Running head: IMPACT OF STUDENT CENTERED TECHNOLOGY 1

The Impact of Student Centered Technology in the Classroom

Jon Wilson

University of West Georgia

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Introduction

The correlation between the use of technology in the classroom and student achievement

has been one of the most debated topics of the last decade in the field of education. As more and

more technological innovations have been introduced in school systems across America,

educators have been searching for ways to incorporate those ideas into their classrooms and meet

the demands of administrators and school boards who invest heavily in the newest ideas in an

attempt to boost student learning and engagement. While some teachers are grasping these new

ideas with fidelity and actively building their lesson plans based in these new student-centered

technologies, there is still a significant contingent of teachers who prefer the traditional

classroom arrangement with the teacher at the heart of the instruction rather than the students.

Statement of Research Problem

One of the latest technological innovations to be introduced to the American education

environment is Shmoop, an online student-centered educational format that offers numerous

courses, assessments, instructional videos and other educational tools for teachers and students.

Recently, Newton High School purchased a subscription to Shmoop and has encouraged teachers

to utilize it with fidelity. At Newton High School, which has an enrollment of just under 2400

students, faculty engagement of Shmoop is currently at less than 25% of the teacher population.

Additionally, there has been a decline in reading levels, ACT scores, and standardized state test

scores in the last year.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to determine if there is a correlation between the use of student-

centered technology in the classroom and student achievement on common assessment tasks
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administered throughout content departments, which are used as a benchmark of student success

as well as an indicator of future student achievement on high stake test such as the ACT and

other standardized tests.

Research Question and Hypothesis

The proposed research question for this issue asks to what extent do online, student

centered, technological platforms and programs such as Shmoop enhance student engagement

and achievement on common assessments as opposed to the traditional, teacher centered

platforms of regular brick and mortar classrooms? In order to address this question, the intent of

the study is to use a correlational research method to investigate the potential relationship

between Shmoop and student achievement. The hypothesis is that students who frequently

engage with Shmoop will perform considerably better (with at least a 25% greater proficiency

rate) than those who do not utilize the service.

Methods

To investigate this question, common assessment scores will be compared between a

ninth grade American government class that utilizes Shmoop on a frequent basis to the scores of

a class that does not utilize the service at all and instead relies on traditional teacher-centered

methods in a brick and mortar classroom. Frequent, as used here, means at least three of the five

school days per week. A quantitative research approach will be utilized to help study the

correlation between the integration of Shmoop and student achievement on common assessments

in order to determine whether there is a quantifiable correlation between its implementation and

student success and engagement. In engaging in this quantitative research opportunity using a

correlational study, the goal is to gain an understanding into the program's effectiveness in
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delivering content to students in new and engaging ways as well as determining its success in

increasing student achievement on common assessments. Using correlational and quantitative

research approaches to investigate this issue will allow for a comparison of numerical, statistical

data that will hopefully display a clear relationship between the variables of the study. The intent

of using this form of relationship study is to identify a clear, positive relationship between the

use of Shmoop and student achievement on common assessments.

Literature Review

The issue of student-centered learning as opposed to teacher-centered learning as well as

the role of technology in the classroom has been an ongoing debate for decades. This debate has

led to numerous research opportunities of various modes and methods that how delved into

possible correlations and relationships between teaching methods and student engagement and

achievement as well as the role of technology in that relationship. Previous research has yielded

a wide range of results that have shown little to no relationship between technologically based

student-centered classrooms and student achievement all the way to strong positive correlations.

One of the initial aspects of the topic that needs to be explored is the relationship student-

centered and learner-centered environments. Ambuster, Johnson, and Weiss (2009) explored this

relationship at the college level in an entry level biology class typically reserved for freshmen. In

their comparison of student-centered and learner-centered techniques, they did not have

technology as the main centerpiece of student-centered instruction, but rather developed groups

of four students who were immersed in active learning all throughout the course instead of the

typical lecture that had consumed the students in previous years (p. 205). Learner goals were

developed and students were at the heart of instruction, rather than spectators. At the end of the

semester, students were administered a final exam consisting a questions from previous years
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tests. The results were staggering as Ambuster, Johnson, and Weiss (2009) found that student

performance on the final exam grew from 86% in 2006 to 91% in 2008 after shifting the focus of

the class from the teacher to the student (p. 211).

This was a relationship was further explored by Wu and Huang (2007) as they

investigated student-centered and teacher-centered approaches to education with technology

playing a center-piece to instruction in a student-centered environment. In their investigation, Wu

and Huang observed ninth grade classes in a school of comparable size to Newton High School,

in the estimation of 2500 students. They explored how students engaged in activities where the

teacher played the role of facilitator, allowing students to discuss amongst themselves as well as

use computers to run scientific simulations, as well as how students responded to teacher-

centered lectures and activities. According to their findings, the conceptual understanding that

students gained from each class were improved from the beginning of the unit and only the

medium achieving group gained significantly from the student-centered instruction (p. 739).

However, additional research revealed that students participating in the student-centered

environment were more emotionally engaged and experienced lower anxiety level and higher

confidence than those in the teacher-centered group (p. 739). These findings are consistent with

those of Wegner, Holloway, and Garton (1999) who conducted a similar experiment of students

in an evaluation course. One group of student completed the course off campus via internet based

learning while the other group completed the class in a traditional brick and mortar setting.

While there was no significant difference between the two groups in regards to academic

performance, those completing the course online reported more positive attitudes towards the

course (p. 104-105.) This is consistent with the findings of Wu and Huang.
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While the previous research does not paint a clear, definitive picture as to the relationship

between student-centered technology and teacher-centered instruction, there is still work to be

done in this particular field as more refined, comparative measure can be used. With new

technological innovations like Shmoop available, the relationship between technologically based

student-centered classrooms and traditional teacher-centered methods must continue to be

explored.
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Reference List

Ambruster, P., Patel, M., Johnson, E., & Weiss, M. (2009). Active learning and student-centered

pedagogy improve student attitudes and performance in introductory biology. CBE Life

Science Education, 8.

Wegner, S., Holloway, K., & Garton, E. (1999). The effects of internet-based instruction on

student learning. JALN, 3, 104-105.

Wu, H. & Huang, Y. (2007). Ninth-grade student engagement in teacher-centered and student-

centered technology-enhanced learning environments. Wiley InterScience, 739-740.