Figure 3

This post gives a view of Figure 3 from the Final Project Post...

FINAL PROJECT

Here we have it!...My final research project on technology and college students is finally complete. After months of hard work, extensive research, and a lot of writing the final copy is done. My final project includes the introduction, literature review, research gap, methodology, results, discussion, conclusion, copy of the survey, and, of course, a works cited page. I hope everyone enjoys reading my final report and seeing how my work has progressed through the months.

Introduction:

Recently the question of whether technology has helped or hindered college education has been in review. The increase of online classes and testing via the Internet is a common technological aspect of college classes in this generation. Both Goode and McCoy claim that students who have had access to PowerPoint, word processing, and e-mail at home become more tech-savvy students in the classroom (Goode 610; McCoy 1617). Although technology can be beneficial, online classes lack the face-to-face interaction, which decreases communication learning (Kaifi 8). Moreover, the problem of teachers poorly incorporating technology into the classroom and the gap between the technological skill levels of professors and students has become an issue, according to Lawless and Pellegrino (580). While existing studies have established that professors find technology helpful, student perspectives of technology have not been addressed.

In this article, I argue that although there are many beneficial aspects of technology, there are some students, who have negatively been affected by technology.  Furthermore, this article describes my research including my analysis of a small population of students surveyed at the University of Central Florida. Following my review of literature and methodology, my results will reveal that the majority of students dislike online classes and that many do not feel that teachers integrate technology into the classroom effectively. My survey also revealed the attitudes students have toward working with technology. My point here that technology has changed college students learning experiences, should interest those academics of education technology and professors in college. Beyond this limited audience, however, my point should speak to anyone who cares about the bigger issues of whether or not technology is improving college education in the United States.  Ultimately, what is at stake here is the future generation’s learning abilities in our society.

Review of the Literature:

            Technology is an over-powering element in the present generation of students, as technology has become apart of society in the United States, a country that is built upon cultural and social norms. These norms create a strong presence in individuals’ learning, forcing technology to trickle down into the educational settings. Arthur M. Langer and Lee Knefelkamp, inform readers that, “as norms change, so do cultural views of literacy” (1870). Thus, in order to keep up with the way society views technological literacy, institutions must instill technology into their teachings. Noreen O’Connor enhances this idea in her interview with Steven Sachs. Sachs explains how individuals in today learn from technology outside the academic realm through innovations such as, radios television programs (1). Therefore, in order to further stimulate education, schools must mimic the style in which society is learning.

            Cultural and societal norms do not evolve without beliefs. According to William Lewis technology stems from three different factors: institutional factors, social factors, and individual factors (659). Social norms helped make technology apart of the educational culture. Individual views, such as personal “innovativeness with technology” and “computer self-efficacy,” can also shape the way a student interacts with technology (660).  McCoy adds to this by saying that self-efficacy is directly related to a students’ technological proficiency, as if one has high self-efficacy then one is more likely to utilize technology and enjoy doing so (1617). The attitude a student has toward a computer or an online class determines his or her willingness to embrace new technologies. However, O’Connor and Sach agree, “technology itself does not think independent thoughts, select, create, and organize content” (3). A student’s motivation to learn is what stimulates their literary development, not technology.

            Joanna Goode builds upon these ideas by relating a student’s upbringing and how much experience a student has with technology before entering college, to their current technological abilities. In fact, “without proper opportunities to develop the sense of being a ‘computer person’ students are less likely to develop proficiency” (Goode 610). These lack of opportunities include students coming from low-income families (615). McCoy develops this more as she found that students with access to PowerPoint, e-mail, and word processing at home all make for a better tech-savvy student (1617).

            Perhaps one of the biggest influences on student literacy in the classroom is a teacher. Christopher Buzzard and his co-authors found that there is a gap between students and teachers’ technology skills and types (137). Kimberly A. Lawless and James W. Pellegrino build upon this gap when they conducted a study on how additional technology training is needed for teachers. Technology is “often poorly integrated with other classroom instructional activities” and teachers need to be taught to apply their curriculum goals to the same technology that students use (580-581). 

            The main reason given in most studies for why technology is so important to use is that it provides for the needs of all “diverse learning styles” and “complimenting all learning formats” (Kaifi et al. 1). Arthur M. Langer and Lee Knefelkamp share a similar view as they claim that a student’s maturity level correspondences to their type of technology used (191). This ensures that technology accounts for every student’s preference. Technology has also increased college students’ mathematics scores. Scott D. Johnson and Jenny support this with the claim that students who worked with technology in their courses had more efficient problem solving skills (25). Therefore, university classroom’s education experiences have been transformed by technology.

            However, Kaifi also stresses a strong concern with the lack of in person interactions in online classes. His result showed that forty six percent of the two hundred and three participants felt that they did not learn as much with strictly online classes and fifty nine percent felt that they were worried about no face-to-face interaction (Kaifi 7). Moreover, as technology delivers individual preferences, it is also a strong source of communication. The implementation of instant messaging, e-mail, and online discussion boards create convenient forms of communication inside and outside the classroom (Chen 22). William L. Goffe and Kim Sosin’s also found that online blogs were found to boost feedback for students from readers outside of their immediate peers and teachers (284). In contrast to these positives of technology, Goffe and Sosin discovered that eighty two percent of students admitted to cheating in 2001 (285). Moreover, Joseph A. Watson and Loretta L. Pecchioni examined how the lack of skill of a certain type of technology can hinder literary development and lead to cheating. In their study, students were asked to make a documentary but had no prior experience with these types of technology (311). Therefore, many negatives have struck students in the classroom.

            Even though many scholars have conducted extensive research on this topic, many gaps still remain in the research. For example, according to Johnson and Daugherty, research must continue on the “complexities and influencing factors that ultimately impact student learning” (26). Often times teachers, lack of opportunities, and actual technology itself is examined in studies, while student perspectives need to be investigated even more. Moreover, Yong Zhao and Kenneth A. Frank found that computer usage is “an evolutionary rather than revolutionary” change (833). However, there is not enough research conducted to see if evolutionary changes only impact the classroom, and not the student, and vice-versa.

            In order to further better the research done on this topic, the student perspectives and feelings toward technology are analyzed in my research. Most studies focus on how teachers perceive technology and the overall findings on whether grades have improved or not. However, the importance lies on finding out how students feel about using technology in the classroom, as their opinion on how they learn is very essential. Student should have a say in what devices and styles are used to in their learning.  Thus, the view of student attitudes of technology is the gap I am filling in this research issue.

Methodology:

In order to try to eliminate the gap on student perspectives on technology usage in the classroom, a survey was conducted at the University of Central Florida (UCF). Fifty undergraduate students of all different majors were randomly asked to participate in the survey. Students in the Student Union were arbitrarily selected and asked to participate in the survey. The Student Union was the major student center and meeting area at UCF, which made this an ideal location to find a variety of different students to participate. When a student was approached about a survey they were first asked if they were willing to participate. The approach included a brief synopsis of the research question at hand. If the student agreed to the survey, they were then asked if they were an undergraduate student, since the primary focus of the study was to observe undergraduate student attitudes. The undergraduates surveyed were allowed to have any major and any year, as long as their Bachelor of Arts had not yet been obtained.

The questions in the survey were based on strictly student perspectives. Questions consisted of preferences with online courses, feelings toward technology, and if technology usage had increased their grades. Students also had to provide their major, year in school, and a short sentence explanation of how technology had either helped or hurt them in school. The actual survey used is provided in Appendix A. The primary focus was geared toward student feelings as many researchers who have investigated this topic lack the evidence of student angles. In the end, student attitudes and adjustments toward technology were what created the outcomes in the overall academic performance of a student. The findings from the study have contributed to research on whether or not technology has in fact increased test scores and has made students better learners overall in my small population at UCF.

The survey approach was best because it served as the most efficient way to get in contact with students. With a survey many questions can be asked to numerous participants in a short time, as opposed to an interview, which would entail fifty different individual meetings. Moreover, UCF was an excellent school to investigate due to its size, the second largest university in the country. This made the population surveyed a very diverse community of students.

            The one major flaw in my study was the size of my sample. I only surveyed fifty students at UCF. Although the results revealed accurate findings, in order to strengthen my argument a larger survey size was needed. My population only represented a small percentage of UCF and did not include other universities that could have had different outcomes. To increase my population size, I could have distributed more surveys via e-mail to many random students, with hopes of a high response rate. Overall, the study could have been improved by surveying more students in both UCF and other colleges.

Results:

The results from the survey revealed many different things about college students’ usage of technology. The data adequately covered the range of all grade level students and majors, since the survey was distributed randomly. In total, the survey included: eleven freshman, fifteen sophomores, fifteen juniors, and nine seniors. Moreover, their majors ranged from Pre-medicine, to Art History, and to Accounting. No major was repeated more than twice times. Therefore, from these variations, the results reveal a respectable view of how college students from a small population really do perceive technology in this small scale.

            After requesting basic information such as major and year, the survey asked students about their own personal usage with technology.  The table reveals the findings:

·      41 out of 50 students own a personal laptop ·      20 out of 50 students primarily take notes on their laptop ·      35 out of 50 students have classes where homework is completed all online

(Figure 1)

Although some readers may find that the figure reveals that most students own a computer, I see that eighteen percent of the students did not own a personal laptop in the survey. College students surveyed who do not own a computer must utilize on-campus resources such as libraries. Often times, this becomes an issue as the inability to work on tests, papers, and homework at home can lead to many inconveniences. Students must then abide by campus offerings and hours to complete their work, and must deal with the challenge of finding an open computer during midterm weeks and meeting deadlines. This is not to say campus technology is not helpful, but rather, those who do own a laptop have a significant advantage. Ultimately, my goal is to demonstrate that if only eighty-two percent of fifty owned a personal computer, one can assume that if the survey entailed a larger number of students, one would find that this number only increases.

Moreover, seventy percent of students claimed to have classes in which homework is distributed completely online. This finding further enhances a college student’s advantage if they have their own personal computer. This is not to say professors assigning completely online work does not bring about conveniences for them, but rather creates a problem for those students without a laptop. However, one reoccurring response when students were asked to share a sentence or two on how technology has helped or hurt their own classroom experience was that “it occasionally makes it difficult to access homework with [technological] glitches.” This response came from both students, those who answered they owned a computer and those who did not. Technological issues, such as Internet connection failure can happen to anyone and at any time, which can alter the score of a quiz or homework grade. In other words, even though online homework has its benefits, connection problems and computer malfunctions puts additional stresses on a student hurting their education. 

The next finding revealed more of an in-class aspect to the usage of technology. The survey showed that sixty percent of students with a laptop still preferred taking notes by hand. Thus, traditional ways of note taking still remain prevalent in the classroom. A few students stated, “I feel hand-written notes and written homework helps me remember more.” This demonstrates that technology may not be as helpful for in-class education as many academics think. On the other hand, some students did respond with an opposing view. The response, the “laptop is helpful for taking notes in class” was another common response stated by few students surveyed. From these two quotes, I concluded that the preference for note taking varies from student to student, as each individual learns in a different manner and is apart of a different major that may or may not require computer usage.

In the next part of the survey, students were asked to provide one word that described their feeling toward technology. The box below gives the top five most common words:

1.     Helpful (7 students)                                  4.     Resourceful (2) 2.     Great (4)                                                   5.     Useful (2) 3.     Difficult (3)

·      39 out of 50 gave a positive word for technology including words such as fun, organized, convenient, important, and good ·      11 out of 50 gave a negative word for technology including words such as difficult, hard, expensive, and complicating

(Figure 2)

            In general, seventy-eight of the responses revealed a positive word, meaning students have an overall optimistic view of technology. The most common response, for instance, “helpful,” demonstrates that even though there are some negative aspects to technology, it really can be a valuable tool in the classroom. “Useful” and “convenient” were just two other popular words that showed how technology has changed education for the better. Moreover, student free responses such as, “technology is good for emailing teachers” and “helps you be more organized” symbolize how advantageous it can really be.  Note taking online, power point presentations, and effectiveness in research are more responses that lean toward the overall view of technology as positive.  Although some readers may feel that technology has nothing but positive benefits, I found that twenty-two percent of students gave a negative response toward technology. These responses, for instance, included  “difficult,” “expensive,” and “hard.”  My point is not that technology is completely negative, but rather that the problematic attitudes toward technology should be taken into consideration, as well. In conclusion, students who had a negative view of technology had less access to computers, as most did not own one. I suggest that perhaps, if these students could obtain the same advantages as those who do own a personal laptop, than their view of technology may become more positive.

            The last few questions in the survey asked students to rate from one through ten how they felt about technology in certain aspects.  The following chart gives the questions and results:

Grouped: *1-4: little preference for technology or barely affected by technology                *5-7: moderate preference and somewhat affected by technology                *8-10: high preference and very affected by technology

(Figure 3) -*See above post for view of Figure 3*

            As opposed to the high response of positive words reflecting technology, this section of the survey revealed different results. In the five questions listed in Figure 3, the most responses never occurred in the 8-10 category. For example, the majority of students answered that they enjoyed using technology for classroom exercises and work only moderately (5-7 category). This yielded to be about fifty percent of the students.  Moreover, only twenty-two percent of the students said they highly preferred online textbooks over traditional hardcopies. The majority was almost split at about forty percent in each of the 1-4 and 5-7 categories.  In other words, this finding reveals that students still prefer the physical highlighting and reading of a text that is tangible. Some students found online readings to be “distracting” and once again complained of the “bad internet connections.”

Additionally, only twelve percent of the students highly preferred online classes to the standard face-to-face class setting.  This brings up a major concern for the University of Central Florida where the study was conducted. Let me explain how I arrived at this conclusion: In many circumstances classrooms cannot hold the number of students enrolled in that class. Online classes are, thus, conducted for these subjects to make up for the lack of seats available in the classroom. This is not to say online classes are devoid of benefits, but rather point out that this can become a major problem if the majority of students surveyed at UCF dislike online classes. In fact, forty-eight percent of students answered in the 1-4 category for this question, as they would rather not have any online classes.

            In the question asking whether technology usage had increased grades in class, student responses were highly divided.  Forty-six percent chose moderately affected by technology, thirty percent picked highly affected by technology, and twenty-four percent chose very little. From this outcome, I concluded that technology affects each individual student differently. Some students feel that using technology “helps you be more organized,” and “helpful in research,” which essentially can lead to higher grades. In fact, one student stated that technology “helps cause now if you don’t have it you won’t make it far.” On the other hand, particular students find technology to be “difficult” and “complicating.” Although some readers may feel that technology must have increased test scores, I would answer that it is hard to make a clear stand on whether technology has increased or decreased grades for the surveyed students.

            The final question of the survey dealt with the interaction of professors and technology. Students were asked to rate how well they thought teachers implemented technology into lectures. The major result was that fifty-four percent of the students felt teachers used technology moderately well. This discloses a concern, as teachers are the primary sources of education for a student. This is not to say teachers are students’ only literary sponsors, but rather, without the teacher, students would have a hard time capturing the important materials in a class. Therefore, it is highly important for student and teachers to be synchronized when it comes to technology usage. Ultimately, my goal is to stress the fact that the majority should feel that their teachers do excellent jobs of using technology (8-10 category). I concluded that if the students of UCF must go home and complete homework and take tests online, the teacher-student technology levels should be equal. Only twenty-four percent of those surveyed felt this way.

Discussion:

            These findings reveal many unique features about college students’ attitudes toward technology but overall show that college students in the surveyed UCF population are all on different learning levels. If this is happening at a small scale, than the gap in student learning levels can also be a widespread problem in other universities in a much larger degree. First off, students who do not have a laptop or personal computer are at a huge disadvantage, which leads them to not favor technology in the classroom. Most students in the survey who had a laptop described technology as “useful” and “convenient” but those who did not depict it as “difficult” and “expensive.” Thus, negative thoughts of technology were brought out by the lack of opportunities by those students who reported not having easy access to a computer. Even those who did own a laptop often preferred taking notes by hand (about sixty percent) and did not always choose online classes. From my study it is concluded that this can be a problem at UCF, which often offers certain classes only online. The UCF students must then take their classes in a manner, they dislike. If the survey involved other large universities and the results were similar, the same online class issue could arise. Thus, a major gap in student learning styles could be apparent at a larger scale, as well.

            This gap continues with the way in which the students in my population’s grades were helped or hurt by technology. In many studies described in the literature review, the increase in grades from technology was a huge discussion point. However, from my research, not all students necessarily felt that technology helped their grades.  Once again, the students were all influenced by technological innovations in different ways.  Furthermore, one of the biggest concerns my result revealed was the gap between the way teachers conduct class using technology and the way students use technology.  Only twenty-four percent of students surveyed felt that their teachers did an adequate job of employing technology into lectures.  From my own experience as a college student, I know that students need to feel that their teachers do a good job of using technology in the classroom. Perhaps, looking into student perspectives and learning styles in a broader survey can help educate teachers on how students want to learn.

            To provide further research on student perspectives, a study needs to be conducted surveying a larger population of students about their feelings toward technology. For a more in depth view, approximately four hundred students can be chosen at random at varying universities. These students should then be given my survey. The top five biggest universities and two ivy-league schools can be chosen, which will display enough diversity in the population. Then, once the surveys have been completed, the researcher can determine if the results correlate to mine, which represent only a small scale of the population. If a learning gap between students still remains, than it becomes clear that something must be done to give all students similar opportunities, such as all students owning a laptop if online classes or homework is required.

Conclusion:

Overall, technology is beneficial to many college students but the advantages are not distributed equally among students. My research reveals that technology can be expensive and difficult for those who do not own a computer, which can set them behind on their studies. Moreover, even those who do own a computer still must deal with technological glitches and often times must take online classes, while they prefer face-to-face interaction. These issues place students on different levels of learning as discovered in the survey. Essentially, this can create an even larger gap between those students who can efficiently navigate through and succeed in an online class, as opposed to those students who do not own a computer and may learn better through traditional teaching styles. Moreover, as shown by the surveyed students, teachers and students are not on the same technological page, which can alter learning in the classroom. These findings are important, as something must be done to minimize this gap in different student learning styles.

Appendix A

Survey:

Please answer the following questions honestly to assist in a research study on how technology has affected college students’ literacy.

Age: _______

Year: _______

Major:_______

1. Do you own a personal computer or laptop?  Yes or No

2. How do you primarily take notes, on a laptop or notebook? Laptop or Notebook

3. Do you have classes where homework is done all online? Yes or No

4. Give one word to describe how you feel about technology __________

How would you rate the following?  Rate on a scale of 1-10 (1 being not at all and 10 being extremely helpful/love)

1.     Technology usage has increased my grades in class  __________

2.     I enjoy using technology for classroom exercises and work_________

3.     I prefer reading subject material online rather than in a textbook _______

4.     I prefer online classes instead of the traditional classroom setting ______

5.     My teachers do a good job of implementing technology into our lectures _____

Write one sentence explaining how technology has either helped or hurt you in school.

______________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

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