Technology is a major part of today’s world and it’s no different at Dobie. Sometimes technology is taken for granted; it has modernized the way we manage finances, entertain, and capture memories. Along with these changes is the very significant change in the way students learn. Technology is making classroom activities more efficient and engages students in way a traditional lecture cannot, but these advantages come at a cost.

Technology makes class run more efficiently, makes everyone’s job a bit easier, and makes learning fun and interactive. Students at Dobie use technology very often. Most of them say they use it about two times a day in school, and that they thought it really benefited their education. Students feel more engaged when they use it because it makes activities more fun and interactive. It also makes class run more efficiently.

In math class the teacher no longer has to write out problems on the board – they can pull up the questions on the smart board. In social studies, students can use programs such as nearpod instead of listening to a simple lecture. These technical advances cause class to run more smoothly.

Technology helps the individual student learn. There are many online programs that can help students prepare for tests. “… there are sometimes interactive programs like Kahoot,” said Kiran Sprout, eighth grader. Another advance in technology has made homework and classwork digital.

In journalism class, students use technology daily. They log into Google Classroom and complete assignments online. “…It really benefits the students and the teachers in classrooms it a lot of ways. “It makes education more efficient, it saves paper, and time and it opens up so many more possibilities for learning,” said Mrs. P.J., Journalism Teacher.

Mrs. P.J. added that she is fortunate to have a set of computers in her classroom. “A lot of teachers want computers but they don’t have them,” she said.

Despite all this positives, there are many negatives to the use of technology in the classroom. This includes students getting distracted and the technology not functioning correctly. Technology can distract students and stop them from doing the best they can.

“There are some people who will misuse [technology]. Those people ruin it for the whole class or maybe even the whole school,” said Caitin Zander, 8th grader. Misusing the technology not only stops the individual from reaching their full potential, it ruins things for others too.

Another problem that we often face is when technology is not functioning correctly. If there are any technical malfunctions, the planned assignment might not go so smoothly because it might have to be rescheduled, or be altered in some way.

Even though there may be some negatives to the use of technology in class, the positives definitely outweigh them. “…Every teacher should have a class set of laptops, at least all of the core classes,” said Mrs Loomis, Librarian.