Well, after a month of graduate courses surrounding the “Technology in Education” theme coupled with my new position as an Instructional Technology Liaison for a K-5 Title I school in Tucson, I can see the challenge looming on the horizon. It’s not just the students who need to keep in step with 21st century techno developments. The teachers also need to harness the technology. However, reluctance describes the general reaction on the part of teachers (and lack of funds on the part of schools and districts). Ouch!
What can be done to alleviate the symptoms of remaining in the dark ages of print media and overhead projectors and propel us toward the fiber-optic light before us? I’m grateful for the challenge, frustrating as it can be at times. What makes matters more difficult in Title I schools is the lack of technology available to families of students when not in school.
I would love to find grant money to fund our small, poor school population with a cutting edge technology lab that incorporates all the finest and latest to be used as an example of what can be done. There’s no better test tube than the 98% generationally poor Hispanic population I’m in charge of. Yet we are relegated to Windows 2000 on old Compaq desktops that take 10 minutes to boot (and I won’t mention the fact there are no color printers). OK, I will mention it. Well, I just did.
The students are so excited for computer lab time. It’s their only contact with a new century. More must be done to accomodate this need. But how? How?….
