Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Make each day count.
Proposal
I’m in the health science program.
I’ll be starting the feature by explaining the time one of my high school teachers posted an assignment on a Saturday to be completed for the following class, which was a Tuesday. She posted it on our Haiku page (like Omnivox). The issue I have with this is that she took advantage of the internet and our iPads to assign work over the weekend. But not just to do over the weekend, no. To receive and complete over the weekend. That, to me, is an injustice to anyone who isn’t learning with iPads and to the fact that we are receiving class material out of class and on a weekend, when 20 years ago, that wouldn’t have been possible.
Why are school boards and teachers increasing the use of technology in the classroom (and out of the classroom) simply because it’s available? How are teachers benefitting? How are students benefitting? Ultimately, what is the increased effect of technology doing to our brains (sleep patterns, technology dependence, interactive classrooms).
Technology improves learning and is the new dynamic and fun way to teach students.
I hope to learn about the reasoning for increased use of technology in the classroom. Why has it taken over the learning environment? What are the advantages? And how are these changes affecting the way that students learn presently versus way back before the internet.
Neuroscience is also extremely interesting to me. After lots of research, knowing about the engagement of the brain—or rather, the possible brain damage—that the increased technology use has caused would give me clear insight to the future of learning.
A possible bigger picture idea could be that the world is being manipulated. More use of technology can mean a better way of tracking what you are doing on your phone. The government could possibly want to monitor us.
My feature story would probably be an investigation and big idea. The purpose for interactive learning classrooms will be investigated. I’ll look into if they’re really academically beneficial. At the same time, the bigger idea is technology use in the classroom setting and how it affects our brains.
This feature article will be written for students and teachers alike who seek to know if and how technology is improving learning.
Teachers may benefit by changing the classroom dynamic. Both teacher and student will benefit by knowing how technology and its daily usage affect things like sleep patterns and concentration, for example. This may insight a different method of teaching/learning for the teacher/student, respectively.
CNET Because they have a multitude of current feature articles. They discuss relevant topics that aren’t too wow-factor catchy. Technology use in the classroom isn’t quite new, but the scientific research about it isn’t quite old either.
The feature story will be about the at-home and in-class effects of using technology everyday for learning. After it’s explained, I’ll go into depth about the neuroscience part of the feature. I feel as though I’ll stray from the neuroscience part because there’s a lot to say about our technology habits and our daily phone usage. But I mainly want to look into the damage caused to our eyes and brainwaves due to the “blue light” that television screens and tablets use. The same goes for the smart boards and computers used in class. I don’t know about other tablets, but iPads and iPhones have a “Night Shift” mode for the screen which reduces the blue light and increases a warm orange tint. I’ve read before that blue light especially isn’t good before bed. It disrupts regular brain activity. It’s better to read a book instead to calm the brain activity. That only insights the question about what phone use before bed does to our sleep cycle. A lot of teenagers and adults stay up past 12am because they’re scrolling through social media or texting friends who are up at the same time. This, in turn, must effect academic performance. Improper sleep cycles, something about cognition, distractions like social media which is readily available on the device being used for studying. It all relates to the increase of technology in the classroom. Now though I feel like I am repeating myself and will have to fix that.
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