Computer in Education Articles Review and Reflections

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Computer in Education

Articles Review and Reflections

Olivia Dial 3

Runnan Li 5

Trevor Moore 9

Zienab Al Jaman 11

Rabab Aljaman 15

References 18

Olivia Dial

As a recent graduate from Linfield College, I decided to focus on pre-service teachers’ outlooks on computers. Each of the articles is from a very different time period in the technological sense, one from 2002 and the other from 2008. With this disparity in technology and my personal experience from my teacher education program, I compare how each of these studies view computers in education. Pre-service teachers of the 21^st century are required to learn a breadth of knowledge; not only are they expected to focus on the content and cognitive development of children, but they must develop the skills and knowledge required to implement learning technologies. Beginning with the oldest article that is incorporated, we will notice how the perception and inclusion of computers in classrooms rapidly changes.

Jones (2002) first asserts that during this time, computers have been used in schools for more than twenty years. During this time period, a study demonstrated that only 20% of teachers felt prepared to use computers, while another 70% felt reluctant (Jones, 2002, p. 8). This somewhat recent wave of technology forced colleges to require graduate schools to teach pre-service students about the uses of technology in the classroom. Their primary goal was to address the minimum skills required to effectively use computers in the classroom. A result from this article’s study found that self-efficacy with computers determines whether a student teacher will teach with computers later on. Although a pre-service teacher possesses a positive attitude towards using technology in a classroom, a correlation with their ability to apply it in classroom was not found (Jones, 2002). Reports claim that this could be due to the decontextualized nature: meaningful links between what occurs in a university lecture about computers in education and the reality of managing computers in their own classrooms did not exist.

When we fast forward six years, many changes are observed in the world of technology. Still, teachers’ attitudes directly relate to computer use in the classroom; however, computers appear more in the classroom, but more specifically for housekeeping tasks and parent communication. Pre-service teachers, still almost exclusively in graduate schools, but more in undergraduate studies, are equipped with training for useful and regular computer activities, e.g., instruction, research, and problem solving. More importantly, Teo (2008) again found a correlation between greater computer use and computer confidence. His study showed that pre-service teachers showed positive attitudes toward computers (p. 415), much higher than the 20% that felt comfortable with computers in 2002. However, this is likely due to the higher availability to computers in education during this time.

Looking father into the future, in 2013, my teacher education program required experience with computers throughout all of our undergraduate, major classes. Opportunities to work with SMART Boards, Document Cameras, and a myriad of programs such as Word, Powerpoint, Prezi, Google docs, wikis, and blogs, technology was not taught in its own environment, but throughout our education program. In our final seminar class, we had to reflect on how we used technology in the classrooms that we student taught in. Through the certification of the education program, Linfield was required to add an additional assignment relaying the technology standards to students and how Linfield’s pre-service teachers fulfilled them. Unlike the decontextualized environment present in 2002 and even in 2008, technology surrounded us. It was applicable across all subject and the opportunities we were given to apply them in the classroom were numerous.

Runnan Li

I choose two journals to read about computers in education. The first journal Technology in the Classroom (Armstrong, 2014) focuses on the issues of how school policy and students’ attitudes toward usage of technologies, such as computers and smart-phones in education. It indicated that many schools provided computers for students’ learning and valued computers as effective tools of learning, but they did not treat smart-phones as learning tool. So, most of schools did not allow students to use smart-phone in classroom. However, there are still many issues of using technologies in education according to Armstrong (2014); many students have access to use computers in school, but they do not have access to use computers or resources off campus, even they may have no computer at home in some low-economics areas. This issue has been also talked in the second journal The habitus of digital ‘stranger’ in higher education (Czerniewicz, 2013). In addition, students’ self-choice and abilities to use technologies is one of another challenge for using technologies in education. According to Armstrong (2014), many students who are familiar with using computers or smart-phones may over-rely on search engines to find information and complete research projects, thus they do not have enough ability to identify the information that they pick up are authorized or not. So, it is important to provide training classes both for teachers and students. According to my own experience of using computers and smart-phone in my study, I prefer to use smart-phone in the classroom, while use computer at home. Smart-phone is more convenient than computer. However, all my school teachers no matter in high school or in college do allow us to use smart-phone in the class, however they allow us to use personal computer in the class. Actually, for some small needs of searching or checking information, smart-phone is better than computer. I agree with Armstrong (2014) that using smart-phone in the class is hard to monitor for teachers, and some social functions such as text and cheating are worried by teachers (p. 43). From another perspective, computers also contain those social functions but are easy to monitor by teachers through some softwares. So, it is another lesson for teachers who want to effectively use technologies in teaching.

The second journal- Czerniewicz’s (2013) article is a study that based on South Africa learning environment. It talks about how technology usage form students’ habitus, and it makes a connection between technology usage and cultural capital, as well as social capital. It also talks some ideas and issues that appears in Armstrong’s (2014) article, such as students’ choice and attitudes. The difference is that Czerniewicz (2013) analyze students’ choice and attitudes that based on students’ cultures and personal experiences in South Africa learning environment. According to Czerniewicz (2013), many students have access to use computers in school, but they have no access to use computers off school; even they have computer at home, they have no access to use internet or online sources due to the fact that they do not have awareness of using computers as a normal study tool. The cultural capital determined that computers at home perhaps for family business use (47). According to my own experiences, this cultural capital is much similar to my cultural. I cannot use computer at home from Monday to Friday, because my parent think that computer is for my father’s office use and for my entertainment use. Also, teachers in school will not give students assignment that need to use computer after school. That is why I always wonder why we need to take computer class in elementary school, because I have no chance to practice after class. And for a long time, I treat computer as my entertainment on the weekend, even I read some interesting articles, but I never thought computer is a learning tool until I entered the college. After reading Czerniewicz’s (2013) article and combining my own experiences, I agree that there is a gap between using technologies in education and students’ attitudes; students’ attitudes and habitus are shaped by cultural capital and social capital, which directly influence how they value technologies using in learning (p. 51). According to the two journals, it is obvious that using technologies appropriately in teaching is benefit. However, how to use it effectively is still a lesson for all teachers. Technology is powerful of cause, but if we cannot understand it better, it will be hard to communicate with a machine.

Trevor Moore

The two articles that I chose to read and review focused on students’ perceptions and attitudes towards using computers in the classroom. The first article explains how Dr. Metin Yaman tried to figure out what the perceptions of 330 Sports Management students and Physical Education students were of potentially using distance learning in their programs. In order to gain an understanding of these student’s perceptions, Yaman (2009) had each of the students complete a questionnaire. The questionnaire revealed the students’ gender, social class, where their family lives, how much money their family makes in a month, whether or not they have a computer, if they have internet connection, their attitudes towards computers and distance education, their preferred learning environment, and what they feel the roles of students are. After giving the questionnaire, Dr. Yaman analyzed the results and found that a majority of the students feel that distance learning would allow them to ask more questions that they would refrain from asking in a classroom environment. The results also indicated that the students who own a computer and who have access to the internet had a much more positive perception to the possibility of distance learning in their programs. Although these students feel that distance learning does have a place in their program, they do not think that all of their classes should be done in the distance learning format. Yaman (2009) indicates that these students feel that theoretical courses lend themselves to working well in a distance learning format, but practical application courses would be impossible to have as distance learning courses.

The second article discusses a study that was done by Nursel Yilmaz which investigated how pre-service early childhood teachers felt about using computer based education in science activities. In order to collect the needed data, Yilmaz (2011) gave 215 Turkish pre-service teachers two surveys. One survey provided information on the students’ demographic information; the second survey informed Yimaz about the attitudes the pre-service teachers had towards computer based education. After analyzing the data, Yilmaz (2009) found that a majority of the participants had positive attitudes towards computer based education while teaching science activities. Yilmaz (2009) also found that the pre-service teachers who were introduced to computers and began using them at an early age tended to have more of a positive outlook on using computer based education than the pre-service teachers who began using computers later in their education.

The results of both of these studies have showed that teachers believe that computers are beneficial tools that should be used in the classroom. The first study shows that even in the Physical Education field, teachers feel that computers can and should be used in their classes. These studies have also explained that even though teachers feel that computers can be beneficial in the classroom, there is a time and place for them. The first study explained that there are some occasions where computers would negatively impact a lesson and that computers make the application of some skills impossible. Taking what we learned from both of these articles, we can see that computers do belong in the classroom setting, but it is up to us as teachers to determine when it is appropriate to integrate them into our teaching.

Zienab Al Jaman

I read the article In-class laptop use and its effects on student learning which is written by Carrie Fried. In his article, Fried reported that computer has become an important device in higher education since the number of using computer in university increases constantly. However in recent times, there are more faculty who prevent using computer in their classroom as they distract students from learning. Whereas, There are some evidence that computer programs have a positive effect on students. For example, computer can facilitate faculty and student interactions in class participation. Also, it helps students to promote active learning exploratory. The purpose of the present research is to examine student computer use and how computers influence student learning outcomes in a traditional lecture course. The first results of the research was that students did not use the computer for just taking note but also for checking emails, surfing the internet, playing games and doing other activities. The second result was the using of computer during the lectures impacted negatively the students performance and their understanding of the lectures. Other result was most students did not pay attention to the lecture because other students' computer use.

Consequently, the results demonstrate that the use of computers may have some negative outcomes, but students, faculty, and administrators need to find ways to promote the appropriate use of computers at the same time reducing the negative impacts of inappropriate use.

The second article I read, Computer-assisted second language vocabulary instruction: A meta-analysis, which was written by Chiu. The author explained that there is an increasing attention to integrate computer instruction for language learning and teaching. Especially, vocabulary which is the foundation step to mastering the language for English language learners. He demonstrated some methods to acquisition second language vocabulary from previous studies such as dictionary use, games, and computer-assisted language learning programs. Most previous studies tried to investigate the efficiency of the computer in learning vocabulary. There are many computer based methods, such as flash cards, to learn vocabulary. As a result of the conflict result in use computers for second language learning vocabulary, Chiu sought to get a better understanding of the various studies.

The Chiu's study concerned on the effect of computer-mediated instruction in second language vocabulary with regard to four factors: treatment duration, the educational level of participants, game-based learning, and the role of teachers. The first finding of the study was that students who received computer-assisted language learning learned vocabulary better. Also, the study demonstrated that high school or college students can benefit more from computer assisted language learning programs than elementary students. The third finding of the study was that second language vocabulary learning performed better without games than with the help of the games. Finally, the study showed that learning vocabulary without the assist of the teacher is better than the aid of the teachers.

In conclusion, students can acquisition second language vocabulary through the computer-assisted programs efficiently. The study that Chiu did demonstrates the general effectiveness of second language computer-assisted vocabulary instruction. This study will help future research of how computer-assisted programs helps second language students to gain vocabulary better.

I found the article was very informative. Many of the ideas that the others presented I agreed with. Some students use their laptops during the classroom badly like playing games, looking to different website, and chatting with their friends. Also, using laptops during the class will prevent them from understanding the lecture. They will not focus to listen to the lecture and take note at the same time which lead to reduce students performance.

The second article written by Chiu was interesting. However, there was a point that I would like to argue against. I think that second language students can gain vocabulary quickly through games. These computer games will provide an interesting environment to learn instead of the traditional way.

Rabab Aljaman

Onder, Celik, and Silay (2011) reported in their article, "Attitude of Teacher Candidates toward Making Computer Supported Education," that computers play a significant role in human's life as well as in education. Computer usage assists teachers to create an environment in where the students have the interests towards the course for a long time without monotony. As a result of computers support the courses, students need to learn how to use computers efficiently under the observing of the teachers. Students will know that computers not only a tool to play or surf the internet but also a device to make a contribution to their cultural knowledge. In the light of above results, it is obvious how important the computer usage in education. For that, teachers need to be educated to use computers.

Onder, Celik, and Silay made a study to determine the teachers' attitudes to use computers in instruction and how these attitudes can change according to department, class level, and gender. The result of this study has showed that the teachers in different departments have a positive attitude in using computers assisted education. Also, this study has revealed that teachers' attitudes towards giving computer supported education did not differ to their class level as well as their gender.

In conclusion, computers are very important tools to assist education. The study that Onder, Celik, and Silay did has shown that the teachers' attitudes from different department, class level, and gender towards using computers supported education are highly positive.

Another article that I read was In-class laptop use and its effects on student learning which is written by Carrie Fried. In his article, Fried provided that the laptops use in higher education increased in the last years. All students and faculty have a computer. However, more and more faculty are banning the use of laptops in the classrooms as they afraid of the negative impact of laptops on students learning. On the other hand, there are some evidences that demonstrate how students in laptop classroom have higher participation rates, more interest in learning, and more motivation to perform well. For that, the aim of Fried's research is to examine students use of the laptops and how laptops affect the students learning outcomes in a traditional lecture course. The research found that most students used laptops to do other things not only taking notes such as checking emails, surfing the internet, and playing games. Also, it illustrated that there was a negative impact on students performance as they use their laptops. The use of laptops distracted students of paying attention to the lectures and understanding it clearly. The third finding was most students faced difficulty to pay attention to the lecture as a result of other students' laptop use.

In sum, the use of computers in classrooms can benefit students who want to take notes. However, the using of computers during the lectures has some negative impact such as using many things like checking emails, lower the students performance, and preventing other students of understanding the lecture. The research that Fried did will help future researches to find some ways to monitor the students' laptop use.

Before reading the first article, I have known that computers are useful tools in assisting education. Teachers can use computers to perform the activities for their lessons. This article assured this idea that I have. I always thought that male are interested in computers more than female. However, the result of the study found that there is no difference between the attitude towards how computers assisting education of male and female teachers. The second article was very interesting. I agree with the finding of the Fried's research. I noticed some students use their laptop during the class for playing games, surfing the Internet, or chatting with their friends. Also, the noise of other student's laptop use distracts me from understanding what the instructors say. What I think is an appropriate solution for using laptops in classrooms is that teachers should allow students to use their laptops but without making noise. About the students, who lose their time during the class playing game or doing other things, will be the biggest loser, and they will understand that at the end of the term.

References

Armstrong, A. (2014). Technology in the Classroom It's Not a Matter of 'If,' but 'When' and 'How'. Education Digest, 79(5), 39-46.

Chiu, Y. H. (2013). Computer‐assisted second language vocabulary instruction: A meta‐analysis. British Journal of Educational Technology, 44(2), E52-E56.

Czerniewicz, L., & Brown, C. (2013). The habitus of digital 'strangers' in higher education. British Journal Of Educational Technology, 44(1), 44-53. doi:10.1111/j.1467- 8535.2012.01281.x

Fried, C. B. (2008). In-class laptop use and its effects on student learning. Computers & Education, 50(3), 906-914.

Jones, A. (2002, July). Refusing or ignoring? An investigation of student teachers' perceptions and use of computers. Australian Society for Educational Technology, p. 7-10.

Önder, F., Çeli̇k, P., & Silay, İ. (2011). Attitude of teacher candidates toward making computer supported education. Procedia Computer Science, 3, 967-971.‏

Teo, T. (2008). Pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards computer use: A Singapore survey. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 24(4), 413-424

Yaman, M. (2009). Perceptions of Students on the Application of Distance Education in Physical Education Lessons. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, Volume 8, Issue 1, Article 7. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com

Yilmaz, N. (2011). Investigating Pre-Service Early Childhood Teachers’ Attitudes Towards the Computer Based Education in Science Activities. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, Volume 10, Issue 3. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com

Index

computer

cultural capital

opportunities

5

technology