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Internet Beat John T. Zunker TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION The widening knowledge and capability gap between the innovators and inventors of technology and the knowledge of the average person and their capabilities to use it is an educational issue. In schools across the Nation, most students know more about computers than their teachers do. It ought to be the other way around! If we are really serious about improving our schools and increasing the learning performance of students, we must use technology effectively in education. It is going to be up to the teachers to really make the technology work. We are wiring classrooms these days and networking school districts like crazy. Staff development and training for teachers as well as administrators actively migrating to newer ways to efficiently manage schools are essential if we are to realize any benefit from technology in education. Next time you attend an open house at a school, ask the teachers how they are personally using technology in their classrooms and in the curriculum. The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) http://www.tea.state.tx.us/teks/ requires the use of technology in most every core curriculum area so the teacher should be able to provide a good answer to your question. The real test though can be achieved by asking students how technology is being used and whether or not they think their school is doing a good job. Statistics show that schools are lacking when it comes to support of technology when compared to the business world. Most schools have developed a technology plan in order to deal with all these issues but just because a plan exists, it doesn't necessarily mean that the technology is being put to good use in schools. As a regular Internet user and parent of three boys in school, there are times when I'd like to be able to get information regarding dates or times when upcoming events will occur at school. Rarely is this information forthcoming at most school websites or even updated enough at the few schools who have a website. I think this will begin to change in the near future but it sure wouldn't hurt to let your school officials know that it is important to maintain an updated website in order to communicate effectively with parents. I am looking forward to the day when teachers have websites! Parents could check on assignments (even grades) and this would ultimately increase parental involvement; something our schools seem to complain about all to often. Parents and teachers could also communicate with each other using email. Some schools are already promoting these types of innovative things, is yours? Technology is not a substitute for learning the basics; it is a tool that can enhance learning them though. When a teacher is empowered in the classroom with the technical training and ability to access the Internet, the world and its knowledge is virtually at his/her fingertips. But, the real issue still evolves around how it is used and managed. The network cable might be there in the room but do our teachers have the training, computers, computer projectors, the right equipment to use technology on a daily basis within their subject area? I sure hope so. Some schools are already utilizing distance learning to offer classes that would otherwise not be offered. Who knows, in twenty years or so, schools might be obsolete and all teaching could be conducted this way in the home! Who knows? We've only just begun to scratch the surface to use technology in education! Visit our local area schools districts online and learn more about what they are doing by exploring their websites: Seguin ISD http://www.seguin.isd.tenet.edu Navarro ISD http://www.esc13.tenet.edu/docs/isd/navarroisd.html Marion ISD http://www.marion.isd.tenet.edu Even though I began writing this article with the intention of briefly describing some of the emerging new technologies in the world today, I decided that the list that I would ultimately come up with would be too extensive and the topic of my article would get somewhat clouded with all the information I could share! So, I summarized and got to my point. Technology and today's information age has certainly impacted every facet of our lives, business and economics. Technology is also being used to make revolutionary advances in medicine and science. The number of new business starts and job opportunities related to technology are enough to boggle one's mind. It seems that new developments and advances in certain areas of technology often spur advances in other areas. The rate at which this is occurring has been increasing in recent years and in my estimation, the human potential to keep up with all of it and the change involved is sadly at a decline! The fact of the matter is that the promise of the future lies not in the technological advances that are occurring, but in our ability to deploy, understand, use and manage technology.
John T. Zunker is a Marion I.S.D. Trustee in his second term on the Board. He has been an active member of the district's Technology Task Force since its inception in 1995 and has participated in technology plan writing and grant writing to promote the use of technology in education in Marion I.S.D. He organized a "How to Build a PC" project for the Middle School Computer Science Club this year and he is currently the district's volunteer Webmaster. John's email address is texzun@texas.net . All previous articles can be accessed from http://www.seguin.net/intbeat.html To contribute to this column, contact Gloria R. Rivera at webmaster@seguin.net |