When technology goes beyond being just a tool. by Enzo

When technology goes beyond being just a tool. by Enzo - January 2020 Scholarship Essay

Technology has become an entity applied to almost every aspect of our modern day classrooms, from taking attendance, accessing homework, or even online testing. It has enhanced communication and efficiency by allowing students to virtually access information necessary to their courses, whether it be due dates or homework agendas. As a future STEM major, technology paved the way for the career path I wish to take and without it, one of my largest passions ever, coding, wouldn’t even exist.. The positive benefits from technology are many in number and have become so intertwined with modern learning, a classroom could not function the same without it.
Virtual access to classroom materials has given me the opportunity to learn at my own pace and efficiently time manage using the availability of due dates and classroom agendas. As technology has become increasingly universal, there have been thousands of new educational resources popping up on the web daily which allow me access to numerous different teaching styles and practice that I could never use in a traditional classroom. Teachers have too many students under their belt to hyper focus on helping each and every one of them equally, so with technology I can pinpoint the areas I feel least confident about and study them on my own time. Teachers can become spread too thin juggling students, grading, lectures, homework and personal lives, and I find that this exhaustion can correlate into poor grades for their students. A recurring problem for me is my Calculus class, where I found I can not learn from the powerpoint style teaching used. Before using khan academy and delta math to teach myself, my grade was suffering and I was close to failing the class. Using technology I could gain confidence and I stopped coming in disheartened and instead began to raise all my test grades, found the most helpful learning methods and gained beneficial study habits. Technology developed so many opportunities for me to learn in an untraditional way that stuck, when relying on a powerpoint and homework assignment made me feel left behind. Online due dates also contribute significantly to my time management skills when it comes to planning. Writing down due dates in a planner never really stuck with me and I would fail to check it, but getting periodical reminders on my phone or computer is something I basically can’t avoid and I am much more efficient with my assignments. Reminders on the devices I spend time on are always there and cannot be shoved in the bottom of my backpack. Beyond being used as a tool for dates and resources technology has also created many different fields of study that have funneled into millions of jobs in todays workforce specifically one that I felt comfortable in.
STEM majors rely on technology for all aspects of their jobs and skills, such as tracking information, simulation, creating programs and more. Ever since I was a kid I had a passion for computers and technology which correlated into the degree path I plan to take, computer science. I toyed with the idea of numerous majors and felt content with none, until I came across computer science. One of the first programs I wrote in class was a version of the game “Snake” and I had never felt so proud to make something completely from scratch. Ever since that first snake program I have gone on to take numerous other coding courses where I interacted with other students who shared my same interests and met teachers who were excited to teach. Another key benefit of technology is the approachability which I found helped me diversify my education in many ways. Within my coding courses the assignments were fluid and had broad rubric’s which gave me millions of different options to create a solution. Assignments would include requirements and a general outline but there were an infinite different number of solutions and I learned how to be truly creative when I did not have a cookie cutter fill in the blanks worksheet. Building a robot and creating a program to control its arms and legs leaves room for interpretation when it comes to robot design, part selection, features and of course the actual code it takes to control it. Technology contributed to the school I choose, which was an engineering magnet, and it has allowed me to learn many real world skills such as computer aided design, aeronautical flight simulation, and of course, coding. Even in my very first introduction classes I was always drawn to coding because it caused me to enjoy going to school and being in class. Coming to school with a positive mindset and excitement to learn ultimately benefits your learning in every course you take, and coding classes helped me reach that positive outlook on education. Technology has opened up so many opportunities for me as a student and I could not imagine my classroom experience without it.
With the benefits of technology having such a large impact on my education, I would need more than 900 words to even begin to address them. The main ones, such as flexible learning, time management and a career field I am passionate about have all helped me succeed in school and I can not imagine my educational career without them. Technology is more than just a tool, it can become whatever you make out of it.