The Discussion of Technology use in Classrooms

By Amy McCarron

Stonehill News Blog Staff

The topic of technology in classrooms is a big discussion in our society with all the new technology these days. Using laptops for college exams reduced student scores slightly, according to a recent study aimed at gathering information on whether laptops should be banned, Elizabeth Stringer Keefe, co-author of Remixing the Curriculum: The Teacher’s Guide to Technology in the Classroom discussed her thoughts on this topic, and Nicole Yanoff, a student at the University of Delaware also gave her input on this topic that she is very interested in. While researchers continue studying technology in the classroom, educators and students are navigating whether and when technology works in academic settings as well. 

Computers are such a big part of the K-12 curriculum as well as college which is why this study was conducted at West Point University to see if using laptops during class has an impact on students’ grades. This experiment was done during the spring semester of the 2014-2015 academic year as well as during the fall semester of the 2015-2016 academic year.

To conduct this experiment, they split up students in the Principles of Economics class into three different test groups. The first group was a “technology free” group where they were banned from using any technology, the second group was able to use their laptops in class, but only for note-taking or referencing material, however the professor could not monitor what the students were doing on their laptops but did have the power to stop the student from using their device if they seemed distracted from the class discussion. Lastly the third group was allowed to use tablets only such as their iPads but were forced to have their tablet flat on their desk. For the third group, professors could not completely monitor what students were doing on their iPads, so they could have been texting, playing games, etc.

Overall, the purpose of this experiment was to see if whether using laptops in class or not or the way in which the laptops were used had an impact on students’ overall final exam grade. The results of this experiment were based off the final exam scores of the students which showed that students who were prohibited from using laptops in class did best. The students who were in the class where laptop and tablet usage were allowed did the most poorly on the final exam.

According to the study titled Should Professors Ban Laptops by Susan Payne Carter, Kyle Greenberg, and Michael S. Walker published in the fall of 2017, “Our analysis indicates that unrestricted laptop use reduced students’ exam scores by 0.18 standard deviations relative to students for whom laptops were prohibited.”

Stringer Keefe, director of graduate education for Stonehill College’s Education Studies Department and co-author of books including Remixing the Curriculum: The Teacher’s Guide to Technology in the Classroom, has seen technology work well to benefit students.

Stringer Keefe was a public-school teacher prior to her work in teacher preparation which is what got her interested in the topic of technology in classrooms. When she was able to help her students, who could not otherwise access technology, she saw great results with students.

Stringer Keefe said new technologies are being introduced all the time and teachers need to experiment with them to see what works.

 “Tinker, you want to be willing to tinker with things you’ve never tried,” said Stringer Keefe. “Tinker leads to comfort.”

However, Stringer Keefe believes that teachers need to be comfortable with what they are using in their classroom. She does not think it is worth it to force something on a teacher who does not want to learn it.

Stringer Keefe mentioned how a lot of schools have completely stopped teaching students how to hand write. This shows how it is becoming less and less important to know how to hand write because as students get older and as time goes on, students use computers more than anything for homework, class notes, etc.

Nicole Yanoff, a freshman student at the University of Delaware, is someone who has always been interested in the topic of technology in the classroom. Yanoff was asked about her own experience with using technology in her classes.

“I always use my laptop in every single one of my classes. I have one notebook but honestly, I never use it. I think it is easier to get information down in classes if you type it because you can type faster than you can write,” said Yanoff.

Yanoff believes that despite the results of the study done at West Point University, she thinks that using laptops in class will better one’s performance in class. She believes that if one tries to hand write their class notes, they will not fully be engaged in the class because they will be too focused on figuring out what they missed, whereas if they type, they are less likely to miss anything because they can type faster.

Yanoff also believes that not only is it better for students to be able to use laptops in class, but she also said all teachers should be willing to teach their students using technology. Yanoff also thinks that teachers and professors should use technology because of the generation they are teaching.

“Technology plays such a huge role in kids’ lives these days. If teachers teach their students using technology, it will make the students focus better and be more engaged rather than if teachers were to just write on a white board,” Yanoff said. “It is impossible to not be surrounded by technology in this day and age.”