From posting everything on Google Classroom, to having to plan lessons digitally, and to having to find ways to use technology to keep the students engaged in the lessons, technology has become part of students everyday lives. Technology is transforming the way students learn and how the teachers teach.

Students have to learn how to use online tools and apps and also have to get more comfortable with different testing platforms. Even though technology has benefits, it also has challenges that people have to deal with when using technology in everyday life.

There are many benefits of having technology in the classroom like educational apps and ways that make doing work more fun and interactive. Also, there are different ways to share ideas. For example, working on projects online together.

Another benefit is that there’s learning games that make learning experiences fun and help motivate students to do the work along with being more engaged in the lesson. There are also adaptive learning apps and tools that can help individual student needs, so students can work at their own pace.

“The major benefit in my opinion is the emailing, being able to utilize a lot. Being able to have access to email your teacher about a question on an assignment or a grade is much easier for both parties so that they don’t have to wait until they are in class to ask about it. Also, teachers can email students about things if needed as well, such as an announcement or a question/comment about one of their assignments or just telling them how to get their grade up higher. Also, emailing helps students when they need to email a classmate about a group project or presentation going on when they are outside of class” said junior Alexis McClellan.

There are also many negative things about having technology in the classroom, because it can cause the students to be distracted by other things on the Chromebook and not do their work like they are supposed to. Having technology in the classroom can cause students to have reduced social interactions, because it can limit having in-person experience. Makes students less social and less interactive with other students. There are also health risks, like increased screen time can lead to bad eyesight, poor posture, and being less physically active.

“There’s nothing good about technology in the classroom because it completely defeats the purpose of in person  learning. No student just wants to sit there and stare at a screen all day and that’s what makes people hate school. We get packets and computers shoved in front of us and get told to do it. If we were actually taught and interacted with us face to face and made us want to learn things, things would be very different but now we’re almost expected to teach ourselves the material“ said junior Braidyn Hale.

In conclusion, technology in the classroom has both positive and negative effects. On the positive side, technology upgrades learning by providing interactive and engaging learning. However, there are some downsides, such as increased distractions, students over-realigning on technology. Technology can be a good thing because there are great educational tools, but there should be a balance between technology and having normal work on paper to increase the benefits while reducing the downsides.