Working with computer is always contagious! Just watching everyone working on a computer makes me think "I wonder what they are working on?" I bet it's what students think when they see someone else using a computer. Learning how to use software programs gets a little getting use to, especially if it is the first time using them, but with practice, practice and more practice the software becomes a great teaching tool source, especially if you want to personalize your teaching material.
One thing I was thinking about these past two days, coming from a small remote village, was that we might have learned all these new software tools but might not be able to use them without a good tech person in our schools. Some schools might have to wait a long time waiting for someone to fix the problems so please make it aware to your village schools boards the importance of tech help. Helping students with the use of the computer seems to make them competent with other students from all over the world. Its exiting to watch a student from a small native village conversing with a student from half way around the world.
2 comments:
You make an excellent point, Margaret, when you refer to the need for tech support in rural schools. You can't do interesting things with computers unless they are 1) working and 2)have the latest software upgrades. It's a difficult problem--individuals with good tech skills can often get jobs anywhere they want and may choose not to live in a rural setting.
One potential answer is to teach the students to diagnose and repair computer problems. This has the advantage of helping the schools while also giving the students marketable skills. It might be possible, for example, to find a grant that would teach rural students repair skills in a summer program that they could then take back to their village and use to help the school and community. There's also the possibility of getting real-time support over the Internet for some computer problems.
I hope the class has some additional ideas on this topic. It's a huge problem.
Your blog made me think, "wow, this is exciting and it is contagious." I like your enthusiasm it is encouraging. The more our children learn about computers the more their minds may be expanded, and hey who knows one of them may chose a career in computers!
Post a Comment