Benefits of Technology in the Classroom by Kaitlyn

Benefits of Technology in the Classroom by Kaitlyn - January 2020 Scholarship Essay

Technology has provided many helpful resources for schools. The advancement of technology has greatly simplified the different activities involved within the classroom. It has made things like submitting a homework assignment or participating in a class discussion so much easier.

As I got older, I had more classes to take, and they were harder. Without technology, it would have been very difficult to keep up with all my classes and assignments. Thankfully, last year my school purchased Chromebooks for all the students to use. This provided opportunities for our classes to use resources like Google Classroom and Google Docs. Our teachers were able to post our assignments online, and we could submit them through Google Classroom. Before I had access to Google Docs, I would have to type out my papers on Word, print them, then take them to class. With Google Docs, I can type my rough draft which automatically saves, and submit it right there. My teacher can then go in and type comments and return it to me electronically. I then can make the final corrections and submit the final draft. This is super helpful!

Some students struggle with keeping up with their homework. They forget what their assignments are, or they forget to turn it in when done. With technology, they can easily access their homework online and turn it in right there. No more late assignments or bad grades just because they forgot to turn it in. Their homework is posted in each class along with their due dates. Some teachers actually post a copy of every handout and paper assignment too. This is great for those times when I accidentally left something in my locker at school that I needed to complete an assignment or study for a test.

This technology is great for the teachers as well. This year, my school added Go-Guardian. This allows teachers to have control of the students' activity on their devices during class. The teachers are able to see what the kids have up on their screens during their class, and certain websites are restricted in order to protect kids from accessing certain inappropriate websites. They can see exactly when a student turned in an assignment and view when they last worked on it. Teachers have the ability to open and close tabs, and to restrict different websites to make sure they have all of the students' undivided attention. This minimizes distractions and allows for a better group learning environment.

Another recent addition to our online learning is Sycamore Education. Students and parents can log in from any electronic device to check grades or see if there are any missing assignments. This encourages and motivates students to do better. I strive to get all A's and check my grades often. I can also see how many points each assignment is worth. This allows me to keep up with my grades so much better than waiting for report cards to come out.

Students and teachers are given a school email, and this makes it easy for students to contact their teachers for help. All of my teachers welcome communication through email, and this has made it much better to get answers to your questions instead of having to look for your teachers in between classes.
My teachers have used several different educational quiz games for us to study with, such as Quizlet, Kahoot, Gimkit and more. I personally like to use Quizlet Learn to help me study for almost all of my tests. All of these learning tools are great and can be accessed on our phones too.

Technology has made a tremendous, positive impact in my classroom experience in many ways. It makes it simple, organized, and more fun. When I’m playing sports, I can study or do homework on my phone on our way to or from a game. This is very important to me as I am always on the go and need to take advantage of the downtime to keep up with my studies. Without technology in my school, I don't think I would have the grades I have today or enjoy it as much.