Technology seems to be everywhere in today’s society. From Netflix, Youtube, and Snapchat, to advertisements, work, and television, technology is invading our daily lives at an increasingly rapid pace. Technology has crept its way into everything we do, think, or say and the educational system is certainly no exception. Yet, is such technological intervention a positive occurrence? Is technology really helping students or is it actually harming their educational experience? An article by Jeanna Lee Tahnk titled, Why We Need to Embrace Technology in the Classroom Right Now, discusses the benefits of incorporating technology into student learning. The author provides several positive factors which support her opinion that technology should be accepted and used within the current educational system.
The author of this article clearly supports the integration of technology within the educational system, believing that, when used correctly, technology can provide enormous benefits to students’ learning. These benefits include making a wider range of information accessible to students, increasing student engagement, making learning more exciting, and allowing the learning process to become more individualized (Tahnk). Tahnk also realizes that students need to be competent in the use of technology in order to succeed after they leave the educational system. Despite the enormous benefits that technology poses, Tahnk states herself that “simply handing kids iPads and writing on digital whiteboards is not a silver bullet for improving the educational system” (Tahnk).
In order to support the claims that the author has made, several different techniques and sources are used in order to provide an effective argument. As the article is directed towards an audience made up of those concerned about the use of technology within education including students themselves, as well as parents, educators, and other adults, the author made the rhetorical decision to provide information from outside sources. These include data from the Pew Research Center and information from reports by the ETS Policy Center and PBSLearningMedia, as well as the opinions of professionals Dylan Arena, Ph.D. and chief learning scientist at Kidaptive, and behavioral scientist Matt Wallaert. By using these sources, Tahnk incorporates ethos to improve her argument. By doing so, I believe that she increases her credibility, making her argument more valid to the reader. The author also heavily relies upon the use of logos to improve the argument. This method assists the reader in seeing the logical sense behind embracing technology in the classroom. With the use of logos, Tahnk has a greater chance of connecting with her particular audience, therefore increasing the likelihood that the reader will leave informed and possibly even convinced of the point being made. Clearly, the author’s use of these carefully chosen strategies assisted in the creation of a more efficient, well-organized argument.
I believe that Tahnk created a persuasive argument, yet I do think that improvements could be made. The addition of pathos would have been helpful in some instances to create a more complete argument. I also think that including additional sources of information would have increased credibility of the author to an even higher level. Further, a greater recognition of the negatives concerning technology would have created a more powerful article. In order to fully decide my personal opinion on this topic, I feel that I would need to continue research. Not enough evidence was provided in order to gain my complete support of the claim, yet I approached the situation open-minded and left with a greater knowledge of the benefits of technology within the classroom. Based upon the evidence I did gain, I am in support of the use of technology within the school setting. I believe that technology can provide huge benefits to the educational system, as long as it is used properly, rather than becoming a distraction to the learning environment of students.
Overall, I felt this was a well presented argument with supportive evidence, despite some imperfections. I still found this article a useful read and would recommend it to others as it does provide several points which support the incorporation and acceptance of technology within the current educational system. “If technology can serve as the catalyst [for improved learning,] we need to embrace it now” (Tahnk).
Works Cited
- Tahnk, Jeana Lee. “Why We Need To Embrace Technology In The Classroom Right Now.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 10 Oct. 2014, www.huffingtonpost.com/jeana-lee-tahnk/technology-in-the-classroom_b_5946570.html.
