If you want to see your son or daughter succeed in academics, you need to make sure that he has all the latest software, a top of the line laptop, educational software, the fanciest graphing calculator and every new gizmo under the sun, right? Wrong! No study has shown an improvement in academic success as a result of use of laptops, 24/7 internet connectivity, special educational software and other technologic aids.
To make this issue more tangible, I would like to give an example of the two faces of technology in education. At my esteemed alma mater law school (which shall remain anonymous), the school created an initiative to become one the most wired law schools in the country in order to be recognized as one of the top technology schools in the country. Objectives included having laptop access for every student, having wireless internet in every classroom, and having the best electronic hardware and software available anywhere. The school was successful in its mission to hardwire the entire school. Academic benefits included making laptops available to everyone, even students who could not afford them, allowing each student to conduct relevant internet searches during class, and allowing many students greater efficiency with their work.
The downside of the new system, however, had to do with how students used the technology. Every class developed a spontaneous instant messaging room, and students would spend much of their class time instant messaging each other, or students would surf the internet on materials unrelated to school, including playing games. So did the new technology improve learning at the law school? It’s debatable, but probably not.
When evaluating technology, one must consider not only the potential benefits of the technology, but also consider how it is actually being used. I conducted a non-scientific, anonymous survey on utilization of laptops. When measured using time spent on various activities, instant messaging came up number one, at 25%. Social web sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, came in second, at 20%. Email was third, at 18%. Downloading music ranked fourth, at 15%. Fifth, at 8%, was accessing adult-related sites, but this seemed more prevalent among males. Sixth, at 5%, was playing video games. Shopping came in seventh, at 6%, but this was more common among females. Doing school-related work came in eighth, at 4%. Did you catch that? Four percent of total laptop time is spent on schoolwork.
What is the conclusion to be drawn from this admittedly non-scientific survey? Technology has the potential to be a great learning tool. However, the benefits of such technology must be weighed against the potential distractions that such a device provides. For most students, in this author’s opinion, the harm outweighs the benefits.
How can a parent deal with this situation effectively? Let’s assume that a laptop is in the family budget. A parent can treat a laptop as a privilege, not a right. A student who shows responsibility in his affairs, keeps his grades up, does not engage in questionable activity, and surrounds himself with good people, will probably be able to handle a laptop in an appropriate manner. However, continued access should be conditioned on maintaining good behavioral and performance standards.
By and large, gadgetry and technology, including such amenities as instant messaging, text messaging, camera phones, and video games focus on short term rewards rather than longer terms goals and rewards. When students become accustomed to these short-term rewards, it gets harder for them to stay focused on anything that does not offer immediate gratification. Academic goal achievement offers few short term rewards; even grades can be petty abstract. Do you get more itunes because you made an A on a math test?
Another way of looking at it is that one classification of those who can only focus on short-term goals is the psychological condition called Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). So it’s not too much of a stretch to say that an over reliance and overexposure to technology may contribute to ADD. ADD students have trouble focusing for any period of time. This creates a barrier to academic achievement.
Are there benefits for the use of technology in academics? Yes. For example, there are tasks that a graphing calculator such as a TI-85 can do easily that are impractical with a pencil and paper. But the benefits are not as great as they might seem, and the risks of co-dependency on a piece of technology are real, to the extent that they encourage students to stop thinking for themselves, they are dangerous. Some students can make use of the technology in an appropriate way; others cannot student should be able to explain mathematical relationships and concepts without having to resort to technology. Technology in this model is used to confirm analytical results, and to handle certain applications that are simply too tedious to do by hand. If a student grabs a calculator to help him add fractions, then the calculator is a hindrance to educational progress.
In conclusion, technology for technology’s sake is not helpful for academic success. Technology is a tool that can and should be used as an enhancement for understanding, not a replacement for it. And technology can sometimes be more distracting than beneficial, such as instant messaging is for many students.