Technological advancement debate in the classroom continues

Black Hills State University residents’ debate over whether advancing technology in the classroom is useful or harmful resulted in an inconclusive answer of ‘it depends.a��

BHSU put several renovations in place over the past year, including updating the Internet connection. These changes were well received among the students as well as their visitors.

“Before, some dorms got awful reception,” said Talya Nicol, who often visited friends on campus. “Sometimes the wifi would go out during online tests.”

Meanwhile, experiments that took place in Jonas Hall required no technological advancement. Last year, Professor David Siemens’ experiment required separating plant DNA. The technology typically used for this cost too much for the university. Instead, Siemens and others had the innovative idea of putting pieces of the plant in a paint can mixer. While faster and easier, the shaking would offer the same result as the more expensive alternative in a way that was easy on BHSU’s budget.

This proved that the need for technological advancement and improvement was at times needed by the students. At other times advancement was an unnecessary luxury that could monetarily cost BHSU unnecessarily for what they needed.

Thus, technological advancement was both necessary and a possible detriment at BHSU.