Author: Daniel Andrade

 Daniel Andrade

Technology in Schools

HOST INTRO: Most grade schools in the United States have returned to in person learning, returning students to a classroom and back to a social environment. Many schools, however, are keeping technology a large part of students’ learning curriculum, using many different platforms such as Zoom, Teams, and Google Classroom. Daniel Andrade has the story. 

AMBI: 4^th grade Children’s classroom

TRACK: In a fourth grade classroom of Mission Kids Elementary, students are running amuck, playing games and excited to be surrounded by their peers. I am here with Jennifer Pandolfo, a mother of five and the Director of Mission Kids Elementary, who believes that while this increase of technology is necessary for the students, it may start doing more harm than good.

ACT: JENNIFER PANDOLFO: Everything is put on Google Classroom. We are able to use smartboards and have video-based curriculums, and that helps people who aren’t as good at teaching a lesson. Over the last couple years, they had to use their computers, that was all they had initially. It is not going away. So, I think it’s necessary for our children to learn it, but we have to be aware that maybe there is a point where it’s too much. 

AMBI: Silence

TRACK: While for college students, using technology to this extent would be beneficial in their professional careers, grade school students are now seeing this new expectation put on them. COVID seems to be the source of this boost in technological use, and middle school students have been the center of this new increase in technology. 

AMBI: Computers Typing in classroom

ACT: ETHAN BRITO: Everything was on paper. Nothing was really on a computer. They taught us about it in 3^rd grade, but I was like, “I’m never gonna use this”. And then COVID happened, and everything was on the computer… it never really made a transition back.

ACT: CARLOS MONATNEZ: When COVID hit, we started to use zoom, we used that for practically all our year of 2020. One of my teachers likes to call the kids from 2020, “COVID kids”. That’s all they know. All they know is Zoom and all that. They’re not used to the fact that we’re in school.

AMBI: Silence 

TRACK: We return to Jennifer Pandolfo, who is also a mother of five, to speak on how she manages her children’s technological usage.

ACT: JENNIFER PANDOLFO: They don’t even know how to write down assignments. They come home, they probably use the computer most of the day at school and then they come home and sit right in front of the computer. 

TRACK: She says they have to be very intentional about getting the students away from screens—however, for some students- especially those with special needs, it can be an especially great tool.

ACT: My second grader has a disability, and so technology has become a huge part, not necessarily any different than it would be, but I am happy for the technology that is available to her. For example, it is very difficult for her to write. And everybody says, “Oh, we’re just going to be using a computer” and it is true, she can navigate plucking letters on a computer easier than she can write a letter.

TRACK: Technology will not be going away. And while students do need to learn to increase their technological literacy, we need to be careful that we do not over saturate students and have them know more than looking at a computer screen. With The Baruch Times, this is Daniel Andrade.

Ambience: Classroom Noise

Host Intro: With things returning to normal after the COVID-19 pandemic, many young adults are beginning to go out and participate in activities in their communities again. I am here with Norbu Sherpa, a undergraduate student at Baruch College.

Track: Norbu Sherpa: Name is Norbu Sherpa. My favorite hobbies would be playing soccer and watching soccer. Soccer season normally starts Mid to late august and ends around the beginning of summer… Around May.

Act: He is involved in also involved in some soccer events throughout the city.

Track: Norbu Sherpa: I play in a club team around the city…The season has been good. There have been ups and downs. We are three to 2 right now, three wins two losses, but I think were slowly getting better and better every day.

Act: Sporting events are a large part of New York City culture, and the local sports teams returning to play again can only be good news for the city and those who are looking to return to events. With Baruch Times, this is Daniel Andrade.

Now that classes are back in person, many grade schools are no longer using online classes, however, most schools have integrated online learning heavily into their curriculum. According to the Washington Post, 40% of elementary students time in the classroom is now spent using laptops and tablets. I am curious to see if it is because of legitimate learning reasons, or if it is because that is the only way teachers can keep students entertained now.

I would like to see how this is affecting students, specifically those in elementary school who have historically not used technology heavily at that learning level, but due to the pandemic and an easier access to technology, the teachers and classes had to adjust.

I would like to speak with some teachers and students (and administration if the story pulls me there) to see what their perspective is on the situation and see how this increase in technological usage is beneficial to them. The class room noise (general talking, silence from being on the laptops, small taps from the keyboard) would be the background noise I would be using.

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