- 2 Pitches:
- 1. technology and it’s role in the classroom with students and teachers progress and productivity. 2. students relationships with their roommates and how they feels living with others and how they’ve created a livable sharing space (chores, food, schedules, etc)
- I chose the first one
- People I’ll be interviewing:
- I’m going to be interviewing both students and teachers
- I have compiled a list of 3 students so far and collected their contact information
- I have created a list of questions I will be asking the teachers and students, teacher and student questions slightly differentiate due to both sides having different perspectives (their roles) on the matter
- Details I need to find out/research:
- I want to get students and teachers opinions with the personal questions I’ll be asking about their individual experiences and opinions on the matter
- I’ll be researching overall different stats on how students productiveness has shifted (if any) over the years as technology has become more of a staple in the classroom
- I’ll be researching teachers perspectives if teachers have reported they prefer more or less technology
- I’ll be researching if students “intelligence” for a lack of better word (are students showing that their grades aren’t as high as they used to be, classroom productivity has negatively changed, etc), has declined, increased, or stayed neutral as more technology has become a staple in the classroom/ following that up and seeing if any studies have shown a connection between that answer and technology
- Challenges I foresee at the start of my project:
- I feel like most people I know prefer the technology in classrooms so I’m a little nervous that I won’t get diverse answers and everything will just be the same across the board/ following that up with the research and there not being any studies that will show what I assume/predict, kind of killing my entire papers point
- First Messy Early Draft:
- My prediction is that students progress in the classroom will have declined by some sort of degree. I personally feel when everything is online it’s out of sight out of mind. Laying everything out in front of me and seeing everything I need to do is much more beneficial that having to search everything online and go find it. The print out in my folder than I can easily take out is much better. Writing physical notes is easier for me to remember in th elong run rather than something I typed. Also, so many people in classrooms multitask on their devices which can lead to distractions. Yes, not every case is the same, not every single person is shopping or is going to lose out on anything important in class by doing other things in a different tab for a period of time, however it happens for some people. I don’t think students having laptops is a problem, I find it to be more beneficial when assignments are physical pieces of paper: getting a sheet of paper with the assignment that I can either answer on that paper or go home, write a paper, and print it out; both being literally handed in to the teacher in class. All of this being said is my opinion on the matter, I don’t know if it’s a fact, if the majority of people would agree, or if my predictions will be true, but this would be the background for my paper; the meaning behind why I chose what I did. My prediction is that students progress in the classroom will have declined by some sort of degree. I personally feel when everything is online it’s out of sight out of mind. Laying everything out in front of me and seeing everything I need to do is much more beneficial that having to search everything online and go find it. The print out in my folder than I can easily take out is much better. Writing physical notes is easier for me to remember in the long run rather than something I typed. So many people in classrooms multitask on their devices which can lead to distractions. Yes, not every case is the same, not every single person is shopping or ia going to lose out on anything important in class by doing other things in a different tab for a period of time, however it happens for some people. I don’t think students having laptops is a problem, I find it to be more beneficial when assignments are physical pieces of paper: getting a sheet of paper with the assignment that I can either answer on that paper or go home, write a paper, and print it out; both being literally handed in to the teacher in class. All of this being said is my opinion on the matter, I don’t know if it’s a fact, if the majority of people would agree, or if my predictions will be true, but this would be the background for my paper; the meaning behind why I chose what I did. As of now, the general overview is that teachers are happy with how convenient everything is to grade, upload material, have all turned in assignments in one place, etc. WIth this for teachers, It’s nice and convenient having all turned in assignments being able to be in one place rather than carrying around 100 papers that make your bag heavy. It’s also more convenient to have the assignments posted rather than printing out so many papers and carrying them around. In terms of grading its the average answer from teachers to find it more convenient that it’s online. However it’s the average answer that teachers dislike technology in the classroom with how distracted everyone is; phones, laptops, as well as studies showing studies that prove writing with pencil and paper proves to give more memory rather than typing.
- Developed Draft:
Technology: Our Saving Grace or Our Downfall
University of New England students and faculty members were interviewed on how they feel about the increase of technology use in classrooms
February 11, 2025
Cameron Stickney
University Student
In early February 2025, students and faculty members at the University of New England were interviewed with various questions regarding the use of technology in the classroom and how it has affected their progress and performance.
Studies have shown that writing by hand is more effective than typing notes online and that the brain is more likely to remember the ones you write by hand. One of UNE’s seniors, Rachel Gardner, 21, Marine Biology major, spoke on her perspective on the matter. Rachel believes that technology comes with “a double edged sword”.
With technology, the ease of writing long papers and keeping up with how fast professors talk is a lifesaver. However, it’s harder to remember what assignments need to be done unless she keeps “all the tabs open” for every single assignment she needs to do.
Rachel says she appreciates the ease technology provides students with being able to quickly type notes and to “write long papers”, but logging in is a hassle with how long it takes. Gardner’s opinion is schools should go back to assignments and how classrooms are run more hands on rather than online.
An overall consensus from students and teachers at UNE is that distraction is a big problem with technology. Students argued even if they aren’t always playing games online and they are just completing other assignments, they are still distracted on some level.
Teachers argue that teaching has become “talking to an empty classroom”, at least according to Professor Ryan WIlliams, head of the criminology department at UNE. From a teacher’s perspective, students no longer follow them while they lecture, but instead have their head buried behind some sort of screen. Teaching seems to have lost its meaning for these educators.
As Gardner advocated, technology in the classroom has a “double edged sword” and these educators would agree. Williams acknowledges the convenience posting assignments online has provided, literally “taking the weight” off their shoulders with all the paper they save by not printing them out.
With new studies coming out about how the use of technology might be making our education system worse, students and teachers alike agreeing to some degree that a classroom without so much technology might be a better place, maybe it’s time to consider it.
- Workshop Draft:
Technology: Our Saving Grace or Our Downfall
University of New England students and faculty members were interviewed on how they feel about the increase of technology use in classrooms
February 11, 2025
Cameron Stickney
University Student
In early February 2025, students and faculty members at the University of New England were interviewed with various questions regarding the use of technology in the classroom and how it has affected their progress and performance.
Studies have shown that writing by hand is more effective than typing notes online and that the brain is more likely to remember the ones you write by hand. One of UNE’s seniors, Rachel Gardner, 21, Marine Biology major, spoke on her perspective on the matter. Rachel believes that technology comes with “a double edged sword”.
With technology, the ease of writing long papers and keeping up with how fast professors talk is a lifesaver. However, it’s harder to remember what assignments need to be done unless she keeps “all the tabs open” for every single assignment she needs to do.
Rachel says she appreciates the ease technology provides students with being able to quickly type notes and to “write long papers”, but logging in is a hassle with how long it takes. Gardner’s opinion is schools should go back to assignments and how classrooms are run more hands on rather than online.
An overall consensus from students and teachers at UNE is that distraction is a big problem with technology. Students argued even if they aren’t always playing games online and they are just completing other assignments, they are still distracted on some level.
Teachers argue that teaching has become “talking to an empty classroom”, at least according to Professor Ryan WIlliams, head of the criminology department at UNE. From a teacher’s perspective, students no longer follow them while they lecture, but instead have their head buried behind some sort of screen. Teaching seems to have lost its meaning for these educators.
As Gardner advocated, technology in the classroom has a “double edged sword” and these educators would agree. Williams acknowledges the convenience posting assignments online has provided, literally “taking the weight” off their shoulders with all the paper they save by not printing them out.
With new studies coming out about how the use of technology might be making our education system worse, students and teachers alike agreeing to some degree that a classroom without so much technology might be a better place, maybe it’s time to consider it.
- I have my developed draft and workshop draft the same because at that time I was still gathering interviews from people and making notes on quotes I wanted to use from them. I complied a list of my questions and then responses each person had to my questions and was then making notes and highlighting the parts I wanted to quoted them on, so I never got to make any changes to the draft itself
- Revised Draft:
Technology: Our Saving Grace or Our Downfall?
University of New England students and faculty members shared their experiences on how they feel about the increase of technology use in classrooms
February 11, 2025
Cameron Stickney
University Student
In early February 2025, students and faculty members at the University of New England shared their experiences regarding the use of technology in the classroom and how it has affected their progress and performance.
Studies have shown that writing by hand is more effective than typing notes online and that the brain is more likely to remember the ones you write by hand. One of UNE’s seniors, Rachel Gardner, 21, Marine Biology major with a Creative Writing minor, spoke about her perspective. Gardner doesn’t know if she “truly enjoys this change in schools” as she believes that technology comes with “a double edged sword”.
With technology, the ease of writing long papers and keeping up with how fast professors talk is a lifesaver. However, it’s harder to remember what assignments need to be done and she would “love it if we went back to giving readings in physical copies rather than digital ones”.
Gardner says she appreciates the ease technology provides students with being able to quickly type notes and to “write long papers”, but logging in is a hassle with how long it takes. She understands the risks with information being stolen offline, however she raises a fair point, noting it “is also an issue that may not be had with paper”. Gardner’s opinion is schools should go back to how classrooms are run more hands on rather than online.
An overall consensus from students and teachers at UNE is that distraction is a big problem with technology. Students argued that even if they aren’t always playing games online and they are just completing other assignments, they are still distracted on some level.
Gardner spoke about if she felt there was some sort of decline in the classroom, saying “I would like to be optimistic and say no, but I don’t think that would be true. I do think students have become a lot more lazy than they used to be”.
Teachers argue that teaching has become “talking to an empty classroom”, at least according to Professor Ryan Williams, the Assistant Professor of Criminology. From a teacher’s perspective, students no longer follow them while they lecture, but instead have their head buried behind some sort of screen.
Teaching seems to have lost its meaning for these educators. It is to the point where Professor Williams is considering “banning technology completely from my classrooms”.
Carolyn Jones, 20, Medical Biology major, is more on the fence with technology in the classroom, saying she has “mixed feelings”. She likes how she can “have everything in one place so I can easily carry {something} that’s not too heavy or bulky, but I do still use a paper planner to write all my assignments in”.
Along with Gardner, Jones finds there to be more cons than pros, with the pros mainly being the convenience of not caring around a lot of weight, as well as helping with not taking too long to produce notes and papers. Jones finds the process of logging in to be “excessive {and} a bit much and annoying”. Jones also feels there has been some sort of decline in the classroom with students progress and it’s creating “less of a work ethic” problem with students.
Some students however, find the change of more technology use in the classroom to be a very positive one. Junior Wen Wadlington, 23, Marine Science major finds this change to be a game changer for his academic career. “I’m not a very organized person, unfortunately. I have trouble keeping all my papers together, and to me, I find it frustrating when a teacher gives a bunch of loose paper handouts. It’s much easier when everything is neatly organized in an online clout”.
Wadlington finds himself to be “far more productive” when he uses his laptop versus when he has to write on paper. This is due to the fact that he can type “at almost 130 WPM” which he claims is “about nine times faster than I can handwrite”. Rather than go back to classrooms being less technologically run or even keeping it as it is now, Wadlington would prefer if it became “even more digital with a higher emphasis on online learning”.
Senior Shauni Ross, 21, Animal Behavior Major with an environmental studies minor, falls under the same umbrella as Wadlington. Ross “personally likes the change when it is properly utilized” since she “can work on them whenever” she wants. Ross argues that the professor determines if the use of technology will be beneficial or not because if it isn’t utilized properly, “it can become more of a search through individual classroom websites”.
Ross finds herself to be “more productive on the computer” since she has the ability to access everything in one space whenever she would like wherever she is. She finds there to be “a lot of benefits to having things be done online, but there is also the hassle of the login process. Ross isn’t furious with it, but she finds it “can be annoying” and “extremely difficult”.
Despite some fault, Ross feels it’s a good direction classes are headed because she believes “the world is going in a direction where technology is going to be a part of everything that we do in the future and I think having a basic understanding and being familiar with these concepts and working with them for things like school could benefit us in the long run”.
Students and Professors have different views on the path that classrooms’ futures are headed towards. Is it good or is it bad? It seems only time will tell.
- Workshop Experience Reflection:
- I think that the workshop was a nice experience. It’s definitely nerve racking having everyone see my atrocious messy draft but it was nice to hear that people liked a lot of what I did have. I think that some people gave great feedback and I made notes on all of them. Of course I wasn’t finish, so much was going to be added, but I changed everything people commented on like adding another quote from the teacher that was more powerful, changing my wording on the “interview” portion, etc.
- Project as a Whole Reflection:
- I think the project was fun, I got to explore on a topic that really interested me as well as experiencing a writing format I’ve never done before. It was definitely a challenge to not write an essay and to pick a side. I’ve never done journalism before so I definitely had many obstacles like researching journalism pieces to get an idea of how I’m supposed to be objective and neutral, etc. But at the same time I think I definitely gained a new skill that could obviously use more practice and improvement, but I know more about it now than I did before. I think overall it was a fun practice and exercise and I really enjoy workshop. I also really enjoy editing peoples work haha so I liked printing them out and highlighting and making notes for others!
