The "technology age" that the world is in today has caused numerous changes in society, one of which is the education system. The use of technology in colleges and universities, like the University of South Carolina, has risen substantially due to its ability to efficiently allow a larger number of students to understand a new concept or idea quicker compared to the traditional lecture style classroom setting. This rapid growth has caused many people to speculate whether technology is helping students in their classes, or merely making school easier for the student. Many believe that students are benefited by the use of technological devises in their academics because it allows for students to learn new information outside of the classroom, while others think that the use of technology in classrooms allows college students to both cheat and be easily distracted while in class. 

To begin, the use of technology in college classrooms is controversial for a number of reasons. Firstly, students think and learn differently; not every single student prefers a technological teaching style compared to a lecture-based teaching style. Likewise, not all students find lecture-based classes informative due to the class's lack of stimulation. The goal for leaders in the education system is not to fulfill the needs of every student, but rather meet the needs of the majority of college students, which explains the growth of technology in college and university classes (Goldin). This has caused controversy in the school system because it is implying that only the masses matter and therefore, a student should have to learn the way that best suits his or her peers and not him or herself. Secondly, the rise of technological devises in classrooms has caused many to believe that teachers and professors could lose their jobs. Teachers and other faculty members of the college or university are some of the most respected people in society because they personally develop their students into intellectuals that are ready to face the job market; these teachers help shape a student's future by teaching them skills that will help him or her succeed in life. If these teachers were to start losing their jobs due to the increase of technology use in their classroom, society would be furious and there would be animosity towards the education system and their decision to utilize technological devises in their classrooms. 

My stance on the topic for whether or not college students, specifically those enrolled at the University of South Carolina, should use technology in class is that technological devises will be helpful to academics. I do, however, believe that there should be guidelines implemented so that the devises could be monitored to allow the student to learn as quickly and as efficiently as possible. The use of technology by students at the University of South Carolina is beneficial academically because it allows students to think creatively, understand new information faster, and receive easier access to the information.  

The rise of technology over the past twenty years in the education system has spurred an evolution of technological devises that have been used to effectively benefit a student with his or her academics. There was a need for these devises because there was an increasing number of students that desired higher education, while there was a limited supply of teachers available to instruct these students. The first technological devise that was implemented to the majority of college students was the graphing calculator. This devise was a major success for students everywhere because it gave students the ability to graph any equation in a matter of seconds instead of attempting to figure it out by hand. The second technological devise was the Smartboard (Shockley). This devise, a mix between a whiteboard and a projector, had success in college classrooms because it allowed for an instructor to display something that was on his or her laptop onto the Smartboard. It also helped students with its innovative and exciting interface by having interactive games that promoted students' academic growth. 

The third and fourth devises that were implemented into college and university classrooms were tablets and laptops. The very early use of these devises was to help students learn something that was difficult to explain on a whiteboard. After the evolution of these devises, the majority of classes required students to have a personal devise in order to access their notes and other information online, and to be able to take part in online discussions or quizzes. Tablets and laptops have had a major positive impact on students' education simply because they have sped up students' ability to learn and therefore, have made them more efficient. These two devises were vital to a student's success because they allow the student to access the information that they are learning in class from anywhere. 

The implementation of these and other technological devises in colleges and universities, like the University of South Carolina, has caused multiple problems. About twenty years ago, the main issue that educators had was finding a way to utilize the growth of technology in order to revamp their schools. Besides the use of calculators, teachers had no idea how to effectively and efficiently use these technological devises in their classrooms (Goldin). At the time, the Internet was still somewhat in its primitive state and therefore, large desktops that were able to access the Internet were impractical for classroom use because students did not have as vast of an information network as they do now (Woods). In all, this problem has certainly sparked disbelief in the ability for these technological devises to actually have a positive impact on the academics of college students. 

An additional issue that has arisen from technology in college classrooms, like those at the University of South Carolina, is using the technology effectively. The heavy use of technology in college classrooms has caused a sense of dependency, or a "technology pull", for students on having access to technology in order to study for a class (Richtel 483). This dependency has also allowed students to think that they can multitask, or do two or more things at once; when in reality, they are not doing either of those things correctly or effectively (Richtel 481). Finally, this extreme use of technology has caused students to be "skim readers", or readers who only read information at surface level to get the overall gist of the information as fast as possible, while they really need to take the time to read the information so that they can accurately understand the information on a deeper and more scholarly level (Carr 490). This issue, in regards to using educational technological devises, could have a major impact on the students attending the University of South Carolina.   

Technology is beneficial to college students at the University of South Carolina because it causes students to comprehend new knowledge faster, think creatively, and access information easier. The use of technology allows students to comprehend information faster due to its ability to increase the productivity of students by making them "more efficient learners" (Lytle). Their productivity rises substantially because the students are more engaged in the classroom through the use of online games and interactive learning activities. This has caused more "comprehensive students," which explains the higher difficulty to be accepted into colleges and universities now then ever before (Kopcha 64). In conclusion, one major benefit that the utilization of technological devises in college classrooms is the overall increase in student's productivity in the classroom. 

Besides improving the productivity of college students, the use of technology also helps students think creatively. Technological devises like iPads and laptops engage students with their new and exciting interfaces, and both have games and activities that cause students to think "outside the box", creating a "creativity rise" in colleges and universities around the world (Ehrmann). This will allow for students' brains to further develop and grow, allowing them to increase their mental capacity and overall intellectuality. In all, the use of technology in college classrooms has proven to be beneficial for college students academically by causing them to think in new and different ways. 

The final major benefit of the use of technology in college classrooms is its accessibility. Almost all devises that are used in college classrooms have some degree of ability to access the Internet and therefore, access endless amounts of information in the span of seconds from anywhere. This allows for students to always have access to whatever they are learning so they can still keep learning and understanding the information while not in class, which in turn will increase the students' productivity. This ready accessibility also allows for larger class sizes at colleges and universities, so that teachers can educate more students per classroom. In conclusion, the use of technology is beneficial to both the University of South Carolina's and other colleges' students because its ability to engage students allows them to both think creatively and be more productive learners, and its accessibility permits teachers to educate more students at a time and therefore, improve overall efficiency. 

Even though there are numerous benefits to using technology in college classrooms, there still are many that believe that technology is in fact harmful to a student academically. Firstly, technology causes students to become too dependent on using it in their studies. This "lack of independency" has caused students to not do as well in a class if they had grown dependent on using technology in that particular subject (Pang). However, dependency on technology by college students is not a real concern; college students are using technology not because it makes their school life easier, but rather because these devises have been proven to help these students academically by developing them into highly productive thinkers. 

Secondly, technology has the potential to destroy the social aspect of a student's life. Take the Campbell family for example in Matt Richtel's "Hooked on Technology, and Paying a Price." In this article, Richtel summarizes the downfall of the Campbell family due to their inhumane use of technology in their everyday lives. For example, Mr. Campbell will forget about spending time with his family because of how consumed he is by his technology, causing the family to grow distant. This could prove harmful for college students like those at the University of South Carolina because it could lead to a less interactive campus and therefore, destroy the social skills needed for a student to succeed in their careers in the future. On the other hand, the Internet has allowed many students to enhance their communication skills through apps like Skype, FaceTime, and GroupMe. 

Thirdly, students could lose their sense of exploration due to technological devises that access the Internet. Students have succumbed to "skim reading" rather than fully understanding the information because technology has changed the brain to process information as fast as possible, which prevents students from fully comprehending the information on a deeper level (Carr 492). On the contrary, many could argue that these technological devises have allowed college students to broaden and strengthen their knowledge, and have not caused them to only read information at its surface. This would therefore lead to the creation of more intellectuals, which would benefit society as a whole. In all, there are many valid concerns held by those who denounce the idea of using technology in college classrooms, but the benefits of doing so heavily outweigh the possible problems that could occur. 

In order to further develop the education of college students, like those attending the University of South Carolina, there must be certain action that must take place. There are many educational technological devises that are currently being used, like iPads and laptops, which have effectively improved college students' productivity. The addition of more technological devises would further benefit college classrooms as a whole by offering a wide variety of devises that can fit each student's specific needs (Woods). In turn, this would eliminate any possibility of disregarding any particular student's learning habits for the better benefit of the classroom. Along with the implementation of more technological devises, there needs to be a way to monitor the use of these devises so that they are being used appropriately. One specific method that I believe would best improve the monitoring of the students' devises comes from Arthur Woods. A professor at the University of Texas at Austin, Woods also promoted the use of technology by requiring his students to rent specific devises that he could supervise for his class. The results he found were that his supervision caused students to become more productive in the classroom and therefore, receive higher grades on their daily quizzes and monthly exams. The final action that must be taken is to educate professors so that they know how to properly incorporate these devises into their curriculum. In all, there is a growing need to change the education system, and these actions will help revamp it to better educate the masses.   

To continue, there are multiple steps that must be taken in order to successfully and efficiently incorporate more technological devises into classrooms at the University of South Carolina, monitor said devises, and teach professors on how to effectively use these devises. Firstly, school leaders must promote the use of online classes in order to familiarize their students with using technology. Throughout his TedTalk, Anant Agarwal refernces a study conducted by Ed Bertschinger, a physics professor at MIT, conerning his students' ability to gauge how successful his online physics classes are at being both exciting and informative for his students. Bertschinger's results were that his online classes did receive overall great feedback from his students, and he believes that these classes will benefit college students as long as school officials make clear the benefits of taking online classes. Secondly, these technological devises need to be cost effective to the university or college. One fear among many colleges and universities in regards to using technological devises in their classrooms is that it could cause the schools to go bankrupt (Proulx). Finally, students need to be more aware of the overall benefits of using technological devises for academic purposes. If the students are never told why people prefer to use the school's devises in their classes, they will never end up using them and therefore, cause the school to spiral into debt and not implement the numerous benefits that technological devises have to help college students. 

There are many beneficial effects that these steps to action will have on the students at the University of South Carolina. The first effect from the implementation of more devises in classrooms is an increase in productivity. Students will have easier access to the information that they are learning in their classes and their technology use will be monitored so that they will remain focused on their studies. The second effect is an expansion of class curriculums. Due to an increase in a class's overall productivity, class curriculums will grow larger because the general speed of the course will increase. The third and final effect is the shortening of the gap between the more and less intelligent students. Since technological devises allow for class sizes to be bigger, an increased number of students will be taking classes, and therefore more of them will receive some level of education. Overall, the implementation of these actions in regards to utilizing technological devises in college classrooms will change the education system by increasing students' productivity, intensifying class curriculums, and allowing more teens to receive an education. 

Student attending the University of South Carolina will be greatly benefited by the use of technological devises in their classes. Technology does not only allow them to learn faster and more efficiently, it also develops their brain by causing them to think in more efficient ways that they have not been accustomed to. Also, every single student's learning style would be accommodated for with a wide variety of technological devises to help with his or her studies. In regards to the future of education, I believe that the actions needed to place these devises into the classrooms at the University of South Carolina as well as the steps required to complete these actions will successfully lead to a stronger education system, and therefore, more intelligent college students. 

