Classroom Technology & Computers

It's been 25 years since I graduated high school, but believe it or not my mind still functions. I can remember when our school acquired it's first computer for the students. It was a BIG deal and you had to join the "Computer Club" to get any appreciable time to use it. I remember learning the BASIC program language and began programming the whiz-bang machine to display colorful graphics and animation (think Pac-Man). It was fun and taught me a lot, but I had no idea how significant an introduction this would be to the amazing evolution of computing technology and its role in our classrooms today.

I grew up as a "user" in college at Georgia Tech (emphasis on the "Tech") as mainframes shifted to pc's and DOS to Windows and the Mac. By the time I earned my MBA and entered the business world, I was a Microsoft hound and a very dangerous and influential sales person, armed with cool printouts (some even in color) and slick pitches. My mobile phone was mounted in my car and only weighed about six pounds. Over my 18 year career in sales, marketing and support, my reliance on desktops evolved to a reliance on LANs and WANs; then to a reliance on the internet and intranets. My mobile phone became a cell phone; then became a PDA with email, mobile internet, a digital camera, a gps and plenty of games to play!


Today, kids are introduced to advanced computing technology at a very early age. Many devices and software applications serve as every day encounters, whether it's a 9-year old with an iPod, a 6-year old with a handheld gaming device, kids playing a Nintendo Wii, or middle and high schoolers on a more traditional desktop or laptop computer. Our youth can navigate software or surf the web as easily as they can play hopscotch or kick-the-can. This presents a great opportunity for us to integrate the use of dynamic computing technology into our classrooms on an ongoing basis.

Every teacher at all grade levels should actively and aggressively incorporate computing technologies into their teaching practices as much as possible. Computers, SmartBoards, graphing calculators, internet access, and multimedia software applications are all great examples of teaching aids with limitless potential. Why? Kids relate to technology as if it were a toy and have the youthful aptitude to embrace it as it evolves and grows with them. Their opportunities to use technology outside the classroom are mostly for entertainment purposes - music, games, the internet, etc. As teachers, we have the great opportunity to take that knowledge and show them how technology can be used constructively and with a purpose (while still having fun with it!). This also serves to bridge the gap between structured classroom learning and a child's life outside the classroom.
It's critical that we as parents and teachers keep up with the rapid advancement of these computing technologies for many reasons:

1. Technology is an enabler of new and improved teaching tactics and methods. It can keep us fresh and efficient while inspiring some creativity as well.
2. Technology can drive collaboration. Group projects, info sharing, and team research can all be facilitated much more effectively with online resources like wiki's and blogs.
3. It keeps a relavent connection with the kids. My kids relate to Google for class research the way I related to the smell of the purple ink on freshly copied "dittos" from the ditto machine.
4. It's simply the right thing to do. I know it sounds pitifully simplistic, but think about it. Change is part of life and many times the pace of change is driven by technology. Teaching is about change, too. Growing and learning is what life is all about, so why would we not do everything within our power to join these two great enablers - Teaching and Technology - to provide the best learning opportunities possible for our kids?!?!