The Edvocate

Top Menu

  • Announcing the Winners of The 2017 Tech Edvocate Awards
  • Announcing the Winners of The 2018 Tech Edvocate Awards
  • Award Seals
  • Awards
  • My Speaking Page
  • Newsletter Sign Up Confirmation
  • Newsletter Unsubscription
  • Product Reviews
  • Ranking Methodology
  • Register
  • Signup
  • Start Here
    • Governance
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
  • The Awards Process
  • The Edvocate
  • Write For Us
  • Advertise

Main Menu

  • Start Here
    • Governance
    • Careers
    • Lynch Education Consulting
    • Dr. Lynch’s Personal Website
    • Product Reviews
    • Write For Us
    • My Speaking Page
    • Contact Us
  • PreK-12
    • Ask An Expert
    • Bullying
    • Early Childhood
    • Education News
    • EdTech & Innovation
    • Education Leadership
    • Elementary Education
    • Equity
    • First Year Teachers
    • Parental Involvement
    • Policy & Reform
    • Teachers
    • Testing
    • Year-Round Schooling
  • Higher Ed
    • Best Colleges and Universities
    • Diversity
    • HBCU’s
    • Higher Education
    • International Education
  • Advertise
  • Awards
    • The Awards Process
    • Announcing the Winners of The 2017 Tech Edvocate Awards
    • Announcing the Winners of The 2018 Tech Edvocate Awards
    • Award Seals
  • The Tech Edvocate

logo

  • Start Here
    • Governance
    • Careers
    • Lynch Education Consulting
    • Dr. Lynch’s Personal Website
    • Product Reviews
    • Write For Us
    • My Speaking Page
    • Contact Us
  • PreK-12
    • Ask An Expert
    • Bullying
    • Early Childhood
    • Education News
    • EdTech & Innovation
    • Education Leadership
    • Elementary Education
    • Equity
    • First Year Teachers
    • Parental Involvement
    • Policy & Reform
    • Teachers
    • Testing
    • Year-Round Schooling
  • Higher Ed
    • Best Colleges and Universities
    • Diversity
    • HBCU’s
    • Higher Education
    • International Education
  • Advertise
  • Awards
    • The Awards Process
    • Announcing the Winners of The 2017 Tech Edvocate Awards
    • Announcing the Winners of The 2018 Tech Edvocate Awards
    • Award Seals
  • The Tech Edvocate
  • How to Teach Math to Preschool Students

  • What Happens When Students Own Their Learning?

  • What Does a Future Ready College Student Look Like?

  • 10 Easy Ways to Show Students You Care

  • 3 Exciting Ways To Use Virtual Reality For Elearning

  • 27 Learner-Centered Instructional Strategies

  • 5 Steps to Asking Good Questions

  • 6 Reasons Why Lessons Fail

  • 17 Ways to Facilitate Student-Centered Learning

  • 5 Places to Find Free Readings for Your Students

EdTech & InnovationMatthew Lynch
Home›EdTech & Innovation›K-12 Technology: Benefits and Drawbacks

K-12 Technology: Benefits and Drawbacks

By Matthew Lynch
November 16, 2015
10
Spread the love

The late Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. once famously said, “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.” Though he was speaking about the road to true equality for all people, I have often attributed this quote to the role of education in America, particularly public education for K-12 students. Despite the quickness with which our society has become accustomed to having everything, all at once, educational reform and progression is still a slow-turning gear in the great machine of time.

The truth is that the face of K-12 education is in a constant state of change. Educators that have been in the field for several decades may notice that the speed at which changes in methodology and student population are taking place is on a high-speed course compared to the past. Many factors play into this but none as strongly as technological advancements. The Internet, wireless devices and improvements in communication all heighten the immediacy of information both within and without the classroom.

This is both a blessing and a curse, of course. It is really too soon to tell if the first Internet-raised generations will fare better or worse in life and succeed on a global scale. The assumption is that technology equals improvement and I would argue that overall, it is a true statement. More access to information and a shrinking world can only lead to beneficial results for K-12 students. The children graduating from high school in the next decade will have a broader view of the world than ever before and that is thanks to traditional geographic boundaries becoming non-issues in communication, workforce and learning. I take no issue with the actual technology. It is great. Where I see existing and potential problems is in the indirect effects of technology on the comprehension habits of our youngest learners.

You have to look at the overall influence of rapidly advancing technology to realize how it is also an obstacle to K-12 classrooms. In its broadest sense, technology has totally transformed the way that our children view life. A recent study by Common Sense Media for children age eight or younger found that 72 percent have computer access at home. Television use is almost universal, with 98 percent of children in this age group having at least one at home and 10 percent reporting that theirs is kept on all the time.

While television consumption by children is nothing new, programs targeted toward toddlers and even infants are on the rise.  Consider cable and satellite television staple Baby First TV. The channel plays continuous programming aimed at infants and toddlers that is commercial free. I bring this up not to spark a debate about whether this type of television viewing is helpful or hurtful to developing youngsters; I mention it as an example of just how ingrained screen culture has become in the lives of our kids. The journal Pediatrics found that between the ages of birth and six, kids watch an hour-and-a-half television per day. These measurements do not even address indirect exposure, which puts the amount of time a television plays in the background at four hours per day for kids under the age of two. Love it or hate it, screen culture is a foundational element of the contemporary American childhood.

As a result, our kids arrive at Kindergarten with an advanced idea of instant gratification. They know that any game, program or form of communication is available at the touch of a button. This easy access to everything translates to the way that these children are programmed for learning, especially when moments of frustration arise. There is not a “quick fix” solution for everything but most children have limited firsthand experience with waiting. It has always been very difficult to keep the attention of students, particularly in the elementary set, but advancements like smartphones, tablets and Web sites directed at young learners have complicated this truth even more. Teachers and administrators today must find ways to keep students interested but not completely abandon tried-and-true methodology. Thus the great problem with technology takes its toll on K-12 classrooms across the nation.

Phrases like “hitting the books” may soon be non-existent as budgets for e-readers slowly chip away at the book budgets for school libraries. An electronic book has a lot of appeal: it is cheaper to manufacture, lighter to carry and even manages to reduce the carbon footprint of the student. Since students are so comfortable with touchscreen methods, it stands to reason that reading may actually come more easily when learned through an electronic device. The problem again is not that the technology harms the actual learning mechanics, but it leads to another issue altogether.

When was the last time you bought or borrowed a book, electronic or hard copy, just to admire the rhetoric? Have you ever found yourself reading simply because you enjoy grammar? Most of us would have different responses to why we read for leisure. Special interest. Excitement. Chance to escape reality. People that love to read have an interactive relationship with the material. Cracking open a fresh book is an experience unlike any others and is a reserved, special moment. Kids that are introduced to literature in the same way that they learn math problems, or have video calls with grandparents, or play non-educational games do not have the same reverence for reading because it is nothing special.

I’ve heard the argument that it is not the delivery method but the content that matters in getting kids excited about reading but I’m not sure I’m biting. Again, this is an issue that is still too young to have definitive answers. It is just one area of the indirect impact of rapidly advancing technology that keeps me up at night.

So what then is the answer? If technology is embraced by some and rejected by others, how can K-12 students be expected to know the right way to learn? It seems that the answers are about as clear as mud. I believe that technology has provided the swift kick that K-12 education has needed for decades to make the sweeping adjustments required to reach contemporary students and inspire education. I am just not sure yet which traditional teaching elements deserve to be clung to and which ones are meant to for the curb. The debate of how to best prepare our children for a lifetime of achievement is one that I believe deserves constant fueling in order to give K-12 students the best shot at academic, and life, success.

Read all of our posts about EdTech and Innovation by clicking here. 

 


Spread the love
TagsbyodEdtechedtechchatelearningonline learningTechnology
Previous Article

If You Want to Be a Teacher, ...

Next Article

Research shows blended learning increases student achievement

Matthew Lynch

Related articles More from author

  • Child Development TechEarly Childhood & K-12 EdTech

    8 Must-Have Vocabulary Apps and Tools

    November 14, 2017
    By Matthew Lynch
  • Best of Best ListsEarly ChildhoodElementary Education

    The Edvocate’s List of 20 Must-Follow Early Childhood Education Twitter Feeds

    January 31, 2017
    By Matthew Lynch
  • Early Childhood & K-12 EdTechTrending Topics

    Textbooks in the digital world

    August 1, 2017
    By Matthew Lynch
  • Child Development TechEarly Childhood & K-12 EdTech

    9 Ways That Technology Boosts Student Confidence in the Classroom

    November 11, 2017
    By Matthew Lynch
  • EdTech & InnovationTeachers

    Why Teachers Should Embrace Technology in Their Classrooms

    September 24, 2016
    By Matthew Lynch
  • EdTech & InnovationTeachers

    The power of the iPad in Kindergarten

    March 28, 2016
    By Matthew Lynch

10 comments

  1. HeidiBelt 19 April, 2014 at 20:21 Reply

    This topics begs to ask a larger question. . . what about those that do not have technology at home? I’m a foster parent and I’ve had several children in my home who’s parents do not have Internet or computer technology at home. What happens to these kids as they grow up? It may be that the only technology these kids will be exposed to is at school. It seems to me that there is a widening gap in the U.S. and around the world for those that “Have” technology and those that “Have not.”

    • johanna 21 April, 2014 at 03:18 Reply

      The concept of the “have’s and have not’s” is why it is so important the public K-12 schools embrace technology. If they don’t, then those kids who don’t have the technology at home will be woefully behind. Let’s encourage the schools to increase their technology budget, teach teachers how to utilize the technology in the classroom and teach students how to responsibly use technology.

      • hollysuel 21 April, 2014 at 04:34 Reply

        Then there are the countries like Uruguay who have the initiative to give every students a laptop. Are these countries going to become the world leaders as a result of these initiatives?

  2. BananaMan54 21 April, 2014 at 00:13 Reply

    In his Forward to Richard J. Foster’s outstanding book Celebration of Discipline, published in 1978, D. Elton Trueblood observed that, “The greatest problems of our time are not technological, for these we handle fairly well. They are not even political or economic, because the difficulties in these areas, glaring as they may be, are largely derivative. The greatest problems are moral and spiritual, and unless we can make some progress in these realms, we may not even survive. This is how advanced cultures have declined in the past.” Regardless of the technology and the changing fads of educational delivery method, the k-12 school system has a societal responsibility to work within the framework of the student’s families and the local community to lay the groundwork whereby students will be able to come to grips with the moral standards they will choose to adopt, and develop a sense of being within the world. They may not refine who and what they are until post-secondary experiences, but the foundation must be laid k-12 for moral framework, rational thought, as well as the ability to compare and contrast different concepts and ideas. Reading for entertainment can be an important – and fun – part of this process. I hope I’m able to pass along my enjoyment of westerns, science-fiction, and mystery novels to my kids, if only for the the use of imagination in reading that no movie or television show can hope to match, along with the exploration of wide and varied ideas and concepts to be found within these genres of popular literature – even if they read on a tablet or a cellphone…

  3. My Google AdSense Income 30 May, 2014 at 01:35 Reply

    Website We Think You Should Visit…

    […]one of our visitors recently recommended the subsequent website[…]…

  4. alex 27 July, 2014 at 14:56 Reply

    .

    áëàãîäàðñòâóþ!!

  5. edmom5 21 September, 2014 at 09:16 Reply

    As I’ve mentioned other places on this blog, computer science initiatives are really not what should be the focus. Yes, some change is needed to keep up with the times — but this emphasis on always having the latest, greatest technology in K-12 classrooms is really misplaced.

  6. ferris27 21 September, 2014 at 09:24 Reply

    EdMom — technology is necessary to keep our kids ahead of the curve when it comes to the world stage. I know I wouldn’t want my kids to head out into the world without as much technology savvy as they could possibly glean from K-12 classrooms. The material is important — but the delivery method should have the efficiency that technology provides.

  7. K-12 Technology: Benefits and Drawbacks | Cuppa... 12 September, 2015 at 05:00 Reply

    […] The late Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. once famously said, “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.” Though he was speaking about the road …  […]

  8. K-12 TECHNOLOGY: BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS | THE E... 7 November, 2015 at 02:51 Reply

    […] The truth is that the face of K-12 education is in a constant state of change. Educators that have been in the field for several decades may notice that the speed at which changes in methodology and student population are taking place is on a high-speed course compared to the past. Many factors play into this but none as strongly as technological advancements. The Internet, wireless devices and improvements in communication all heighten the immediacy of information both within and without the classroom.  […]

Leave a reply Cancel reply

  • EdTech & Innovation

    Peer Feedback: How Students Can Learn More while Saving Teachers Time

  • The Tech Edvocate

    Micro-Scholarships a New Funding Source for College

  • Current Ed News

    Music entrepreneur Diddy founds charter school in Harlem

Search

Registration and Login

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries RSS
  • Comments RSS
  • WordPress.org

Newsletter

Signup for The Edvocate Newsletter and have the latest in P-20 education news and opinion delivered to your email address!

Ask an Expert

  • 2018 Global Edtech Inflencer's ListAsk An ExpertAssistive TechnologyBest of Best ListsBlack Boys in CrisisChild Development TechDigital & Mobile TechnologyEarly Childhood & K-12 EdTechEdTech & InnovationEdTech FuturesEdTech Policy & ReformEdTech Startups & BusinessesEducation LeadershipEquityFeaturedFirst Year TeachersHigher EducationHigher Education EdTechlistOnline Learning & eLearningParent & Family TechSTEMTeachers

    The Edvocate’s 2018 EdTech 20: A Ranking of 20 Global Edtech Influencers

    Spread the loveWho are the biggest edtech influencers in the world? The Edvocate editorial team has exhaustively researched the movers and shakers of edtech and selected 20 global influencers. To ...
  • Ask An ExpertEarly Childhood & K-12 EdTechFirst Year TeachersPersonalized LearningPreK-12Teachers

    How Can You Ignite English Language Learners’ Passion to Read & Learn?

    Spread the loveHanh Bui, 5th grade teacher at Aeolian Elementary School Instilling a passion for learning is one of the greatest gifts we can give our students. I strongly believe ...
  • Ask An ExpertModern ParentingSpecial Education

    Expressive and Receptive Language Disorders: What are They?

    Spread the loveChildren all learn language and speech using the same acquisition methods, but they do not always learn at the same pace. Some children pick up language early and ...
  • Ask An Expert

    Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, Dysnomia, Dyslexia, and Dyspraxia: What are the Differences?

    Spread the loveIn my past life as a special education teacher, I worked with a variety of special needs students. These students were all unique, and so were their learning ...
  • Ask An ExpertTeachers

    Career Change Guide: Becoming a Teacher

    Spread the loveBy Daniel Karell There is a growing teacher crisis in the United States. The Learning Policy Institute (LPI) estimates there was a shortage of 64,000 teachers in primary ...

International Education

  • Higher EducationInternational Education

    The A-Z of Education Blogs: Letters F-H

    Spread the loveClick here to access all of the articles in this series. In this multi-part series, we are profiling the best of the best education blogs, in alphabetical order. ...
  • Higher EducationInternational Education

    What would The UK government’s plans to cut student immigration by 50% mean for education ...

    Spread the loveThe UK government is planning on slashing non-EU expat student numbers almost in half from 300,000 to 170,000 under tougher student visa rules. The threat is being greeted ...
  • International Education

    Why pushing undocumented children out of schools won’t help bring down net migration

    Spread the loveThis article was written by Nando Sigona Leaked cabinet papers seen by the BBC suggest that back when she was home secretary, Theresa May wanted schools to carry ...
  • Education NewsInternational Education

    Why it doesn’t help — and may harm — to fail pupils with poor math ...

    Spread the loveThis article was written by Elizabeth Walton Many South Africans were outraged by the recent announcement that for 2016, pupils in Grades 7 to 9 could progress to ...
  • International EducationPolicy & Reform

    It’s time to rethink teacher training

    Spread the loveThis article was written by James Williams Over the past six years, we’ve had calls for teachers to be trained in everything from protecting girls from female genital ...

Early Childhood Education

  • Child DevelopmentEarly ChildhoodFeaturedFreshInfographicsParental InvolvementParenting

    5 Steps to Asking Good Questions

    Spread the loveThere is an adage that posits that there is no such thing as a bad question. However, if you ask the wrong question, odds are you will not ...
  • Early ChildhoodModern ParentingParenting

    How to Avoid Raising Racist Kids

    Spread the loveFrom race-based killings to white supremacist rallies, we are living in times when racism is on the front page of every newspaper. For this reason, many race-conscious parents ...
  • Child DevelopmentEarly ChildhoodModern ParentingParenting

    7 Ways to Teach Children Civility

    Spread the loveUnfortunately, our children are learning that those who are uncivil seem to get ahead. Celebrity culture and political warfare encourage the opposite of civility. The ones who shout ...
  • Early ChildhoodParenting

    What Fathers Should Teach Their Sons

    Spread the loveWhile it’s true that not all families are the same in today’s society, there are still some key lessons which are best passed down from father to son. ...
  • Early ChildhoodElementary Education

    Number Sense Skills are the Bedrock of Mathematics

    Spread the loveBy Chad Malcolm Counting and Cardinality is only a standard in Kindergarten for the CCSS. However, this does not mean it cannot be strengthen every year moving forward. ...

Matthew Lynch

  • listMatthew LynchPolicy & Reform

    18 Reasons the U.S. Education System is Failing

    Spread the loveOnce upon a time, enthusiasts designed a formal education system to meet the economic demands of the industrial revolution. Fast forward to today and, with the current global ...
  • Higher EducationMatthew Lynch

    A Free College Education: A Basic American Right?

    Spread the loveEarning a college education is something that is a double-edged sword for the nation’s youngest adults and for some of their parents too. Society dictates that some form ...
  • Matthew LynchPolicy & Reform

    Year-Round Schooling: How it Affects Students

    Spread the loveThe traditional school year, with roughly three months of vacation days every summer, was first implemented when America was an agricultural society. The time off was not implemented ...
  • Matthew LynchOpEducation

    Disengaged Students, Part 11: The Irrationality of Modern Politics

    Spread the loveIn this 20-part series, I explore the root causes and effects of academic disengagement in K-12 learners and explore the factors driving American society ever closer to being ...
  • EdTech & InnovationMatthew LynchOpEducation

    Disengaged Students, Part 7: Too Much Information Access?

    Spread the loveIn this 20-part series, I explore the root causes and effects of academic disengagement in K-12 learners and explore the factors driving American society ever closer to being ...

Testing

  • TestingTrending Topics

    7 Things That Educators Should Know About Assessment and Evaluation

    Spread the loveAssessment refers to judging a student’s rate of academic achievement by analyzing the available evidence, such as quizzes, tests or written tasks. Assessments take different forms, and each ...
  • Child DevelopmentOpEducationPersonalized LearningTesting

    Intelligence in America: Time to Test Something New

    Spread the loveMeasuring the progress of any endeavor requires a definition of success. Education, by its very nature, is difficult to ascribe a single definition of success; “making people smarter” ...
  • TestingTrending Topics

    The A-Z of Education: Assessment and Evaluation

    Spread the loveIn this series, I hope to guide you in acquiring the vocabulary that you need to know to be considered a competent education professional. In this article, we ...
  • Matthew LynchTeachersTesting

    Three Handy Rubrics for Assessment Creation

    Spread the loveWhen it comes to creating classroom assessments, educators have a lot of leeway as to form, content, and length. Sometimes, the breadth available can be a little overwhelming. ...
  • TeachersTesting

    The Five Major Features of Summative Assessments

    Spread the loveCreating a classroom assessment that best quantifies your students’ learning can be tricky business. Because of their broad scope but specific content focus, summative assessments can be a ...

Special Reports

  • Ask An ExpertEarly Childhood & K-12 EdTechFirst Year TeachersPersonalized LearningPreK-12Teachers

    How Can You Ignite English Language Learners’ Passion to Read & Learn?

    Spread the loveHanh Bui, 5th grade teacher at Aeolian Elementary School Instilling a passion for learning is one of the greatest gifts we can give our students. I strongly believe ...
  • Education LeadershipPreK-12Teachers

    Verified Service Learning Feeds the “Whole Student”

    Spread the loveTeachers and schools and school districts track grades. We all know, or can find out pretty easily, what mark a particular student made on a specific assignment or ...
  • Early ChildhoodEducation LeadershipElementary EducationHigher EducationK-12OpEducationPreK-12

    What Preschool Can Teach Us About Choice and Opportunity

    Spread the loveThere is a pantheon of sitcom cliches that, no matter how many times they’ve been done before, always turn up in new ones. Among the repeat offenders: outrageously ...
  • Best of Best ListsDiversityEarly ChildhoodEdTech & InnovationElementary EducationK-12PreK-12SpeakingTeachers

    The Cautionary Tale of Story

    Spread the love  Teachers have been telling stories for as long as teachers have taught others. Students are still learning from the stories of our greatest teachers thousands of years ...
  • Early ChildhoodOpEducationPolicy & ReformPreK-12

    Time to Reboot the Safety Lecture

    Spread the loveWhen we play the perennial favorite game of Blaming Other Generations, we tend to focus on relative merits and deficiencies: which generation is more or less polite, hard-working, ...

RSS Matthew on Education Week

  • 5 Common Questions People Have About Learning Apps April 20, 2018 Matthew Lynch
  • What is the Future of STEM Education? April 2, 2018 Matthew Lynch
  • How to Create a Student-Run 'Genius Bar' March 28, 2018 Matthew Lynch
  • How Artificial Intelligence Is Already Transforming Education March 14, 2018 Matthew Lynch
  • How Google is Taking Over the Classroom March 6, 2018 Matthew Lynch

About Us

The Edvocate was created in 2014 to argue for shifts in education policy and organization in order to enhance the quality of education and the opportunities for learning afforded to P-20 students in America. What we envisage may not be the most straightforward or the most conventional ideas. We call for a relatively radical and certainly quite comprehensive reorganization of American’s P-20 system.

That reorganization, though, and the underlying effort, will have much to do with reviving the American education system, and reviving a national love of learning.  The Edvocate plans to be one of key architects of this revival, as it continues to advocate for education reform, equity, and innovation.

Newsletter

Signup for The Edvocate Newsletter and have the latest in P-20 education news and opinion delivered to your email address!

Contact

The Edvocate
5322 Markel Road, Suite 104
Richmond, VA 23230
(601) 630-5238
advocatefored@gmail.com

Follow us

Copyright (c) 2018 Matthew Lynch. All rights reserved.