Teachers and students are questioning whether technology is a blessing in the classroom or just another distraction from learning.

Cliff Mirman, chair of the technology department, said he started working at NIU six years ago and has seen technology progressively have more usage both in and out of the classroom.

Jason Kazmierczak, a junior political science major, said he likes to be on the cutting edge of technology and owns a laptop for taking notes in the classroom.

“My Spanish teacher asked me to turn my laptop off because it was distracting her,” Kazmierczak said. “All four of my other classes are fine with me using my laptop to type notes.”

Kazmierczak said he was looking to purchase a smaller laptop or PDA with a wireless keyboard so he won’t distract other students.

Education that doesn’t recognize technology in the classroom is blind to what is going on in the world, said communication professor Laura Vazquez.

“The more technology-savvy our students are, the better prepared they will be in the world,” Vazquez said.

Vazquez recognizes technology that can be useful in the classroom comes with a high price tag.

“At the moment, it is unfortunate that some students can’t afford the technology,” Vazquez said.

Laptops can be useful in the classroom, freshman accountancy major Christy Munn said.

“[Technology is] useful if people use it, but some people just pull out their palm pilot or laptop just to show they have one,” Munn said.

Senior math education major Anna Zabelka owns a laptop but chooses not to use it in the classroom.

“I think using a laptop for note-taking is OK,” Zabelka said. “It would make no sense to go to class, though, if students were using it for games and going online in class.”

Mirman said he doesn’t foresee technology replacing the pen and paper, but said his grandparents never foresaw the use of a computers to simplify daily activities either. He said he feels it is a benefit to use this technology in the classroom to keep data and information.

Teachers can take presentations and place them online for students, Mirman said.

“I think within a few years we will start seeing more and more technology in the classroom,” junior accountancy major David Barr said. “Students and teachers just have to adapt to it.”