Wasted Resources

In searching for inspiration this evening I happen across statistics that surprised me.  “More than 90 percent of all schools are connected to the Internet, and more than 33 percent of teachers have Internet access in their classrooms. Yet teachers readily admit that they are not making as much use of technology as they could. According to an Education Week survey, nearly 30 percent of teachers said their students use computers only one hour per week; nearly 40 percent said their students do not use computers in the classroom at all”.

The above statistics begs the question ‘where are school administrators or school boards’ in these scenarios. It is obvious that large amounts of money have been spent but on technology but equally obvious that very little time or effort is spent on planning for post implementation. Information Technology does not happen because just because a vendor installs computers in a lab or classroom. Before the first purchase is made there should be needs analysis, implementation planning, training requirements determine, hardware and software cost estimates.  Additional requirements include the need for a commitment to maintain and refresh both hardware and software on a timely basis and technical support for both teachers and student.

Even if all the above steps are thoughtfully and carefully completed the results will be the unsatisfactory unless the teaching staff are engaged and committed.  It is important that school administrators follow up with both staff and student to ensure that these valuable resources are not left idle and are used to there maximum potential.

  

An Observation

I spent some time this afternoon browsing the internet for subjects related to technology and education.  After just a few minutes of searching I came away amazed at the number of resources available.   It seems that most organizations (teachers, schools, school districts, etc.) are eager to share their knowledge and experience with integrating technology into the classroom and offer advice on the best ways of implementing it.

Fear of Technology

The fear of technology is a fear shared by many adults but one that most young children have yet to learn.  Years ago while working for a company that was heavily invested in Mac’s and I would often bring one home on weekends. This was in the days of IBM PC’s and DOS, before Windows when Macs were unique. They had what were at the time advanced applications (compared to the DOS apps) for drawing, graphing and desktop publishing.  Being the dutiful father I wanted to familiarize my children and their cousins with computers and there uses.  Somehow the fact that they were only just learning to read and that their math skill levels were ‘counting and taking away’ with beans never occurred to me.

They like the computer just fine, but strangely enough were not impressed or interested in making colorful graphs using spread sheets.  After realizing that I was not needed and leaving them alone, they went on to discover all they needed to know to use the computer.  Within hours they found an application that would pronounce (in a metallic sounding robotic voice) any words that you typed into it.  I am sure that you can guess the words that most five and six year olds would type in.  Soon they had the computer saying all sorts of words, fully confident that they would not get into ‘trouble’ because it was the computer that said the bad word, not them. In time they learned that including additional letters changed the pronunciation and for some reason this never failed to cause peals of laughter.

The point of this story is not my poor parenting skills but rather highlighting the different approach to technology between young children and adults.  Because they are not afraid of ‘breaking’ a computer, children can go on to do amazing things with technology and along the way learn how to use it.  In my case, since my children could not read, the message ‘do you really want to delete this file’ invoked no fear or sudden paralysis. It did not limit or hinder their natural curiosity and they were able to go forward and learn how make the computer do the things that they wanted it to. 

In many cases, if not exposed to technology this fear takes hold and starts to grow in people.  When this happens, for some it expresses itself as a fear or dislike of technology or an apparent inability to understand basic functionality or perform simple operations. With others it may be a dislike or disdain for any proposals that include changes in methodology involving or implementing technology. With the passing of time this disability can become harder and harder to overcome and in our increasing technology dependent society become a limiting factor in growth and development.

Snowstorm?

Have been listening to predictions for a large snowfall tonight by all of the news stations and witnessed all of the frantic shoppers stockpiling for the storm.  You can almost hear the whispered prays of school children (and maybe their teachers) hoping for a snow day tomorrow.  I pity the teachers if their prayers go unanswered.