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Karrigan Sowash
Professor Chester
English 111
November 10, 2015
Technology Today

Imaging walking down the hallway at school and not looking at a phone. Imagine if Guitar
Hero never came out. Imagine living in a world with no technology. That means no cell phones,
no computers, and nothing to look at while sitting on the toilet. Scary, right? Technology is a
major part of the world and society. Technology practically is society! Walking down the
sidewalk, you dont see anyone without a phone. There is information technology,
communication technology, medical technology, educational technology, business technology,
and agricultural technology.
Today, cars have infotainment interfaces, which is the little screen on your dashboard. This
system provides navigation, hands free calling, music, and media management. Some cars even
provide Wi-Fi connection and apps! Then, you have the cars audio system. This system helps
make it through a long drive! It includes speakers, amplifiers and stereos. Navigation is a part of
technologies in vehicles. There is now a GPS built into most new cars. There is Bluetooth, which
allows you to make hands free calls and play music without using an auxiliary cord. Another
advance meant cars have is On Star. On Star comes in handy when locking your keys in the car.
By calling a specialist, they can unlock your vehicle from their office! There are a few other

technologies in cars! There is a body computer that controls things such as lights and power
windows, an engine and transmission computer, and a computer that detects when your air bag
should deploy. In most new aged cars there is a such thing called crash avoidance radar which
only allows you to get so close to the back end of another vehicle. Also, there is an advancement
to alert you when crossing over the center line! Coming soon, autonomous cars will be produced.
An autonomous car is a driverless car!
Technology in schools is also evolving. Starting around preschool age, children use
technology such as Leapfrog, Nabi, ABCmouse.com to learn in a way that is fun for them. They
are able to learn in a way that they understand. Some high schools, even in Kokomo, use iPads
instead of books. E-books are also available for a Tablet of even for a smartphone. This idea
saves space and paper. Ever heard of classes using Facebook? This class uses social media to
study anatomy:
The Human Anatomy Education Page was launched on Facebook and incorporated into
Anatomy resources for 157 medical students during two academic years. Students' use of
Facebook and their perceptions of the Page were surveyed. Facebook's "Insights" tool
was also used to evaluate Page performance during a period of 600 days. The majority of
in-class students had a Facebook account which they adopted in education. Most students
perceived Human Anatomy Education Page as effective in contributing to learning and
favored "self-assessment" posts. The majority of students agreed that Facebook could be
a suitable learning environment. (Jaffar)
This is so awesome. Social media could be a new place to learn, while enjoying the satisfaction
of not having your nose in a book. In college, online classes are offered. This option allows for

students to attend school, even if it is in the living room. In some classes, teachers use
Smartboards to teach on the overhead. The Smartboard allows teachers to walk around the room
and write topics projected onto the overhead at the same time! Elwood High School had one in
Calculus class. It was awesome but unfortunately it didnt make calculus any easier. A recent
study was done investigating the nature of student learning engagement associated with
Facebook activity. This study is different than the one above but has a pretty close outcome:
Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to measure the relationships between Facebook
instructional methods and grades. A linear regression was also performed to analyze the
predictors of student grades. An empirical study of Facebook users (n = 134) during the
2011-2012 academic year revealed that course-based Facebook use had a significant
positive effect on student learning engagement and grades. This study concludes that
Facebook use in instruction assists students in achieving better grades, higher
engagement, and greater satisfaction with the university learning experience. (Wang)
This study shows that the outcome of using Facebook to instruct the class helped. The students
who then used Facebook in class to learn and then outside of class to socialize made higher
grades then the ones who did not.
Agriculture is why the world has food. Farmers today use mobile computing while working
on their fields. They also use technology on crops. They can alter their crops to have herbicide
tolerant traits, and drought resistant traits. Farmers use telematics. Telematics allow navigation,
prescription application, location and other data to be transferred easily to and from farm
machinery. New technology is being developed all the time for instance, with AGERpoint, Inc., a
new business in Daytona Florida. They are using technology, which was previously only used in
architecture, to scan entire fields and report to the growers how to increase production and cut

expenses. We are cutting a lot of waste out of agriculture (Wallstreet Journal) Thomas McPeek,
the founder of AGERpoint, says.
Of all technologies, the healthcare technologies may possibly be the most fascinating, but
scariest of them all because the doors are wide open:
For the first time we can digitize humans. We can remotely and continuously monitor
each heart beat, moment-to-moment blood pressure readings, the rate and depth of
breathing, body temperature, oxygen concentration in the blood, glucose, brain waves,
activity, mood all the things that make us tick. We can image any part of the body and
do a three-dimensional reconstruction, eventually leading to the capability of printing an
organ. Or, we can use a miniature, handheld, high-resolution imaging device that rapidly
captures critical information anywhere, such as the scene of a motor vehicle accident or a
person's home in response to a call of distress. <http://health.usnews.com/healthnews/hospital-of-tomorrow/articles/2013/07/12/how-technology-is-transforming-healthcare>
Healthcare Technology has come such a long way. Healthcare has went from being only a
stethoscope to being able to 3-D print a knee cap! There are technologies that allow us to see our
bones with the naked eye. There is technology that allows us to see every sliver of the brain, or
our abdomen. There is technology that monitors our heart rate, blood pressure, and temperature.
Doctors have the ability to determine someones DNA.
The most popular form of technology is communication technology! Email, texting, video
conferencing, blogs, postal and shipping services, and social media is a huge part of todays
society. We use all these technologies at least once a day, if not all day long! Everybody now

communicates instantly now compared to 30 years ago, waiting on a letter and talking over the
phone. People of all ages use communication technology. We are a social society.
Communication is what brings us all together!
Technology is a major part of our world and society. We are technologically driven and our
world revolves around technology. Could humans go back in time and live without technology?
Some people today do not even know how to read a map. Would we even be able to exist without
it?

Works Cited
Deans, P. Candace. Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, v10 n3 p299-336
Print. Jul 2012.
Jaffar, Akram Abood. Anatomical Sciences Education, v7 n3 p199-208. Print. May-Jun 2014.
Russo, Theresa J.; Fallon, Moira A.; Zhang, Jie; Acevedo, Veronica C.
Brock Education: A Journal of Educational Research and Practice. Today's University
Students and Their Need to Connect, v23 n2 p84-96. Print. Spr 2014.
The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2010. Web. November 2, 2015
Wang, Jenny. Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology TOJET,
What Higher Educational Professionals Need to Know about Today's Students: Online
Social Networks,, v12 n3 p180-193. Print. Jul 2013