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Tyson Himes

Use of Technology in the Classroom and Its Effect on Student Learning and Behavior

Technology is omnipresent in today's classrooms, signaling a seismic shift from 20th Century and early 21st Century classroom environments. My own eighth grade classroom at Atmosphere Academy Public Charter Schools in the Bronx is filled with technology. There are Television screens, projectors, and student laptops. The students complete work in my class on Google Classroom every week. I see evidence that technology enhances student learning and behavior, as evidenced by the quality of work on Google Classroom and the ability of students to take what they do online and apply it to writing essays and taking tests. However, I also observe the distraction that technology can pose and the regressive effect it can have on student learning and behavior. My research question is, what is the effect of technology on student learning and behavior? Is it a positive, a negative, or somewhere in between?

Student learning is affected by technology. I have also seen poor work on Google Classroom where the student does not meet my directions and puts in minimal effort. The degree to which the quality of work would be improved if a different medium were used would be an interesting experiment. Instead of focusing on specific, in-class outcomes, I am more interested in how technology affects learning holistically; does facility with technology improve learning through time?

There is evidence that being taught to use technology to enhance learning can promote lifelong learning. In Chapter 1 of Unplugging the Classroom: Teaching With Technologies to Promote Students’ Lifelong Learning, Asem F. Aboelzahab created an activity to evaluate the use of design and animation to enhance student learning. Students researched a topic online and then, in groups, created a highly interactive PowerPoint presentation (on a student-researched topic) which incorporated text, videos, GIFs, and other animations and design elements. After this activity both student creativity and skill showed improvement. He writes that “once a user has identified all the available tools and experienced different uses for each, it becomes very intuitive to break down a highly elaborate process into small structures, geometries, images, and animations that can be grouped together to demonstrate a harmonic process.”[1] The ability to break things down and then reassemble them harmoniously is a highly beneficial skill that will benefit learners throughout their academic and professional careers. The research and group-work aspect of this activity is also encouraging. Being able to complete online research and work with others are highly coveted skills that can, as shown by the author, be elevated through the use of technology.  

Unplugging the Classroom looks towards the future, as we are more and more integrated with technology, gaining facility with technology and using it effectively and efficiently will have a strong influence on future learning. The goal is always to help students become more self-regulated in every way. One key way that teachers can help students become self-regulated is to give them the skills and the tools to utilize the technology and the resources around them - and the resources that they will have access to in the future. As technology iterates, it will pay dividends to teach students how to use technology to help them deliver high quality work while becoming self-regulated learners in the process.

So much for student learning. How does technology affect student behavior? As I mentioned above, I have experienced first-hand the benefits and the negatives of technology use in the classroom on student behavior. My experience with the benefits include the fact that integrating something like Google Classroom into instruction can make students learn more independently and they are able to better self-regulate because they are more in control of the learning process. Students using technology (appropriately) has a positive effect on student behavior in that they tend to work quietly and efficiently as they interact with the virtual classroom. This does not totally remove peer-to-peer interaction, as they can still respond and comment on each other's posts. As to the negatives, I have experienced a lot of disruption as a result of technology use. The Chromebooks are often open without prompting, video games are played, and students are on websites they should not be on as prescribed by the daily agenda. But what does the research say about student behavior and technology use?

According to Young, Klemz, and Murphy, technology has a secondary influence on student learning and behavior.[2] It is a mediator that has the ability to enhance or distract learning and behavior. The following passage from their article, “Enhancing Learning Outcomes: The Effects of Instructional Technology, Learning Styles, Instructional Methods, and Student Behavior” details their findings:

As a whole, the combined analyses using three different measures of learning outcomes imply that the use of preferred instructional methods will enhance each of the different measures of learning outcomes, while encouraging supportive class behaviors and limiting competing time activities can enhance self-report performance and course grades. Regardless of the performance outcome measure, only one of the five instructional technology variables proved significant, suggesting that in contrast to previous studies that examined technology in isolation, when analyzed relative to other learning factors, technology’s influence is secondary…we believe these results indicate that learning is a two-way street where the primary contribution from the instructor is appropriate instructional methods and the primary contribution from the student is study time…The role of technology is probably a moderator that can assist or distract from the instructional methods and the time students spend studying primary course concepts[3]

Based on their research, assigning a primary causative role on technology in regards to student behavior is misplaced, but this does not mean that technology should not be used to try and enhance student learning and behavior. They recommend using “instructional technology such as Blackboard software that will assist in communicating high expectations and can provide prompt feedback and monitoring of performance. The adage that ‘what gets measured gets attention’ also seems to hold true in education.”[4] 

Technology affects student learning and behavior. It can enhance creativity and can help develop important skills like the ability to break complex things down and then reassemble them harmoniously. Facility with technology can promote lifelong learning as shown throughout Unplugging the Classroom. Interestingly, technology only seems to play a secondary, “moderator,” role on student behavior.

This research will assist my instruction by pushing me to use technology to help students push themselves creatively and to develop important skills. Additionally, it reinforces the fact that instructional method, student study habits, and classroom management are the most important factors impacting student behavior. I won’t jettison technology from my classroom just yet.      

References:

Labonté, C., & Smith, V. R. (2022). Learning through technology in middle school classrooms:

Students’ perceptions of their self-directed and collaborative learning with and without

technology. Education and Information Technologies, 27(5), 6317–6332.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10885-6

Wilder, H. A., & Ferris, S. P. (Eds.). (2017). Unplugging the classroom: Teaching with

technologies to promote students’ lifelong learning. Elsevier: CP Chandos Publishing.

Young, M. R., Klemz, B. R., & Murphy, J. W. (2003). Enhancing learning outcomes: The effects

of instructional technology, learning styles, instructional methods, and student behavior.

Journal of Marketing Education, 25(2), 130–142. https://doi.org/10.1177/0273475303254004

[1] Wilder, H. A., & Ferris, S. P. (Eds.). (2017). Unplugging the classroom: Teaching with technologies to promote students’ lifelong learning. Elsevier: CP Chandos Publishing. Pg. 8

[2] Young, M. R., Klemz, B. R., & Murphy, J. W. (2003). Enhancing learning outcomes: The effects of instructional technology, learning styles, instructional methods, and student behavior. Journal of Marketing Education, 25(2), 130–142. https://doi.org/10.1177/0273475303254004

[3] Young, M. R., Klemz, B. R., & Murphy, J. W. (2003). Enhancing learning outcomes: The effects of instructional technology, learning styles, instructional methods, and student behavior. Journal of Marketing Education, 25(2), 130–142. https://doi.org/10.1177/0273475303254004. Pg. 139.

[4] Ibid. 140

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Hi Tyson!

Thanks for your work on such an important topic!

I raise a number of points above. I hope you consider them when you have the opportunity.

I think my biggest suggestion would be to narrow the topic even further if possible. Technology is such a broad phenomenon (e.g., it can incorporate so many things). Similarly, education is such a diverse phenomenon as well. In short, try to focus on a particular technology in a particularly unique educational situation.

Also, you raise the issue of self-regulation. You write, “As technology iterates, it will pay dividends to teach students how to use technology to help them deliver high quality work while becoming self-regulated learners in the process.” In response, I write, “Why do you think so many of us tech users are addicted to tech? In short, why can’t we even regulate our own general relationship to tech?” From this, I wonder how we can hopefully maximize the best of technology and minimize its worst impulses in us? Given that “Unplugging the Classroom” was written in 2017, I wonder if threats of addiction and other of tech’s negative externalities were as widely discussed as they are now?

Thanks for writing this Tyson! And I hope you incorporate this learning into the classroom when you incorporate tech!

Dino