Education in the Computer Age: Information Technology and Its Effects on Student Learning in a Classroom Setting

Abstract

After both negative and positive experiences with computers in my own schooling, I decided to investigate attitudes among students and teachers towards the use of technology in the classroom. Most students agreed that technology helped them with their work, but at the same time, more than half also tended to agree that they get distracted by using technology during the class. From observation, I found that most students remained engaged in both a technology and a non-technology-based lesson, aside from two students who showed signs of disengagement in both. From looking at assessment results, I found that academically elite students achieved well in both technology and non-technology-based assessments, but that students in a class of varying ability tended to do better with the technology-based assessment, which suggested that technological devices can be an effective equaliser for students. All teachers except one felt that using technology is either essential or at least a useful tool when used effectively in conjunction with other teaching methods.