Students' Attitudes Toward Teacher Use of Technology in Classrooms

Hoffmann and Ramirez present research on how high school students feel about their teachers using technology to teach social studies. Given the ubiquity of use the of technological devices by students today, they infer that most students do not perceive a distinction of device usage between their personal lives and school. According to a Pew Research Center study in 2012, 78% of teens owned a cell phone, 38% a smartphone, 80% a desktop or a laptop computer, and these numbers have been consistently climbing since 2007. Their research was conducted in a single suburban high school in Southern California. Looking at larger populations or more urban schools could provide more insight on this topic. Future research could be explored in a case study evaluating the literature supporting technology training or professional development and seeking out guidance to actual implementation. Additionally, since students' attitudes regarding technology integration were positive, it would be interesting to study a co-mentorship between teachers and students to provide ideas for teacher-technology integration in school. Lastly, teachers should see how they are being perceived in their tech usage. They may believe that they are being innovative with technology; however, as an example, students may not see the use of slides as innovative. Having teachers take a reflective innovative technology usage survey and compare it to students' perceptions of innovative technology use among their students could provide interesting and relevant results.