from zero to few.” (Educational Leadership, 1991)This shows the Changes from no technology to after technology was implemented in classrooms. The shift in attitude from teachers also proved the importance of tech on student performance. As long as there is a balance between the use of technology and learning, it can become a powerful learning tool for students.
Conclusion: Technology use in classrooms has never-ending benefits for students. It’s important for schools to implement new technology in lessons as well as for school, in general. However, one major setback is not having enough funding for schools or families who aren’t able to afford them.
Sources
Himmelsbach, V. (2021, January 11). How does technology impact student learning? Retrieved April 19, 2021, from https://tophat.com/blog/how-does-technology-impact-student-learning/
Immerse Education. (2021, January 14). Why are technology skills so important to today’s students? Retrieved April 19, 2021, from https://www.immerse.education/articles/why-are-tech-skills-so-important-to-todays-students/
LilPesono11. (2015, February 18). Pros and cons of implementing technology in the classroom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7mq-HOU62c
Blagg, K., & Luetmer, G. (2020, April 28). Even before the pandemic, students with limited technology access lagged behind their peers. https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/even-pandemic-students-limited-technology-access-lagged-behind-their-peers
Use of technology in teaching and learning. (n.d.). Retrieved April 19, 2021, from https://www.ed.gov/oii-news/use-technology-teaching-and-learning
Educational Leadership (1991, May). Changes in Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices in Technology-Rich Classrooms.
Jenny Zou Synthesis Letter
Topic: Technology vs Education
Research Question:
1.What are the positive effects technology has on schools in the U.S?2.How are schools at a disadvantage without access to new technology?
Synthesis Letter:
Dear Professor,
While researching technology impacts on school, I encountered many problems and I kept losing myself. I realized many articles were either repetitive or just weren’t too related to my topic. Scholarly articles were also really hard to find, so it was a long and complicated process. However I did come past several good points on technology benefits that I might’ve missed or haven’t thought about. Statistics from interviews or personal reports also gave me a further understanding on my topic.
My first article talks about the benefits of technology use in classrooms. He lists out several good key points like the change in student-teacher roles and increase in self-motivation. Although he does include one small negative impact of technology (paying more attention to aesthetics rather than the actual assignment), his article sounds more of listing ideas rather than an argumentative one. Although it’s kind of obvious, there were still no signs of studies or statistics, so I can’t be so sure about the accuracy. My second article I found was quite similar to the first, but I felt it was stronger. The author has his own position/claim and uses strong words like “should” and “important to note”. She feels educators should take advantage of the fast-advancing technology to create a better learning environment to support student needs. She listed out several good points and included a counterclaim. She also mentioned Covid-19, a more recent problem which proved the importance of technology. Without access to these products, students would have a hard time catching up in their studies.
In my third article, it was a pdf I got from scholarly. I had a hard time converting it to APA format citations and couldn’t open it with a link, so I got it downloaded. My article was interesting. It talked about the step by step process of incorporating technology into classrooms. Teacher went from a questioning/worried tone to a more trustworthy attitude throughout the process, which clearly portrays the success of technology in education. Lastly, my video depicted a series of interviews from teachers to students talking about their experience or thought on technology. Many of them feel it was more beneficial and helped them stay organized. However, some also mentioned how technology can cause distractions(social media, youtube, etc) and impact engagement. There was a balance of pros and cons, which can help me support both sides of the argument.
I learned a lot through my research as I have seen the problem through several different perspectives. There were students, teachers, parents and even researchers. Overall, there was a more positive attitude towards technology so there is a lot that I can incorporate into my argumentative essay. This will allow my audience to think from a different perspective and see all the different outcomes and how these problems can be overcome.
Sincerely,
Jenny Zou
Jenny Zou Draft 1
Topic: Our group is researching on screen time as technology has quickly become one of our daily necessities. Definitely, screen time has many pros and cons but we decided to focus more on the positive effects.
Research Question: What are the positive effects technology has on schools in the U.S? [Think about how this question will set you up to make an argument in your essay. It might be that you need to expand this idea. For example, you might want to consider how schools without access to new technology are at a disadvantage and how this impacts students.]
Reference Entry #1: International, S. (n.d.). Effects of technology on classrooms and students. https://www2.ed.gov/pubs/EdReformStudies/EdTech/effectsstudents.html
Interesting Quotes and Paraphrases of Key Points:
“Experiences in developing the kinds of rich, multimedia products that can be produced with technology, particularly when the design is done collaboratively so that students experience their peers’ reactions to their presentations, appear to support a greater awareness of audience needs and perspectives.”
I chose this quote because it was a point that I never thought of. When I create presentations, I focus a lot on the aesthetics. For example, I would take 2 whole minutes to find a perfect font for a specific slide or I would bold a certain word to make it stand out.
“Another effect of technology cited by a great majority of teachers is an increased inclination on the part of students to work cooperatively and to provide peer tutoring. While many of the classrooms we observed assigned technology-based projects to small groups of students, as discussed above, there was also considerable tutoring going on around the use of technology itself. Collaboration is fostered for obvious reasons when students are assigned to work in pairs or small groups for work at a limited number of computers. But even when each student has a computer, teachers note an increased frequency of students helping each other.”
Paraphrase: Teachers have noticed the increasing amount of tutoring online with the use of technology. It provides a more convenient way for students to ask questions and help each other on schoolwork. [This is a good paraphrase of the passage. Nice job.]
Summary of Main Ideas:
The author highlights several positive effects of technology on school. He brings up the active role of students in classrooms. Students become more motivated as they take initiative and improve on their technical skills. With the help of technology, they are able to complete more complex tasks and are open to the internet any time, whether it’s homework help or socializing. Bringing up the topic of aesthetics in projects again from above, the author talks about how teachers are often worried students spend more time on looking for fonts or images rather than focusing on the actual assignment. The author then explains how this isn’t much of a problem as teachers can “limit the number of fonts and the font size”. [Is this a research experiment or is the author just sharing their opinions about technology in the classroom?]
Analysis: I feel like the author brings up several good benefits of technology, especially the aesthetics part and change in roles; which I never thought of. He gives a thorough explanation to each of them but there weren’t many cons that I was expecting. [Your analysis is too short and it’s missing information about how this source will connect to your research question(s).]
Reference Entry #2: How important is technology in education? Benefits, challenges, and impact on students. (2020, June 25). https://soeonline.american.edu/blog/technology-in-education
Interesting Quotes and Paraphrases of Key Points:
“Access is an added concern — for example, not every school district has resources to provide students with a laptop, and internet connectivity can be unreliable in homes.”
I chose this quote because lack of resources are a major setback towards making technology accessible for everyone.
“the use of technology to tailor learning plans for each student is possible. Teachers can create lessons based on student interests and strengths. An added benefit is that students can learn at their own pace. When they need to review class material to get a better understanding of essential concepts, students can review videos in the lesson plan. The data generated through these online activities enable teachers to see which students struggled with certain subjects and offer additional assistance and support.”
Paraphrase: Being able to access technology 24/7 gives students a more flexible schedule. Students are able to watch recordings to review class material and get a personalized learning opportunity.
Summary of Main Ideas:
Technology has been a really important factor in education. As Covid-19 swept the U.S, it once again proved the importance of technology for school. Virtual classrooms, recorded meetings and other digital learning tools have fostered student learning. However, there are many challenges that are involved too. “despite growing interest in the use of AR, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technology, less than 10 percent of schools report having these tools in their classrooms, according to Project Tomorrow. Additional concerns include excessive screen time, the effectiveness of teachers using the technology, and worries about technology equity.” [As a general rule, we try to avoid using direct quotes in a summary. Instead, you should use your own words to explain the main ideas and some key details] As Covid came so suddenly, schools weren’t prepared to hand out resources(laptops/hotspots, etc) or make sure students were able to handle online courses. However studies showed how students felt more confident online as information was more accessible. Students are able to collaborate more with each other as communication becomes easier. Not only can teachers answer questions during class, but also provide one-on-one feedback. The author believes it’s important for teachers to familiarize themselves with technology and take advantage of learning opportunities.
Analysis: The author has a strong argument on how educators should take advantage of technology to better support student needs. He also showed both the pros and cons of technology, which I liked. There are many statistics from studies which I can include in my essay.
I think you are off to a good start with your sources. We’ll need to work on narrowing your focus a little bit so that you are able to write an argumentative essay later in the semester. You should also work on expanding your analysis for each entry.
Jenny Zou
Hello Everyone!
I’m Jenny, nice to meet you guys! I’m currently a Baruch freshie majoring in finance. I live in Bayside, Queens, but we’re planning to move in a few months. Looking forward to it!
As a first year student, everything has been so new to me. Last year I couldn’t even imagine myself going to college and becoming independent. I wasn’t sure how I was going to handle the sudden change until I felt how welcoming Baruch was and how friendly everyone was to each other.
I love extreme sports and mystery (horror-themed escape rooms!!) even though I get scared really easily. I would actually jump and hit you if you scare me from behind. I really hope after corona we can go get some fun and eat a lotttt. On free times, I also like watching dramas (mainly Chinese/Korean) and playing games, which can get out of hand sometimes.
I know it’s college, the workload is obviously going to be heavier and many of us are really bad at time management, but we’re in it together! Hold each other up when they need support, and I’m really looking forward to this class!