Reflecting on Technology in My K-12 Experience

My first recollection of using technology in school was about 4th grade. Our school had a tiny Macintosh computer lab that our whole class marched down to visit once every two weeks. We would spend an hour playing games on the computers. My family did not have a computer until I was in 10th grade, so this was a novel concept to me. We generally played one of three games. The first was the classic Oregon Trail. We spent 45 minutes mousing around the model of Independence Missouri taking our best guesses as to what "supplies" we would need to go west. The last 10 minutes of our computer time was spent racing to "Oregon". The other games we played were math games. One was an adventure game...something along the lines of slaying the dragon if you answered math problems correctly, and the other was a mystery game...solve the mystery by answering the math problems correctly. These experiences were nothing more than a different way to practice problems learned in the classroom. This use of technology was valuable insofar as I had the opportunity to learn how to manipulate the mouse, use a keyboard, and understand what a disk was, but my academic knowledge was not enhanced by the use of technology. This was in the early days of technology in the schools, so maybe the point was simply to have students get their hands on computers and learn to feel comfortable with them.

In high school, I remember being assigned powerpoint presentations. I had to do several presentations, and while I detested it at the time, I appreciate it as I look back. I was assigned a project on Nathaniel Hawthorne where I had to read two of his books and create a presentation on him and his work. One benefit was that I learned to use powerpoint software at an early age. Using the presentation software helped to teach students to organize their thinking. The problem I saw with this assignment was that the teacher was so focused on making sure we could use the technology that she did not teach us how to go about analyzing the literature we read. If I were to give advice to teachers about the use of technology in the classroom, the most important thing I would say would be to use technology as a tool for learning, not as a nifty gadget to play with. The incorporation of technology into the classroom must not eliminate student-teacher interaction and feedback or inhibit participation in groups. It is easy to become an isolated learner and this is the main thing teachers must guard against as they incorporate technology into their classes.