When I speak to groups about my goals and expectations for education, there seems to be a gap between what the public perceives to know about education and what is really going on in schools. As I drive through towns, I see old motels with signs under their marquees that read "A Color TV in Every Room." Back in the day it was a luxury to have a color TV in your motel room. It was even more of a luxury to have a heated swimming pool. In the eyes of many people, classrooms have desks aligned in cemetery rows, with a larger teacher desk in the front of the room, and a blackboard on the wall with rules listed in the corner. That was much the style around the same time color televisions were a novelty.
Technology Boom
The American contemporary classroom has had an extreme makeover. There was a time when a large, archaic computer sat in the back of the classroom and students rotated through games of Oregon Trail, thinking it was the greatest thing in the world. Teachers and principals were proud that they were offering such a technologically advanced activity in their schools. The Oregon Trail experience evolved into an actual computer lab in the school where teachers could sign up for time and take their class into a room where every single student had the experience of engaging in a "computer activity." This unfortunately still exists in many schools because they have not made the jump to having a computer device for every single student and adult in the school. The next jump was having a giant touch screen or "smartboard" in every classroom where the teacher could facilitate learning electronically through that screen. Whether it was a power-point presentation, movies, research, or learning games, the smartboard ruled the day these last 7 years.
Technology is no longer a luxury like a color television, it is a non-negotiable. Those who fight the technology wave will find themselves sinking in an ocean of smart phones, IPods, IPads, tablets, document cameras, desk-tops, Wi-Fi, and hundreds of online programs that will engage students broader, deeper, and more authentically than professor knot-head's lectures. Now kids can challenge the content taught just by using Google on their device. Or they can conduct language arts revision and editing assignments without using paper on programs such as GoogleDocs. This technology boom quickly killed typing classes and made way for keyboarding programs that are out of this world. Technology is such a serious focus for our district, we combed the Earth until we found a guru in Alaska that we had to have. Joshua Jerome is working at light-speed to bring 100% of our student body into digital citizenship.
Internet Safety
What does this mean for school districts? We have to be one step ahead of students with our technology skills. What it doesn't mean is more internet filtering restrictions so that students and staff are crippled from accessing information. Students need to learn from teachers how to access credible information from the web so that when they get to college they will be experts on researching electronic resources. We will do everything to protect our kids from harmful information, however, most students are able to access inappropriate websites when they are at home or other locations that provide free Wi-Fi such as McDonald's. Schools do have filters that stop harmful information from getting through, but in the end, if a student is accessing inappropriate information on their device in the classroom, that is a classroom management issue for the teacher, not the fault of technology.
Technology gurus around the country contend that technology will not replace teachers, however, those teachers who use technology to engage students, will replace those who don't. As a contemporary superintendent, I do not expect teachers to use technology every day in every lesson. The internet does go down, power goes out, programs get updated, devices become antiquated, and in the end, I do not want our kids to lose the art of sending a well-written letter in the mail. Our goal is 21st century learning which is digital literacy, collaboration, critical thinking, and problem solving. Think about how fast we have come in this world with technology, where will we be in 20 years? Ride the tech wave and stay on top, or the world and our kids will pass you by.
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