Whenever technology comes up in discussion, my viewpoint is often different from that of my colleagues. Most teachers are utilizing technology to teach the content. In my case, technology is the content.
I have noticed a significant change in my classroom within the past 5 years. The general computer skills of my students have dropped. I believe this is because of the emergence of mobile devices. Students are spending less time on a traditional computer during their free time. They can surf the web and use social media on their tablets/phones, so there is no need for a computer.
Here is an excerpt from Edutopia's A Mobile Dilemma.
" -With the acceptance of the smartphone
as the truly personal computer of choice for most
Americans, it stands to reason that educators
should be modeling and mentoring its use for the
very skills we are touting as "21st century." A digitally
literate culture in a technology-driven society should
be teaching its children how to use the devices of choice to access, curate, communicate, collaborate with and create information."
If schools begin to push the use of mobile technologies within the school system, I think traditional computer skills will soon begin to fade out. The skills that we once considered "basic office computer skills" will not longer be taught or reinforced within the K-12 school system. Nearly all business-related or clerical jobs require "basic computer skills." If our students are not introduced to a traditional computer at home or at school, where will they learn these skills?
On the other hand, maybe the traditional computer is slowly going away. Some businesses are merging to mobile technologies, so perhaps we should be encouraging their use. There is also the emergence of hybrid type devices, such as the Lenovo Flex.
While I love my mobile devices, I will always be old school. Desktop computers, rock on.
No comments:
Post a Comment