Although technology and social media often face scrutiny, especially in academic settings, many students feel the direct benefits of technology in and out of school. Students at Farmington High express the breadth of information and invaluable assistance technology access provides to their learning.
A majority of students agree that easy access to a variety of sources provided by technology allow them to consider various perspectives and personalize their learning experience.
“Well, having access to technology helps me learn and understand lessons better, mainly because it allows you to be your own boss. You’re able to search things up, terms that you don’t understand. It’s good that we all have computers because that way, we can all kind of manage ourselves, so it’s good to have technology in the classroom because you can actually learn in a way that you can understand,” said senior Diego Roman.
Students note how the adoption of technology use in classrooms has changed the way they navigate assignments. Though AI is often criticized as being a tool for cheating, students have found uses for it that help their learning rather than acting as a short term solution.
“I think technology has changed the way I study and complete assignments. I often times will use AI to give me a study plan because I’ve always struggled with studying, but, if I have a detailed plan that will benefit me and I have more nitty gritty details of what I do need to study, that’s super beneficial,” said senior McKinley Daly.
Though common, AI is not the only technological platform students use to help them in their schoolwork. They note their reliance on tools such as Canva, Quizlet, Microsoft platforms, and Canvas. Canvas is one of the greatest apps students use at school as it acts as the way they can turn things in. That being said, they also appreciate its workload organization.
“Canvas is definitely up there because it’s like the primal hub of your assignments and your classes. I like that it has the to-do list feature where everything is clearly outlined and gives you a clear deadline of when things need to be turned in,” Diego said.
Skill acquisition is another aspect of technology students appreciate as they understand their influence stretches past high school.
“Some skills that I have learned from using technology are creating different projects like presentations and a lot of marketing things using Canva and different business ideals using [tools] like Word. Excel, all these things are incredibly beneficial to life outside of high school and I think that they’re awesome tools,” said McKinley.
Overall, though technology use in schools may be considered less than ideal by some, most students who interact with it everyday would disagree. They feel it allows them to take control of their learning and prepare them for a successful future.
