Increasing Technology, Decreasing Drop Out Rates

     I find this article interesting due to the fact that before I came to college, I did not have nearly as much technological integration in my high school classrooms. This article offers the statistic that, “It’s been found that students in so-called “blended learning” environments with access to computer-assisted instruction and technology-integrated learning systems fare better than those in traditional classrooms” (1). This is an interesting fact to learn especially considering the fact that “although a higher-education degree is needed more than ever, college dropout rates are approaching 50 percent” (1). To me, this is an alarming rate. This article stands by the fact that if all schools, particularly colleges, completely integrate their curriculum with technology, they will see significantly fewer failure rates.

     I do feel as though the technology that I have experienced at the college level has definitely impacted my learning in a positive way, although in some instances it severely compromised my grade. However, more often than not, if a professor fully explains how to use the technological device or website, the students fare much better than being thrown into something new that they have never worked with before. Technological integration in the college classroom, in my experience, has definitely allowed myself as well as my fellow classmates to explore multiple aspects of the curriculum that we would not have had instant access to otherwise. Although it is difficult to implement a host of technologies into college classrooms due to the expense and vast amount of students, it is definitely worth implementing at a rate that is affordable.  Perhaps down the road, the more technology that is produced, the less drop outs we will see.