Laptop Computers: School Utilization and Student Achievement
It has become all too evident in today’s society that there is a need for a quality, successful education system. The need for skills in technology are also obvious. Schools across the nation are now trying to achieve both of these goals by providing a laptop computer to each student. Principal John Kozusko, an administrator at one such school claims, “It’s like a world apart. It’s changed the way teachers teach…the way they think about kids.” (Chute, 2000 ¶4) According to Speaker Rick Johnson of the Michigan House of Representatives, “Students have progressed from learning about computers to learning from them.” (Johnson, 2003,18) This paper will examine how laptops are being utilized in schools and the effect that they have on student achievement.
Participation
The movement to use laptop computers to provide a first-rate education to all students has quickly been spreading across the nation. Throughout the United States, Microsoft has counted more than 125,000 students and teachers at 800 schools participating in such programs. (Chute, 2000) In researching this topic, I have found documentation of programs in elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools in a number of different states. These states include, but are not limited to, New York, Maine, Pennsylvania, California, Michigan, and Texas.
Some schools fund the program on their own, often starting with a pilot program and expanding as funds become available. (Seeing is, nd) Others collaborate with corporations such as Microsoft and Netschools. (Chute, 2000) Additional funding has come from sources such as business donations, personal monies, federal funds, and bond money. (Corcoran, 2002)
Laptop Usage
The cases described throughout this paper all include schools that provided laptops for students and/or teachers so that the student to computer ratio was 1:1. As stated above, for some schools this was done with a pilot group, while other schools provided computers to all students. Students are then required to bring their laptop to class, ready to use, just as they must bring their textbooks, pencils, and other necessary materials. (Chute, 2000) They are also responsible for charging the battery for their computer and transporting their computer to and from school on a daily basis. How the computer is equipped varies depending on the make of the computer and the operating system and firewalls set up by the schools.
Andrew Zucker examines computer use in the United States in both elementary and secondary education. It addresses issues such as teacher training, technology availability at home and in schools, and current technology projects that were ongoing at this time. The article ends by discussing computer usage in schools in a larger context, which provides a different perspective on educational technology.
Unless you have lived under a rock for the past 30 years, chances are that you own at least one personal computer or other electronic device. Everywhere you turn, you find an electronic device being used by someone. Technology has been so deeply integrated with our society; some even consider it "odd" to be without some kind of peronal electronic device. But computers aren't restricted to personal use; computers have also been laregly integrated into classrooms as well. So with the ever increasing use of technology, there begs the question: what is it all worth, is it even helpful or necessary? Does the use of computers within the school system effect students in a positive or a negative way?
Tennis is played by many professionals all around the world. For professionals, such as Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and many others, there are four grand
Technology is becoming more and more dominant in our society.Everyday upgrades are being made and new innovations are being discovered. Technology is all around us whether we want it to be or not: it is the vehicles we drive, it can be found in our homes, and can even be found in the grocery store.Every place we look there is some type of technology.I believe technology has had a major impact on our school systems and is still impacting it today.There are those who do not agree, though, that technology has impacted our schools.Eric Gormly writes, “In fact, many theorists point out the overall impact of technology on education has been quite small, manifesting little discernible change in the classroom.” [1]Yes, there are some schools that are not as advanced as others, but many of them do have a significant amount of technology in them.I find it fascinating that so much technology has been incorporated into our classrooms, but I believe that, even with all of the positive aspects that are associated with technology, there are some negative and even dangerous aspects that should be taken into account.I will be sharing some of the equipment that has been used in the schools, how both the students and the teachers use the equipment, and also the positive and negative effects that technology has had on our schools.
It is true, of course, that performance enhancements can increase athletic ability, including stamina, strength and overall competitiveness. This puts an athlete at a competitive advantage over their competitors. Altitude training being one of many enhancements in sport is used to increase lung capacity, as well as increase training intensity. While at high altitudes the human body naturally increases the levels of erythropoietin, which is a chemical that releases red blood cells in the body. Red blood cells carry oxygen to the muscles, therefore increases oxygen levels in the muscles. Many people may not be aware of the serious dangers, and inconsistent, unpredictable results that accompany this enhancement. There are many possible outcomes of an athlete training at high altitude. One athlete may train at high altitude for months on end while following the suggested training, not have any symptom more than a headache, and return to sea level becoming a more valuable competitor. Another athlete could train following the same guidelines and be seriously ill, therefore not being able to train, reversing the purpose of altitude training. In fact adjustments to high altitudes are extremely difficult. Weight loss is unav...
Ever wondered the reason behind racial discrimination, sexual discrimination, children committing crime or violence? The main reason is that censorship is not properly imposed or there is a need of censorship in the society. Censorship is the suppression of ideas and information that certain people, individual, groups or government officials find it objectionable, offensive or dangerous on others. There are varieties of other definitions but all have in common the concept of withholding information and/or resources from those who seek it. Hence censorship is essential in society to eliminate discrimination on basis of race and sex, protect children, maintain stability and restore what censor sees as lost moral values. Censorship occurs when expressive materials like books, magazines, movies, videos, music or work of art are restricted to particular audiences based on their age or other characteristics. (http://www.ala.org/oif/intellectualfreedeomandcensorship.html)
The popular site, Facebook.com, has amassed more than one billion registrants since it started in February 2004. It is another social networking site, just like MySpace.com and Xanga.com, which is common to High School and College students. But this is no ordinary site; people’s lives literally revolve around Facebook. I have a Facebook account and log in at least once a day. I personally believe that Facebook is a fun and interactive site. However, some students may not feel that same way because they have encountered some negative aspects, aside from Facebook’s legal problems.
The development of technology in this country has been significant to the daily lives of Americans today. In the twenty-first century, one of the greatest accomplishments of technology is the use of laptops. People, such as students, are facing the fact that laptops have made their lives easier. Some colleges and universities have allowed that each student bring their personal laptops with internet connectivity to class while others believe they easily weaken the learning abilities of students instead of promoting and increasing learning in the classroom. Although personal laptops in the classroom have numerous advantages, there have also been frequent complaints from professors because laptops hinder with learning, and as a result should be banned from bringing them into the classroom since laptops can easily distract students, not every student can afford purchasing a laptop, and would prevent students from cheating or plagiarizing.
In today’s world, technology is transforming conventional methods of every facet of human life; from the way that we grow our crops, to the way that we communicate with one another. Technology has opened our minds to new ideas and even to new places, such as space exploration. Simply put, technology means applying science toward an objective and the outcome is advancement in modes of construction.
Internet access in schools has experienced an extreme increase within the last decade. By the fall of the year 2000, 98% of the public schools throughout the United States reported to be connected to the Internet (NCES, 2000). This is a reported 63% increase since the year 1994. Also in 2000, the ratio of computers to students was one to six, an increase from the 1994 ratio of one computer for every eleven students (Mendels, 1999). Aside from having Internet access in school libraries and computer labs, the abundance in individual classrooms has dramatically increased. This allows for Internet learning to be more readily available to students on a daily basis. Statistically over 70% of schools have this access in at least one of their classrooms (Mendels, 1999).
Andy Carvin states “ internet access in schools isn’t worth a hill of beans if teachers aren’t prepared to take full advantage of technology” (2000). Schools spend a lot of money on computer hardware and software as well as other technologies without realizing that many of their employees are unprepared to include them in their teaching and use them to their advantages. Educators often use technology as a classroom management tool rather than an educational one, allowing computer time as a reward for good behavior (Clark & Gorski, 2001). The problem with this is that students learn to use the computer for games and such because it is their reward instead of using it on their own time for educational purposes. This is teaching them the wrong idea. Margaret Honey, director of the Center for Children and Technology in NYC said it best, “The bottom line is, you don’t just put technology into schools or into homes and expect miracles to happen. The technology is only as good as the program that surrounds it” (Meyer, 2002, p.2).
Children growing up in this generation are experiencing a greater impact from computers than in the past. In the past, children and adult, could make a life without a computer, as it wasn’t a necessity or found to be all that useful from time to time. A higher level of dependency on these computers has been established, and society only has more to come in the future. The technology that comes with these complex machines is becoming more developed and is making everyday tasks simpler for most. Computers have changed our nation in many ways, from the way we operate to the accessibility of worldwide resources such as the Internet we use frequently today. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the fluctuation of the influence of computers on a child’s education in their early years, as it has been in the past, how it is in the present, and how it might be in the future.
The use of computers in school classrooms has evolved throughout the years, and has become revolutionary in changing the way we teach and learn. Our classrooms should no longer be confined to four walls and a few teachers who are considered to be experts in knowledge. Our classrooms need to keep up with a changing society and a new world that is dependent on technology. As students graduate, they need the technological skills needed to thrive in a world in which technology sets the pace. Society expects the school system to produce functional citizens who have the skills to gain profitable employment, and not be a drain on the system.
Collis, B., Knezek, G., Kwok-Wing, L., Miyashita, K., Pelgrum, W., Plomp, T., & Sakamoto, T. (1996). Children and Computers in School. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Nowadays, we are living in the “ technology world”, digital’s century, science and technology are being devolopped like a rain-storm, people try their best effect to serve for human’s infiniti demand. Internet in general and social network in particular are exceedingly funtional tools. Indeed, with over 1.3 billion active users in June,2014 ( Wikipedia), there is no suprise that Facebook has been becoming a leading social network in the world, “Facebook was not originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission - to make the world more open and connected” – CEO of Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg (google). Facebook truthly brought many useful; however, it is still “ a double-edged sword”.