Let’s be clear, technology, namely information and communications technologies (ICTs), are a mainstay in how our society functions on nearly all levels today. It should then go without saying that these same technologies should play a role in classroom instruction and learning. Nonetheless, educators are asked frequently to justify their use of and funding for such tools. Let’s lay it out as plainly as possible so there can be no argument.
Why should education and technology be integrated? The answer is closely related to how the overall purpose of education is perceived. Of course, this thinking can also be applied to any resource or idea used in the classroom. Does the resource, or in this case, the technology, work to advance the purpose of my instruction and, by extension, education? As John Green puts it in Crash Course World History, “[Universal education] exists for the benefit of the social order. We have discovered as a species that it is useful to have an educated population” (2012). It doesn’t take a whole lot of thinking to understand why. In modern democratic societies, education serves three main goals: teach people the basic skills necessary to effectively function as part of the social order (i.e. correctly identifying traffic signals or using the post office), train people to enter the workforce and contribute to and participate in the economy, and to produce good citizens of a participatory democracy. Research has shown that the integration of technology in education has been effective in advancing all three of these purposes, justifying, if not mandating, the integration of today’s technologies with the school curriculum at nearly all levels of education. Let’s take a look.
Research shows that the integrating technology and education boosts student learning across grade levels and subject areas and has a profound impact on students' motivation to learn and attitudes toward school and learning. From preschool to higher education, the research shows a clear trend that students at all grade levels, from very young children to higher-education and other adult training courses, stand to benefit from the integration of educational technology (Kim, 2006; Ringstaff and Kely, 2002; Gulek and Demirtas, 2005; Lei and Zhao, 2007). Studies have also found this benefit reaching across subject areas as well. Students enrolled in math programs (Bottage, Grant, Stephens, and Reuda, 2010), engaging in writing (Gulek and Demirtas, 2005), learning science (Colombo and Colombo, 2007), or even taking P.E. (Hastie et al., 2010) have been reported to benefit from the integration of technology and instruction. Finally, by fostering collaboration with peers and helping to create more challenging and authentic learning experiences (Gulek and Demirtas, 2005), technology integration has been shown to increase student motivation, attendance, and even lower drop-out rates (Ringstaff & Kelly, 2002).
Preparing students for a future in their society is a paramount goal of education. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, a non-profit focused on helping schools better prepare students for the workplaces and societies they will need to participate in when they graduate, states on its website, “People in the 21st century live in a technology and media-suffused environment...To be effective in the 21st century, citizens and workers must be able to exhibit a range of functional and critical thinking skills related to information, media and technology” (2011). Technology, namely ICTs, are now ubiquitous in our everyday lives and irreplaceable in the workplace. As research shows that ability to use ICTs to perform tasks is a huge determinant of economic success which provides people with increased economic opportunity and higher wages (Mossberger, Tolbert, and McNeil, 2008), it is now imperative for schools to include training in these tools and other 21st century skills to achieve its goal of adequately preparing students for their future as workers and consumers in the modern economy (Selwyn & Husen, 2010).
Eleanor Roosevelt once made a passionate appeal for education’s role in producing effective citizens by saying, “...the true purpose of education is to produce citizens...A nation must have leaders, men who have the power to see a little farther, to imagine a little better life than the present. But if this vision is to be fulfilled, it must also have a vast army of men and women capable of understanding and following these leaders intelligently” (2008). Democracy demands advanced citizenship, and to work effectively, a literate, educated populace must take on the burden of immense responsibility to ensure the survival of the political system. With the advances in technologies, namely ICTs, so also has changed the landscape of civic participation. Public speaking has moved out of the public square and onto to social networks. Paying taxes, signing up for military service, participating in government programs, and even voting have now moved online. The information citizens need to make informed political decisions is now a click away, but requires a certain degree of digital literacy to access and use it. Schools can help through technology integration, providing more universal access to ICTs. Internet access and use alone has been found to increase voting rates, political participation, and foster more political discussion (Mossberger et al., 2008). Good citizenship requires participation. Today, the tools and skills required to participate have changed dramatically, but the mission of our schools has not. Technology integration is necessary for schools to produce effective democratic citizens of tomorrow.
Education is meant primarily to help students acquire the basic skills necessary to participate in society, their future workplaces, and in politics as citizens of a participatory democracy. An ever increasing amount of research is showing that the integration of technology in teaching and learning is helping to advance all three of these goals of education. The debate can no longer be SHOULD we integrate new technologies in education, but HOW. This is the mission charged to educators everywhere: How can we best use the resources available in our communities to bring the best possible education to our students that prepares them for a future of ever-increasing dependency on new information and communications technologies?
Bottge, B. A., Grant, T. S., Stephens, A.C., & Reuda, E. (2010). Advancing the math skills of middle school students in technology education classroom. NASSP Bulletin, (June 2010), 81-106. doi:10.1177/0192636510379902
Colombo, M. W., & Colombo, P. D. (2007). Blogging to improve instruction in differentiated science classrooms. Phi Delta Kappan, 89(1), 60–63.
Green, John [CrashCourse]. (2012, September 13). Samurai, Daimyo, Matthew Perry, and Nationalism: Crash Course World History #34 [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nosq94oCl_M&list=PLBDA2E52FB1EF80C9&feature=share&index=33
Hastie, P. A., Casey, A., & Tarter, A. (2010). A case study of wikis and student-designed games in physical education. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 19(1), 79-91.
Kim, S. (2006). An introduction to current trends and benefits of mobile wireless technology use in higher education. AACE Journal, 14(1), 77-100.
Lei, J., & Zhao, Y. (2007). Technology uses and student achievement: A longitudinal study. Computers & Education, 49(2), 284-296. doi: 10.1016/j.compedu.2005.06.013
Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2011, March). Framework for 21st Century Learning: Information, Media and Technology Skills. Retrieved February 1, 2014, from http://www.p21.org/about-us/p21-framework/61.
Ringstaff, C., & Kelley, L. (2002). The learning return on our educational technology investment: A review of findings from research. Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov
Roosevelt, E. (2008). Good Citizenship: The Purpose of Education. Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, 107: 312–320. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-7984.2008.00228.x
Selwyn, N., & Husen, O. (2010). The educational benefits of technological competence: an investigation of students' perceptions. Evaluation & Research in Education, 23(2), 137-141. doi:10.1080/09500790.2010.483515