Today, technologies play an extremely important role in the life of people. The emergence of new technologies, progress of information technologies, and the development of telecommunication systems open new opportunities for people. At the same time, new technologies do not only make the life of people more comfortable, but they have a huge educational potential, which though is not implemented at the full extent at the moment. In this respect, it is possible to refer to the article Technology and Student Achievement ”“ The Indelible Link, which reveals the potential of new technologies and the usefulness of the application of technologies in the modern education. In fact, the article stands on the ground that the integration of technologies in the modern education can bring positive effects and improve the quality of education consistently preparing students to the efficient use of technologies in their adult life and, what is more, they prepare students to the life in a highly technological society of the future.
Basically, the article provides a detailed analysis of the effects of technologies on education and students’ academic achievements and, simultaneously, the article provides recommendations to the authorities at both state and federal levels concerning the efficient integration of technologies in the education system. First of all, the article stresses the positive impact of technologies on students’ achievement. In such a way, the article explains and justifies the idea of the integration of technologies in education. In fact, the research shows that students who have access and who use technologies in the learning process are more successful in their learning than students who have limited access to new technologies or who do not use new technologies at all.
At the same time, the article stresses successes of states which have already started the integration of technologies in education. These states have managed to achieve a tremendous success in the education because the integration of new technologies in the learning process brought numerous positive effects on students learning. For instance, the article refers to Michigan’s Freedom to Learn program and Texas’
Technology Immersion Pilot as the most successful programs which have been already implemented in some states. The statistical analysis shows that students become more successful in math, reading and science achievement when new technologies are integrated in the learning process. At any rate, the article reveals better successes of students, who were enrolled in programs, where new technologies were used in education, compared to students, who were not enrolled in such programs.
However, the authors of the article attempt to substantiate their own findings referring to other studies. In fact, the article contains references to other articles and studies conducted in the field of the integration of technologies in education. Basically, other studies arrive to the same conclusion as Technology and Student Achievement ”“ The Indelible Link does, namely researchers agree that the integration of technologies in the learning process can contributed consistently to the improvement of academic achievement of students, prepare them to the use of advanced technologies in their adult life and, thus, prepare them to the life in a highly technological society of the 21st century.
At the same time, the article lays emphasis on the importance of the correct implementation of technologies in education. To put it more precisely, the article provides recommendations concerning the correct integration of technologies in education. For instance, the article indicates to the professional training of educators in regard to the use of new technologies in education. Educators have to match the integration of technologies with existing curriculum standards and incorporate them in the daily learning schedule. Students should receive feedback, while teachers should individual approach to each student while integrating technologies in the learning process. Students need to use technologies and develop new skills which can help them to use new technologies. In general, the article stresses that effective technology integration requires leadership, support, and modeling from teachers, administrators, and community and parents.
In addition, the authorities at all levels, including state and federal government, should assist to the effective integration of technologies in education. The article provides recommendations in regard to the national policy and to state and local policy. However, the key idea developed within the article is that the authorities should fund the integration of technology in education and develop the legal basis to the effective integration of technologies in education. In this regard, the Achievement Through Technology and Innovation Act and such programs as Enhancing Education Through Technology are particularly important, especially in the context of the unequal access to technologies among students, since students living in rural areas and inner-city have little access to computers and new technologies compared to their middle- and upper-class peers.
Obviously, the article raises a very important problem since the use of technologies in the everyday life of people increases rapidly.
Therefore, students need to know how to use new technologies in their everyday life, but often they remain unaware of the potential of technologies. In such a context, educators should help students to uncover the full potential of technologies since technologies can help students to continue their education in the course of their life. At the same time, the current integration of technologies in education is insufficient. At any rate, the emergence of programs concerning the integration of technologies in education, which the article refers to, is very important, but the lack of the state support slows down the integration of technologies in education.
Remarkably, the article methodically persuades the audience that the integration of technologies in education is essential. In this regard, the reference to positive experience of the integration of technologies in education is backed up with other studies which naturally persuade the audience that the integration of technology in education is useful and essential for students and the entire nation. The article clearly states the importance of technologies, describes their positive impact on academic achievements of students, uncovers current problems, such as the lack of access to technologies, the lack of funding and others, and provides recommendations to the correct integration of technologies as well as recommendations to the government policy at the federal, state and local levels. Hence, the article is well structured and it persuades the audience to support the key point of the article ”“ the necessity of the larger integration of technologies in education.
Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is possible to conclude that the article raises an important problem of the effective integration of technologies in education and provides practical recommendations concerning effective integration of technologies in education. In such a way, the article stimulates the public and authorities to start acting and integrating technologies in education.