Monday, September 6, 2010
Changes in Technology
Spent the long weekend in celebration. My family and I attended a friend's wedding, a brother's 40th birthday party and a visitation to celebrate the life of our neighbor's 90 year old mother. So many memories shared. Always hard to believe how time flies but fun to think about the changes we have seen. Makes me think about the changes that are coming our way in education through the use of technology. The first computer I remember in an O-M classroom was in the early '80's in the math room. We used it to plot green points and write programs that would make sentences repeat over and over. If someone would have said that some day all students would have their own computer at their desk and could take it home at night we would have thought they were crazy. In a few weeks that will be a reality. It will be exciting to see what changes are ahead in technology and I am proud that we have taken a step to prepare our students to embrace what is coming.
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Mrs. Thompson - It was fun to read your take on how technology has changed. It was really interesting to see it change during the 13 years I was at O-M. In kindergarten (1990), we never touched one. By fifth grade (1996), all classrooms had at least one computer. We had two in Mrs. Kuyper's class that were still black and white, but we loved playing Oregon Trail! Then, by the time I graduated (2004), we had two mobile labs and two desktop labs. For college, I bought my own laptop and it came with me to every class. In fact, in Vet School now, Crystal was required to purchase a laptop, and they use them for all their assignments, lectures, etc. It's great to see O-M making a similar move to prepare kids for their college years.
ReplyDeleteAlso - I hope we're making sure the kids have access to classes that teach them computer basics (keyboarding, Microsoft Office, etc.), I know it's easy for kids today to get around Facebook and MySpace, but they also need to be able to get around Word, Excel, and PowerPoint just as well!
ReplyDeleteYou stay in one place long enough you get to see a lot of changes. One of our main goals is to teach those computer basics. You are right Michael, everyone thinks kids know a lot about computers, but they really only know what they use. We will work hard to teach the basics they need as well as etiquette and safety.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking just this morning about all of the changes I have experienced since I started in education in 1972. Makes you wonder about the changes that are coming. We can't even imagine. Very exciting.
ReplyDeleteNot keeping up with technology in education is NOT an option any longer! It's like trying to hold on to a rocket taking off and the kids need to be aboard that rocket!
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