1. Amanda Brown Ashleigh Burry Erin Hansen Shannon McLean Jason Skeels Salamah Sulaiman
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3. Research shows that increased parental involvement improves student achievement
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Notes de l'éditeur
One of the major arguments for technology in schools is that it provides an equal opportunity for all students~ especially those who do not have access at home. It allows students to not be completely out-of-touch and they are exposed to current tools and resources available. As an article from Edtech Action Network states, “Technology is leveling the playing field, giving students and teachers who are challenged by their circumstances access to the education they need to succeed in the 21st century.” To see how parents felt about this, I surveyed my parents. Several of my students come from “challenged circumstances,” and do not have access at home. In a class of 27 students, there are 11 homes without computers and 14 without internet access. I asked the parents 4 questions…
When I received the surveys back, I looked at percentages for questions 1 and 4 and for common themes for the other two since parents were asked to write in their comments. (Read the data) So in the end, all of my parents felt the need for technology in schools and most of them felt that it allows their child to get exposure to things they cannot experience at home.
So in the end, all of my parents felt the need for technology in schools and most of them felt that it allows their child to get exposure to things they cannot experience at home.
Also using my survey, I focused on the two main disadvantages of technology which were mentioned by parents. (State the two main reasons, then go into the specifics for each) These two disadvantages have some easy solutions. First, the grade issue lies with the teacher. With all the differentiating teachers do on a daily basis, technology is another thing to consider. Technology needs to be tiered based on the needs of each student. First, give a weighted grade where the concept grade is given more weight than the technology. Second, help all students be successful. Those who need more help can be in the same area and those who are proficient can be given an extension activity. For example, when working in PowerPoint students who are proficient can explore turning it into a movie using MovieMaker. This allows the struggling students more time to work on the initial task. As far as resources at home, there are several ways parents can get access. The first way has been done in several schools across the nation. Students can get laptops from the library through a check-out process as done in Maine’s Learning Technology Initiative. Grants can be given to schools to provide them with funding to purchase cheap laptops such as Classroom PC and Everex Cloudbook. Also thanks to the Computer Donation Incentive Act started in 1997, companies are given incentives to donate used computers to needy homes. Techsoup and Sharetechnology.org are just some sites that can be used to find computer donations. Last but not least, let’s not forget our public library! They have internet and computer access for all residents~ and it’s free! Technology options like these help those students who need equitable access in order to be successful. Providing technology in schools is one way to help level the playing field.
Harold Wenglinsky did a study which he documented in, “Does it Compute: The Relationship between Educational Technology and Student Achievement in mathematics.” In the study, he concluded that the technology for 4 th and 8 th graders had “positive benefits” on achievement as measured in mathematical tests. However, he did argue that not all uses of technology were beneficial. He found that using computers to teach low order thinking skills was worse than doing absolutely nothing to reinforce the learning (Wenglinsky, 1998).