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Samantha Frey
ENGL 3183
Dr. Kurlinkus
9 April 2015
Annotated Bibliography
Argument: (I plan on changing my research topic altogether.) There has definitely been an
emergence and advancement in technology, especially within the past 15 years. It has worked its
way into our social lives, the workplace, affected our health, and even changed the education
system. As a general statement, I am interested in the effects of technology in the classroom and
whether or not integrating it is best for the student. I am interested in this topic because, as a
student myself, I often find it more useful to learn the old-school way (handwriting notes, using
actual textbooks, and attending a normal lecture class) whereas I witness many other students
utilizing modern technology to their aide of recording and learning the information (taking notes
on a laptop, using e-books on tablets, and taking online classes), but I also understand that
knowledge in technology is essential in the workforce. For my primary research, I intend on
interviewing friends and classmates on whether they have incorporated technology into their
note-taking and studying routines or not and if they find the teachers use of technology helpful.
I would like to learn why they have chosen and continued with the method they customarily use
and why they believe said method benefits them more than the alternative. In addition, I would
like to learn if other technologies (such as cell phones) have become a distraction to their
learning abilities in the classroom setting. My secondary research will obviously contain
articles, essays, scholarly journals, research, etc. on my topic. I believe there could definitely be
a direct correlation between the use of technology in the classroom and how much students are

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actually learning, and I would like the explore positive and negative connotations with utilizing
modern technology within the classroom.

Archer, Karin. De Pasquale, Domenica. Gentile, Petrice. Nosko, Amanda. Wood, Eileen.
Zivcakova, Lucia. Examining the Impact of Off-task Multi-tasking with Technology on
Real-time Classroom Learning. Computers and Education Vol. 58, Issue 1. Ontario:
Wilfrid Laurier University, 2011. Print.

The individuals involved in the making and production of this study are affiliated with
the Department of Psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University. Rather than focusing on
technology as a studying/learning tool, this study investigates how technology can simply
be a distraction in the classroom, another component that I am also interested in learning.
Tools such as tablets, laptops, and cell phones are portable and becoming more useful in
the classroom. However, they argue that Although these technologies can be harnessed
for positive educational outcomes, recent research suggests that these same digital
technologies can impair performance and distract learners if used inappropriately. Their
study investigated the current multi-tasking research by assessing the learning outcomes
of off-task multi-tasking in a classroom setting. Their finding supported their initial
argument suggesting that the very features that make multi-media platforms attractive as
learning tools may also make them distractors because compliance with instructors was
low, only 57% of the participants self-reported fully adhering to instructors on each of the
three sessions. They also found that participants who chose not to use technology, or
used minimal amounts of technology, would outperform those participants who chose to

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engage in multi-tasking activities to a greater extent. This research adds a negative


connotation to the integration of technology in the classroom.

Bitner, Noel. Bitner, Joe. Integrating Technology into the Classroom: Eight Keys to Success.
Journal of Technology and Teacher Education Vol. 10, Num. 1. Chesapeake: Society for
Information Technology and Teacher Education, 2002. Print.

I have searched for information on both Joe and Noel Bitner, however I could not find
anything about either of them except for this book. This specific section of the book
explores the ways in which integrating technology into a regular classroom routine is not
only beneficial but almost necessarily essential. The problems that they discuss,
however, does not necessarily have to do with the students but with the teacher. It is the
teachers responsibility, Bitner and Bitner argue, to not fear the change of using new
technology and allow it to change their teaching paradigm. The eight steps for the
teachers include not fearing change, training in and personal use of the technology, using
new teaching models, provide necessarily learning for the students, a positive Climate for
the teachers learning and integrating process, motivation, and support. They claim that
involving the teachers with the emergence of the movement to assimilate technology into
the classroom is vital so the teachers do not get overlooked by technology. For my
project, this excerpt will provide a positive outlook for the use of technology in the
classroom. Perhaps their most compelling argument is that The knowledge needed for
tomorrows job will change before many of todays students enter the job market.
Students today must learn to search and discover knowledge, actively communicate with

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others, and solve problems so that they can become productive, life-long members of our
society. It is inarguable that students must learn what they will be required to know and
use in the future.

DAngelo, Jill M. Wooley, Sherry Ann. Technology in the Classroom: Friend or Foe.
Education Vol. 127, Issue 4. Mobile: Project Innovation, Inc., 2007. Print.

Once again, I could not find any useful information on neither Jill DAngelo nor Sherry
Wooley. The study that they have produced, though, is quite relevant to my research
project because it investigates nearly the exact same questions that I have proposed.
Rather than focusing on the teacher, this study focuses on the students perspective on the
positive and negative effects of the use of technology in the classroom and the more
modern direction that many teachers are exploring. DAngelo and Wooleys study
researches what kinds of technology are students experiencing in the classroom, whether
or not the students perceive certain educational technology environments as being more
helpful to their learning, if there are differences in how various subpopulations of
students view the effectiveness of various learning technology environments, and will
students become passive and tune-out the professor and thus fail to learn the necessary
information (DAngelo and Wooley, 2007). They found that classrooms are rapidly
becoming more technology oriented and that the students perception is that the
modernity in a technology oriented style of teaching is more helpful in their learning
endeavors. However, the study does claim that their main limitation lies with the fact that
it focuses on the students perception rather than their actual performance. In my primary

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research, I would like to investigate both aspects. What is most interesting about this
research is the three styles of teaching they incorporated: modern (PowerPoints and
videos/programs), traditional (chalkboard and overhead projectors), and techno
(blackboard and online course work). A majority of the students found the modern style
most effective, traditional style second most, and techno style least effective. DAngelo
and Wooley explain that Researchers have suggested that students prefer PowerPoint
because it provides both structure to and clarification of material to a lecture (Pauw,
2002). This study seems to agree with a more positive outlook on technology in the
classroom.

Martin, Alice. The 4 Negative Side Effects of Technology. Edudemic. Edudemic, 2013. 8
April 2015. Web.

Alice Martin is a professional essayist from the UK who spends her career researching
the field of education. She argues that the speedy increase in the use and production of
technology might have tricked us into thinking that it would make our lives better and
easier. The questions that she poses focuses on the effects of technology on students
learning capabilities, specifically young children whose minds can be quickly filled with
information acquired from the television or video games. A limited use of gadgets,
Martin argues, can be quite useful for children as it will allow them to be up to date with
the current technology. However, the overuse of these advancements can really hamper
or even damage their development in the personal growth, communication, and
educational department. She focuses on 4 main ways in which technology has had an

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adverse effect on young students including negatively affecting their psyche when they
become too indulged and connected to a game or television show, a lack of patience with
other and with themselves which can affect their learning process, a declination in the
writing skills, and a lack of physical activity. The most important aspect in his article, as
it pertains to my research, if the fact that technology definitely has many negative effects
on writing skills along with a few positive ones. I plan to find concreate
research/evidence of this argument in the continuation of my personal research.

Stepner, Diana. 2015: The Year of the Learner. Wired. Wired, 2015. 8 April 2015. Web.

Diana Stepner is the Vice-President of Innovation Partnerships and Developer Relations


at Pearson. Her article on Wired communicates the new responsibility of the student to
make reasonable use of this new technology for educational purposes. The student is
coming to the forefront, claims Stepner, with a much more active and involved learning
role. Instead of reading about a subject and taking a quiz, students may dive into handson projects, requiring critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, and teamwork
gaining what we refer to as 21st century skills. Stepner believes that integrating
technology into the school system will provide the students with a more realistic learning
experience that will better prepare them for the real-world. In essence, students will be a
doing a little bit of teaching to themselves, and Stepner claims she has learned not to
underestimate students who are given the opportunity to exceed expecations. Her article
argues that there are ways in which technology is used as a passive activity, but when
applied to education, technology helps energize [the] students, helping them learn to

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create, explore art, code, solve problems, and build an engaging future. This article also
makes a positive claim about technology in the classroom and argues that teaching
students the variations of uses of technology will better prepare them for the more-thanlikely technology-centered future.

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