John Borchert

Date Approved

5-30-2013

Embargo Period

3-3-2020

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

M.A. School Psychology-Professional School Psychology

Department

Special Educational Services/Instruction

College

College of Education

Advisor

Dihoff, Roberta

Subject(s)

Educational technology

Disciplines

Higher Education | Student Counseling and Personnel Services

Abstract

Modern technology is being implemented in the classroom more and more. Little has been done to identify which types of technologies are the best to use for educational purposes. Research has shown that students perform better when they are interested in the subject. This study seeks to determine if passive technologies (TV, power points, etc.) or active technologies (video games, electronic quizzes, etc.) were more effective in inspiring interest and better performance. This will help educators chose better options for technology use in their classrooms. This study required subjects answer a survey questions regarding different types of technologies they had used in the classroom. The survey was administered to 40 undergraduate students at Rowan University. The survey consists of Likert scale (1-5) questions that evaluate how effective a student found a particular way in which technology was used in their classroom. Half the questions were categorized as pro-active and half were categorized as pro-passive. Technologies that required active participation (i.e. typing a response or using a buzzer to answer questions or pressing a button) were categorized as "active" and technologies that required only passive participation (i.e. watching or listening) were categorized as "passive." After collecting the data it was analyzed using repeated measures within subjects design. The study resulted in a null hypothesis suggesting that there is no difference between the ways these two types of technology affect classroom performance.

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