Anthony Teddy

17 Sept. 2019

Inquiry Proposal: How Has Technology Changed the Way We Learn?

● A descriptive narrative: What story or event drives your inquiry? This could be personal,

global, or hypothetical. Be creative!

I remember when my middle school got Chromebooks. Until that point we had really old

computers that were only used for testing really. Those Chromebooks were a luxury to

us, as it was during a time when teachers still used CRT TVs to show movies on free

days, and when we had to look up information in textbooks. I remember seeing those

laptops for the first time and now that I look at the laptop I am using now, I think to

myself, “Is this better at helping us learn than doing things the old way?” We have access

to millions of pieces of information, but I feel like people often forget that and don’t use

technology efficiently. How has technology changed the way instructors teach, schools

run, and most importantly, students learn?

● A brief history/context of the question. Consider the reporter's questions: Who? What?

When? How? Why?

Technology has been around for a long time, however, it had been mostly used for

government purposes until the 1980’s. IBM pioneers the Personal Computer (PC), and

after that, many companies began to make their own PCs. Many of these PCs were still

not widely used in schools, and if a school had one, it was mainly for business purposes

as opposed for teaching purposes. In 1995, the Internet and World Wide Web began to hit

the mainstream, and as it’s popularity increased, so did it’s usage. After this, schools
 began to use more computers, about one PC for every 5% of students, and as the

technology became more widely available in the form of laptops and smartphones,

schools across the nation now have technology implemented in their courses.

● What did you know about your subject before you began? How did you learn it?

I knew that technology has been a prominent feature in schools for a while now, and it

seems that many public schools now spend most of their budget on new technology.

Being born in the 2000s is great because I still experienced school with little to no

technology. At my elementary school there was a library where a computer lab is now,

and that really shows how big of a presence technology has in schools. All I have learned

is through personal experiences, and I’m excited to learn how statistics in testing scores,

graduation rates, etc. stack up compared to a couple of years ago.

● What evidence have you gathered to establish that it is researchable? Include a couple

titles you have found.

In text citations and a Works Cited are optional, but not required for the Proposal.

“The Evolution of Technology in the Classroom”

“History of Computers in Education”

“Computer in Schools in the USA: A Social History”

● What keywords/subject words can you generate related to your inquiry? Consider

synonyms for key words in your question.

Synonyms)Computers, laptops, the internet, education, knowledge, advanced

 Keywords)testing, graduation rates, accessibility, progress, technological advancements,

advantages, disadvantages

● Where might you look next for more perspectives on your question?

I could ask adults as well as younger children to recall how they have learned and then

compare the two experiences.Looking for articles that were written when computers were

first introduced into the classroom could also help in comparing how things used to work

to how they work now. Searching for statistics in test scores and graduation rates before

and after the increased use of technology can also help.

● Can you limit or enlarge your question in terms of geography (UNCC, N.C., the U.S.),

time, or population?

I could, and I think I am going to focus on the nation as a whole. However, as some states

are more technologically advanced than others, I may just limit it down to NC, as I have

more people that I know in different universities and even high schools, so this would be

a great way to see how technology is implemented in the classroom.

● What specific questions are occurring to you now that you’ve begun to think on paper

about your question?

How does accessibility play a part in this? Is it easier for more underprivileged children

to excel in school or harder because they may not have access to technology at home?

Does using technology more and more create a bigger divide between the lower and

higher class? Do children that live in higher income homes have the upper hand in

learning because they may have wider access to technology?

 ● Why might your inquiry question be important to your classmates and the larger UNCC

community?

Many wonder if heavy reliance on technology improves students' ability to learn or if it

just hurts them due to more distractions. Perhaps I could research how third-world

countries learn compared to the United States due to not such a wide access to

technology. Researching this can perhaps let people see that this is a good thing, a bad

thing, or if it is entirely dependent on the student.

https://web.csulb.edu/~murdock/histofcs.html

https://online.purdue.edu/blog/evolution-technology-classroom

https://hal.inria.fr/hal-01272195/document