Can Education and Technology Coexist? by Cassandra

Can Education and Technology Coexist? by Cassandra - January 2020 Scholarship Essay

During Elementary, I was part of an accelerated program along with a few other kids in my class. We had high grades and often finished our assignments early. After finishing our assignments, we either helped our peers, or simply sat there. Then our teacher got a set of classroom iPads. Now when we finished our work, we had the ability to log onto the iPads and do things that would help further our learning such as educational games, books, or websites that gave us practice math, science and English questions. Technology is beneficial in the classroom as long as it is used correctly, and the teacher is actively engaged in using the technology.
Starting technology at a young age can be very beneficial if it is used properly. Using a movie to help quiet down a crying toddler or letting a young child play games on a phone to ease boredom may seem to help in the moment. However, in the long term, they learn to rely on their phones, just like today’s teenagers do. Investing in laptops or iPads for classrooms to help with research, assignments and communication has been a huge help for students. Many teachers dislike phones in the classroom because it distracts from the learning. I use my phone to input homework and test dates, do research and even some of my assignments. Many other teachers create online review games or flashcards which are a huge help to me and are typically only accessible by phone.
The style of teaching varies from teacher to teacher. Some teachers plan hands on activities to help demonstrate the lesson, while others just read the lesson plan. I have teachers who make PowerPoints for the days information and simply read what is on the slide without explaining the topic or showing how it is relevant to the unit. You can’t learn how to factor a quadratic equation by simply looking at the equation and the answer with no explanation of what to do or why. We have many different kinds of technology to help us to learn and understand the world around us, why not use it? Even if the teacher doesn’t do activities that relate to the lesson, making sure to explain the topic and citing other resources to explore the details in depth is just as important as showing the information.
Technology has many uses in our daily lives. It wakes us up in the mornings, reminds us to take medications and go to appointments, orders our groceries. We depend on technology to get us through a good portion of life. It gets us through school. Using technology to further education is a huge benefit, but only if it is used correctly and the teacher is willing to take the step to make it involved in the lessons.