In my previous article for the Toll Gate Tribune I wrote about the evolution of technology in the education system. I ended that article with the quest to find the opinions of the Students and Teachers on the current use of technology within our school. I accomplished this through two surveys, which I sent to students and teachers. These surveys can give us a look into what our school thinks of technology and what can be done to improve it.
The first survey I conducted was on the students of Toll Gate High School, I surveyed 28 students about their opinions on this topic. When asked to rate their experience with computers in the education field on a scale of 1-5 from negative to positive, these were the results
This data shows us that while there are some outliers, most students have had a fairly positive experience with educational technology. The average rating on 1 to 5 was 3.43 between all students. However, if we look further we see that Freshmen and Sophomores rate it a 3.59 while Juniors and Seniors rate it a 2.83. This data can lead us to multiple conclusions but the most likely is that the implementation of technology has improved and students’ experience has become more positive.
When asked if they would reverse the implementation of technology in schools, these were the results
This data shows us that there are lots of students who are not happy with the current technology in education. Even if their experiences are not exceptionally negative, these students would completely remove computers from schools. While the majority of students would not choose this option there are still 35.7% of students that would. This shows that there are a significant number of students who are not satisfied with the current implementation of technology in education.
Along with these questions I asked students to provide one experience with computers in education that made them feel either strongly positive or negative. Of these responses the negative experiences that were the most repeated; inability to focus on digital assignments, headaches/eyestrain, technical errors, and restricted content. The positive experiences that were most repeated were; higher efficiency, online academic tools, typing on computers, and more personalized learning.
The second survey I conducted was on the teachers of Toll Gate High School, I surveyed 5 teachers about their opinions on this topic. When asked if they would reduce the implementation of computers into schools, these were the results.
This data shows us that teachers are not happy with the amount they are required to use computers on a daily basis and how present they are within schools. Many schools continue to push for more technology in the classroom while the majority of teachers are not happy with the way it is currently. This is evidence that we need to rethink the way we implement technology into our classrooms.
Just as I did with students, I asked teachers to provide one experience with computers in education that made them feel either strongly positive or negative. The negative experiences I received were; the usage of AI hurting students’ learning, the overuse of screens and cellphones distracting from learning, and the internet often hosting and promoting misinformation. Multiple teachers did acknowledge the internet and computers as a genuinely helpful tool for learning and sourcing information.
What my survey told me is that both students and teachers understand the potential advancements that technology in the classroom can lead to but also the drawbacks they currently have. Students and Teachers get by with technology as it is now but do not thrive the way they could if it was improved. They are not struggling to the point where it has caused extreme issues but it has negatively impacted many of them. Before we continue to implement more technology into education we need to make sure we are thriving with the technology we already have.
