Impact of Technology on the Tyndale Community

COMMUNITY AND FAMILY STUDIES

INDEPENDENT RESEARCH PROJECT: “TECHNOLOGY IN THE TYNDALE COMMUNITY”

“Has the introduction of technology in the classroom, negatively impacted the academic performance of Tyndale Senior School students?”

Deborah Edeko[pic 1]

(Tyndale Christian School)

Acknowledgement

Thank you to the following people for co-operating with me during this research Project:

Year 9 and Year 9 stage Coordinator, Miss Rivett

Year 10 and Year 10 Stage Coordinator, Mr Wang

Year 11 and Year 11 stage Coordinator Mr Mitchel

Year 12 and Year 12 Stage Coordinator, Miss Egan

For their efforts and participation of questionnaires and interviews, required to have sufficient primary data for this Independent Research Project.

Anonymous Year 11 student; thank you for trusting me with your opinions and for participating in an interview so last minute.

Mrs Dillon, for her continuous support, understanding throughout the entire process of putting this Research Project together and participation in an Interview; which was required for there to have been sufficient primary data for this Independent Research Project.

Mrs Scotney, for her assistance with printing and assistance with search for secondary sources.

IT SUPPORT:

Mr Bradshaw & Mr Suriyakumar, for all their efforts in assisting me with the complications with my laptop and helping me to recover some lost data.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgement        2

Abstract        4

Introduction        5

Methodology        9

Literature Reviews        11

Primary Resources        14

Survey Results        17

Conclusion        31

Evaluation        32

Works Cited        33

Appendix        34

appendix 1. survey/questionnaire        34

Appendix 2. interview questions        39

APPENDIX 3. RAW DATA        40

Abstract

The application of technology has advanced the way businesses are run, increased scientific progress, communication and the pinnacle role technology, such as laptops, interactive whiteboards and online resources plays in the education of undergraduate students is very apparent, especially in this day and age.

As a Senior School student in Tyndale Christian School, I have first hand experience with the positives and negatives that having access to technology as an adolescent present, and because of this, my interest in how other students in my cohort felt about technology, as well as how effective and or appropriate technology actually is in the use of High School students; was triggered. I then posed the question, “Has the introduction of technology in the classroom negatively impacted the academic performance of Tyndale Senior School students?”  

My hypothesis being that technology has had a positive impact on Tyndale Senior School students, as it has increased the students’ accessibility to information resources, as well as providing a platform/tool that is both interactive and modern; that with proper integration methods, is immensely helpful in and outside of the classroom.

While conducting this research project I used both primary and secondary research methodologies such as questionnaires, surveys, interviews, websites, TV show segments, and newspaper articles to prove or disprove my hypothesis.

The foundation of my project is the distribution of surveys to students in the grades 9-12 to both male and female students, as this will help me to gain a broader range of perspectives as well as interviews with staff members (senior school and/or IT).

A review of literature was also conducted using secondary sources in order to collect and analyse existing data on the topic.

Newspaper articles on the academic performance of students, internet sites, and seminars to add depth to my research.

After organizing results from my questionnaire I will be discussing my findings and proving or disproving my hypothesis and answering the question. I will then suggest/propose some solution strategies to tackle the issue. This study will investigate the use of technology in the classroom and the attitudes of Tyndale Christian School students and teachers and discover its relation to the academic performance of students.

Education institutions can use the results of this study to improve and reform the way students interact with technology in the classroom and improve technology services and programs.

Introduction  

This topic is of particular interest as it is a hot topic and of major concern in today’s society. With Australia spending $2.1 billion in order to bring our classrooms into the 21st century through the Digital Education Revolution of the Rudd and Gillard governments, since 2008 (Gillard, 2008).

This topic is also of importance because the Tyndale community needs to gain a wider understanding on the impact technology has on its students, staff and parents.

My hypothesis is that the data collected from this research will be able to demonstrate that technology does in fact have a positive impact on the academic performance of students.

This research topic relates to the following Community and Family Studies content areas and relevant syllabus focus areas:

Methods used to account for bias ethics privacy during the gathering of quantitative and qualitative data, assurance of anonymity and Security of personal information through the signing of a contract, by both the participant/s and I stating:

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