Does Technology Enhance Classroom Learning

Perceptions versus Practice Technology has an increasing role in education in recent years, with more grade school classrooms adopting the use of mobile technologies, such as tablets and laptops, to facilitate learning in formal educational settings. With internet access becoming the norm and mobile devices seeing their way into an increasing number of classrooms, we hope to understand the relationship between teachers’ positive perceptions of mobile devices and how those mobile devices are actually being used by the students.

This question is essential in understanding whether or not such costly technology initiatives are being used effectively and are directly translating to greater student productivity and increased learning.

The two articles explored in the paper will shed light on the debate, highlighting the positive perceptions teachers have towards implementing technologies and the possible distraction the devices pose to students in classroom settings. Later in the paper, a proposal for an observational study will be proposed, in hopes of providing a more direct correlation between classroom technology and academic aptitude.

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Based on the two studies, it will be apparent that there is a difference between the positive perceptions of technology’s effect on learning and the effectiveness of technology in the classroom based on use patterns.

Domingo & Garganté (2016) is a study of 102 teachers of 12 different primary schools in Spain, where teachers were asked about their perceptions of learning thanks to the use of mobile technology in the classroom, taking note of their perceptions of academic impact, frequency of relevant apps, and differences between users and non-users of each app.

One of the questions the researchers aimed to answer was: what is the impact of learning that teachers perceive achieve thanks to the use of mobile technology in the classroom? (Domingo & Garganté, 2016).

The goal was to measure the frequency of descriptive results, and gain a better understanding of teacher perceptions on technology’s impact. The 102 teachers were given online questionnaires consisting of three sections - one of which focused on the different positive impacts technology has the potential to create when implemented into the classroom. The questionnaire answers ranged from 1 = “strongly disagree” to 5 = “strongly agree” in response to different areas of learning.

Based on the questionnaire data, the researchers found that the minimum average score for any of the descriptive statistics of the learning impact of mobile technology in classrooms was 3.68 (out of 5), indicating that none of the categories received an overall score that would indicate strong disagreement or disagreement on the positive impacts of technology in classrooms. In general, teachers perceive technology to mainly facilitate access to information, provide new ways to learn, and increase engagement in learning.

On the contrary, teachers perceive technology to make a lesser impact on areas involving collaboration and communication. Although the perceptions of the use of technology from teachers, parents, and administrators are positive, how the technology is used and to what degree of effectiveness can contradict the expectations of school authorities. Howard et al., (2018) is a study which showed Australian schools that used tablets in preschool to 6th grade classrooms varied in their use of tablets, ranging from education-focused use as a supplement to the curriculum, to purely non-educational use as a reward during free time.

The researchers aimed to answer three questions regarding the types of apps that are used most frequently, the different patterns of app use, and how multiple app usage can relate to learning. The goal was to analyze the role and impact of the collection of apps being used to get a better understanding of how children are utilizing the technology in classrooms.

The researchers decided to utilize data mining to understand student app usage behavior, a method that allowed researchers to answer their three questions in-depth. The study utilized an app that would collect data on apps being used, allowing them to collect the machine ID, app name, app URL, timestamp, and duration of use (Howard et al., 2018).

The analysis data followed three stages: data mining, association rule mining, and classification. The first stage was used to aggregate raw data and create clusters of schools based on the most frequent type of app used (Education-Focused, Paid Education, Personalization, Gendered, and Non-Educational). The second stage analyzed the different types of apps used within each cluster to create categories (Action/Arcade, Education, Lifestyle, Puzzles, Tools, and APK). The third stage took the top 10 apps in each category to create 4 distinct classifications for ease of comparison (Learning Skills, Informational Management, Content Learning, and Non-Educational).

The results show that even in the best case scenario for schools in the Education Focused cluster, less than half of all app usage is categorized as “Educational,” though even then, a question arises on the effectiveness of those apps, which include numeracy and literacy-related “drill and practice” game-like apps that have little/limited positive impact on learning (Howard et al., 2018). In the worst case scenario where schools are labeled in the Non-Education cluster, 0% of app usage is deemed “Educational,” with most of the app usage coming from “Action/Arcade” categories which provide little to no educational value to students.

These are schools that are likely to use tablets as a reward during free time, which brings up the question of the cost effectiveness of devices that are not improving the aspects of education perceived by teachers, shown in Domingo & Garganté (2016). The two papers highlight the discrepancy that exists between the positive perceptions teachers hold in regard to mobile devices in the classroom, and the actual student usage of those same devices. Teachers appear to be optimistic when seeing the potential benefits of technology, while children (and teachers alike) are not utilizing the devices properly. Perhaps optimistic teachers are viewing the devices under the assumption that the educational tools would be utilized to at least the same extent as current teaching tools in a more traditional setting.

However, although the potential of educational technology is much greater than traditional teaching given the almost unbound potential to access the world’s wealth of information and the many innovative learning techniques educational apps can offer, mobile devices still pose a distraction in the classroom, with non-educational applications being used more than 50% of the time at even the most education-focused cluster. Additionally, this discrepancy is still a result of teachers failing to utilize the devices to their potential, with the three non-education dominant clusters appearing to utilize the devices as a reward for the children, rather than an educational tool. Although we are able to recognize differences in perceptions and usage, we have yet to be able to fully measure the academic outcomes of utilizing classroom technologies. My research proposal is an observational study based on randomly selected school districts in any U.S. state.

The study would aim to understand whether or not the integration of technology over the course of multiple years creates short- and long-term impacts on academic achievement, signified by average scores on the state standardized test. The main advantage of this study would be the centralization of perceptions and outcomes by first surveying the administrators and teachers of the randomly selected district, then collecting panel data on the same district to determine the effect of classroom technology on average state standardized test score.

Using available demographic data, we can add a multitude of relevant regressors, including per-capita income level, real unemployment, and average parent education level. Survey data would be used to get more detailed data, including a dummy variable for whether or not the district provides mobile devices for students and student-teacher ratio. Additionally, the study would incorporate additional regressors that are common sources of omitted variable bias in regards to education policy, such as the percentage of English learners and students with disabilities in the district. We would include fixed effects between counties and fixed effects between academic school years to further account for potential omitted variables.

Using the collected data, we can run individual fixed-effect multiple regression analyses on each state to see whether districts that have adopted classroom technologies outperform non-technology providing districts, controlling for all of the relevant regressors listed above (though not limited to those regressors specifically). These results can be replicated on a state-to-state basis and expanded further to compare U.S. classroom performance to possibly other countries. The study would result in a large variety of possible results, and allow us to gain insight into the effect of technology on standardized test scores, while also factoring in socioeconomic status and individual student needs.

However, there are three main outcomes that can arise. The first outcome is if technology decreases the expected standardized test score, controlling for all other variables. This would be a particularly interesting scenario given the tendency for increased technology to increase output (in this case, educational output). This result could cause educators and policymakers to reassess how the technology is being used, and prompt greater incentives for teachers to more strictly enforce primarily educational usage of classroom devices.

The second outcome would be if technology has no significant effect on the expected standardized test score, though this would prompt a similar response as outcome one. In the case of outcome one and two, if in the extreme case that teacher education of classroom devices prove to be ineffective, it would be a sign to move away from classroom devices towards newer, more innovative ways of teaching children (or a complete reversion to traditional pen-paper-book teaching entirely). However, this outcome would most likely not be the case.

The third outcome would be if technology increases the expected standardized test score, controlling for all other variables, meaning that on average, a district that provides mobile devices to its schools is expected to increase standardized test scores, holding all other regressors constant. This could have the implication of expanding public investment in classroom technology. It is important to note that follow-up studies on the effects of standardized test scores on college enrollment rates, graduation rates, and employment rates would be needed to assess the long-term economic impact. However, given the historically high correlation between human capital investment and economic growth, higher standardized test scores could be a strong indicator for the need for expanded classroom technology distribution.