Students and Technology in the Classroom
Students today live in a high-tech environment, and their classes are no exception. All of them have welcomed the advantages of using tablets, mobile phones, and iPads in class to complete homework and take notes. With the incorporation of technologies in schools, there has been a growth in the diversity of lessons, greater student engagement, and the inclusion of new skills and viewpoints to the curriculum. Disappointingly, the same technology causes students to lose time, a phenomenon that requires urgent attention due to its negative consequences.
The Problem of Time Wastage
It is high time that parents and teachers, who have students' best interest at heart, recognize the downsides of classroom integrated technology and prevent it. Waste of time by the students comes about due to lack of attention shaped by extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, and distraction by cyber-slacking and its associated behaviors and anxiety (Taneja Fiore & Fischer 143). Unless a lasting solution is provided to deter time wastage due to integrated classroom technology, the problem will take deeps and spread among all students, resulting in reduced academic performance in general.
A Viable Solution
The most viable solution to this problem would be using classroom technology intentionally rather than using it as the only alternative to teaching. Computers and laptops should only be used to augment learning, and teachers should give a handout of hard copy materials that require them to read rather than rely on internet sources. When students get accustomed to reading primary sources like hard copy materials, they will accustom their brains and behavior to enhance concentration, which would help when navigating through online sources (Kolb, Whishaw & Teskey 873190).
Conclusion
Irrefutably, when internet learning is substituted with hard copy materials, students will be less distracted, hence reduced time wastage, which would consequently lead to improved academic performance.
Work Cited
Kolb, Bryan, Ian Q. Whishaw, and G. C. Teskey. An introduction to brain and behavior. Vol. 1273. (2014): 873190.
Taneja, Aakash, Vincent Fiore, and Briana Fischer. “Cyber-slacking in classrooms: Potential for digital distraction in the new age.” Computers & Education 82 (2015): 141-151.
