The usage of technology in our daily lives is rapidly growing; not just at home, but in school too. Whether it be through apps like kahoot to test student’s knowledge, online testing, or using chromebooks in class to do lesson work on, technology is quickly becoming more and more embedded in our everyday academic lives.
Students used to go to school to learn out of a book or from their teacher, relying solely on the two for information. Now, students can go online and get an answer from a robot or online source that they maybe never could from their teacher. On top of that, the internet is often a resource that is much faster for students to get and obtain information.
“I think teaching will become less of a source of information, and more of guides to information and critical thinking,” said Barnstable High School science teacher William Knittle.
Knittle is embracing the change that technology is making. He uses it in all three of his classes for test taking, lessons, and classwork, but his classes weren’t always so revolved around technology.
“I started out in a school with no books,” said Knittle, “all information had to be written on chalkboards around the school.”
When Knittle taught at this school in Africa, it was incredibly different from what he’s used to now. With no books for the students to learn from and no technology to access resources online, Knittle had a lot of responsibility to make sure his students had what they needed for their exam.
“Technology allows students to learn at their own pace and to the depth they are interested in,” said Knittle.
For instance, with online databases, students have the ability to gather all of their information for a project or writing without ever looking in a book or asking a teacher for help. Technology is not only convenient for students, but efficient too.
Sophomore Sailor Ciluzzi is currently taking algebra II as a math course that was originally supposed to be taught by a teacher, but due to her teacher’s absence, Ciluzzi was forced to take the course online. Rather than getting a new teacher to fill in for her first one, Ciluzzi and her class were informed that they would have to take their math class on computers during school.
In the beginning, Ciluzzi would have to complete her classwork during the block with no assistance or help from anybody else, with the exception of a classmate who may be just as confused as she is. If the classwork wasn’t completed during class time, which Ciluzzi said is very hard to do, then the work would have to be finished at home.
Through time, Ciluzzi said that she was able to get assistance from her sub when he would answer her questions or write notes on the board.
“I don’t like the path that technology is taking in school due to my math class. The work is hard to keep up with especially if I have questions that need to be answered so I can submit my work on time,” said Ciluzzi.
Sharon Morgan, the librarian at BHS, has been able to watch the changes that technology has had on learning throughout the years during her time at the school library.
“If a student comes to the library with a teacher, I can pull out a whole cart of books relevant to their topic, but they still won’t pick them up,” said Morgan.
Due to the quick access of information that we are provided with when using the internet, books aren’t as necessary anymore for students and people in general.
Over the past several months, the library at BHS has been going through a massive renovation. This renovation has made many strides towards a more technologically advanced library.
“I’ve probably had to cut ⅔ of our collection of books” said Morgan.
With the reduction of paper books and the rise of technology, there are no limits to the extent that technology can reach. Technology is taking a massive charge in our modern world, and it’s not slowing down anytime soon. With this, we are given the choice to accept it’s charge, or attempt to refuse it.
“Technology is coming, resistance is futile”, said Knittle.