I must say that I think during K-12 my education was up to par with integrating computer technology. I went to a private elementary and middle school from Kindergarten to 8th grade. The school had an exclusive grant from Apple. Everything in there was Apple Computers. Being in a strict private environment, they did not hesitate to get us started. I was learning to type with the home row keys as early as first grade! That was back in the early 2000's, before everyone even had a computer. Kudos to my school for predicting what a huge necessity computers would soon become. I remember right around 6th grade the SmartBoards were first introduced, and my school was lucky enough to have just two of them. (They were retailed in the thousands back then). I spent my junior high years getting familiar with Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint (2003 versions). Unfortunately I am so used to that model that I now struggle sometimes with the modern versions. My only other gripe was having the computers be Apple brand, because my home computers were Dell, as well as my high school's, so Apple was lackluster in comparison, but that's just my opinion.
My high school tech experience was a bit different. I went to a public high school with crummy lockers and walls, so you can imagine how the computers were. However, they did a fantastic job educating me with the use of computer applications. It was a required class for all students. We also had school exclusive research databases at our fingertips to use for any project or assignment. I was also learning the ropes to Prezi in my senior year, and I have a feeling I will be working with it a lot more to come here at SNHU. The staff were very well educated on how to integrate technology into their curriculum. Other than the actual quality and outdatedness of our computers, with a wifi network that tended to crash a bit, I was satisfied with my tech experience in high school.
I think both schools did a good job teaching technology to students and getting us to work with it in our every day lives. I hope to be able to mimic the exact experience my teachers gave me when I am teaching someday.
Hi Alex. Can I just start out by saying how lucky you were to go to a school that had such great excess to computers? You even had Apple computers. When most schools get computers they get the cheapest ones they can find which usually means the easiest to brake to. And your education with computers was a lot better then mine. You can probably type circles around me. And I’m very jealous you had smart boards. My school had one that worked only half the time and the only reason my teacher got one was because he won it when he was given teacher of the year for the state of New Hampshire. We seemed to have the opposite problem with computers. You had dell at home while working with apple at school. I had the reverse problem so I could never grasp how to use the computers at school because of how little I used them. But over all it seems you got the better education with technology then I did and a better experience using it. You should count your self-lucky.
ReplyDeleteHey Alex. I think it's awesome that you were able to have such great access to computers during elementary and middle school. My school did have computers but they definitely did not put as much of an emphasis on learning how to use them so most of the technological knowledge that I gained was from using my computer at home. It seems like you also had a pretty good high school experience with technology as well. I would say mine was mediocre and I definitely can relate to the outdated computers and poor WiFi network. It seems overall that you had a pretty good technological experience throughout school!
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