Most people that know me and read this blog or follow my podcasts or vidcasts you also know that I work in education as a technology director. With this job I have the pleasure of working with today’s youth as well as some veteran teachers who started in education long before computers.
It is my job to bring the power of technology together with the power of education. Sometimes this is very hard. The kids are fine what ever we toss at them they will use. The teachers at most times seem to want to learn how to use the new technology that we put into their class rooms. Myself and my partner work closely with the teachers to bring the new technology into their lessons.
As much as all of the above is very true, I still feel there is a disconnect or maybe really I should say I feel there needs to be a disconnect from some technology and some education. I also feel that we should not replace a pencil with a pen, or replace a chalk board with a $2,000.00 smart board. This is how it seems technology is being brought into most schools across the states?
We also can not remove certain items just to replace them with technology. “BOOKS!” Working in the school I also have the joy of witnessing students and knowing what they are looking for. We have a lot of students who come to the library and sign out books, and a lot of them. I asked if they would rather have a new ereader and the response I always receive is, “No the books are fine, and we never worry about their batteries.” With that statement I now know that my push for a full tech school has slowed down in certain areas.
Will schools thrive with technology? This really depends on the people teaching the kids changing everything about their lessons. We need to begin to start thinking in the 21st century. But are the kids hurting? I talk to a lot of the students and I really don’t think they are. The truth is colleges are not progressing either. Really old professors = Really old teaching methods!
