Technology Integration Specialist Reflects on Changes in Education Technology

Technology is advancing. It has been introduced into the classroom little by little. But what does this mean for the future of the school systems? Mrs. Beth Williams, the technology integration specialist at Elkins High School, has both hopes and worries about this change.

“Technology is pretty broad, as far as the Chromebooks, desktops, and the internet, but cell phones, iPods, and earbuds all fall under technology. The good of technology has helped students that are chronically absent due to illness or home life so they can do their assignments”, Williams said.

That being said, it is not all good like Williams mentioned; there is a bad side to technology, being cell phones and their overuse.

“Technology has presented a new challenge to teachers that we did not face ten years ago, and that’s the addiction to screens and needing to constantly have that fix, if you want to call it that. The cell phone battle brings up the need for kids to have something going on in their heads. They want to listen to their earbuds while somebody is trying to speak or trying to lecture, and there’s a new challenge with cheating and AI”, Williams said.

The talk on technology isn’t all black and white, the need for students to have an external connection to music or other media, but what about in the classroom itself? How has it impacted that in the way of academics?

“As a teacher, I think technology is fantastic. I utilize it to help with research. It is so much easier for students to do research projects than back in my day when we had to hoove over to the public library and use the microfiche or the database card catalog system, as they called it, having to thumb and mall through it and hope they’re in the correct spots. So it’s really helped in that it has also helped in keeping kids on track. They can see right in front of them what they need to do, so as a teacher, it has helped me a lot. And as the technology director, I can see what programs work and what needs work so it helps to streamline the use of technology for teachers”, Williams said.

That being said, is all this technology good for a healthy classroom environment? Williams believes that when used in the right way technology could make a huge impact in the classrooms. However, we shouldn’t stray too far from the roots of the classroom.

“It definitely has its place. I don’t think it should be the focus or the soul tool used, but I think it is an asset tool that can be used. But I still think there is a huge need for in-person communication and handwriting skills. a lot of kids’ handwriting has gone down. It is not legible anymore because they are not practicing enough, so I still think that it should just be a side tool, not 100% the way we learn.” Williams added.

Now all of that is about today, but what about the future of technology in schools? Technology is making its way up the latter. It has the ability to do everything a teacher does and so much more. So how could this impact the classroom further down the line?

“The way AI is advancing, there is a possibility that technology takes over the classroom. AI is able to create lessons, is able to push out materials, and is able to write papers for students. Technology has the real possibility to push teachers out of a job, businesses out of needing employees, and just letting AI do all of their work. Newspapers can use AI for their articles, they’re editing, so it has got its possibilities. But I don’t think that we are ready to relinquish that much control to technology yet.” William said.

Everything can either be used for good or for worse however this is up to each person to decide. Technology is the same way. It can be used as a tool to help the process of learning or it can be taken advantage of. So whether technology is for better or for worse is truly up to how you use it.