Entering into the new era of technology effects nearly every field being practiced today. This is especially true in the field of education due to the fact that educators are responsible for training individuals so that they are competent when it comes to working with new technologies. For this reason, educators need to be up to date on the latest technology in their given fields. For some this moves faster than others, but it is certain that the world of the boring and stagnant content of the past is a world that is quickly dying away. Not only are new concepts and technologies be used in every subject taught in the classroom today, methods of educating students are being approached in new ways as the way we think about how people learn evolves and changes.

As society in general becomes more reliant on technology, teachers and students are encouraged to do so as well. Instructors are using smartboards (basically very large computer screens) to present content. In state and private institutions of higher education, students are doing everything from writing papers, taking tests, even taking entire courses completely online. We are well on the way to becoming a paperless society and educational institutions are leading the way in that direction. There are many advantages and disadvantages to these developments. While students are able to learn from instructors half way around the globe via the internet, they are also lacking the personal attention and human contact inherent in conventional classrooms. How is this really affecting their overall academic achievement? There are not exhaustive studies complete on this question yet to give us these kinds of answers. But researchers are hard at work developing an understanding of how the integration of technology is shaping the ways we educate people and the content which they are being taught.