Technology in the Classroom: A Prospective Research Study
The introduction of technology to a classroom or a school facilitates growth in students of all levels. With access to computers, laptops, smartboards, and other “smart” technology, students are more motivated to learn material and are poised to show greater academic success than those of a traditional classroom (Harris & Adel, 2015; Hillman, 2014). The introduction of technology shifted the classroom dynamic from being mostly dependent on the instructor to guide students to being self-driven by the students themselves. However, the reliance on this technology cause concerns that even though there is academic success, students can develop an addiction to the technology (Sert et al., 2019). Wealthier socioeconomic nations, schools, and families have easier access to this technologies and possible treatments/therapies if a student could develop an addiction to the technology. There have been attempts to give this technology to developing countries, but there are high logistical barriers even to slowly introduce this technology to these regions (Touray et al., 2013; Bhuasiri et al., 2012). This proposed research will create a pilot program at a school in a developing country to understand these logistical hurdles in practice and see if the students reflect some of the correlation between the access to technology and academic success as seen in more developed countries.
The population being studied are primary school and secondary school students (ages 12–17). Providing access to students during these formative years will allow them to discover passions that they would not know of without the access of technology. The technology would allow them access to resources to pursue these passions. In more general terms, this access gives them the skills and technical ability to be able to keep up with those with easier access to this technology giving them an edge.
This study would follow specific individuals over the course of their academic careers throughout these formative years starting in primary school ending in secondary school. The initial months (1–3) would be taken as a period of the users getting used to the technology. This could give insights to the nature of a device’s learnability, but that is not the main aspect of the study. Academic success and habit tracking based on the use of the technology during school hours will be tracked to see if the correlation seen in more developed nations can be seen as a universal concept.
The technology given to these students will be refurbished smart devices. For the primary school students, they will receive iPads. Upon secondary school, they will receive refurbished laptops. The secondary school students will have access to laptops and the iPad. These devices will only be available during school hours as to protect them from damage and theft. This will be the most difficult aspect of the program. To give them proper access to this technology, Wi-Fi, access points, networks, and stable cable connections are necessary.
Teachers will first need to learn the capabilities of the technology as it may be the case that they have never interacted with this technology. Because of this learning period, an allocated 3–4 months prior to giving students access to this technology will be devoted to teaching the instructors about the technology and its capabilities. After getting used to the technology, teachers will have to learn how to incorporate this technology into lesson plans.
Bibliography
Bhuasiri, Wannasiri, et al. “Critical success factors for e-learning in developing countries: A comparative analysis between ICT experts and faculty.” Computers & Education 58.2 (2012): 843–855.
Harris, Jennifer, and Adel Al-Bataineh. “One to one technology and its effect on student academic achievement and motivation.” Global Learn. Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), 2015.
Hillman, T. (2014). Finding space for student innovative practices with technology in the classroom. Learning, Media and Technology, 39(2), 169–183
Mo, S. (2011). Evidence on instructional technology and student engagement in an auditing course. Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 15(4), 149.
Sert, Havva, et al. “Effect of technology addiction on academic success and fatigue among Turkish university students.” Fatigue: Biomedicine, Health & Behavior 7.1 (2019): 41–51.
Touray, Almamy, Airi Salminen, and Anja Mursu. “ICT barriers and critical success factors in developing countries.” The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries 56.1 (2013): 1–17.
