Evolution of Technology in the Classroom

As I sit here and reflect on my experiences in K-12, college, and then in a professional working environment, I am reminded of the moments that stick out in my memory and how they helped prepare me as a working adult. Because of when I went to school and the development of technology during that period, I was not entirely ready for the different applications used in the professional world today. I had limited experience with Excel and knew enough of Word to get by, but it did not comer everything that would be required of me in that office environment. During the time when I was in school, new technology was introduced to us in an instructional type method as opposed to the mentor or guidance type of method.

On pages 16 and 17 of the article “Oh the Changes…” by Yoder, there is a discussion of using new technologies through an evolutionary type process or self taught method. I feel like it is important for teachers to realize that technology moves so quickly and there are so many different applications coming online on a daily basis, that we must adjust to these developments by allowing the students to teach and determine their course of action with guidance as opposed to some sort of authoritarian. I know that from my own personal experience, I respond and learn much better when I am given a direction to head in, and am left to my own devices on the best way to get there.

Students today are so much more comfortable with the basics of computers and technology, than the generation I grew up in. They use things like personal hand held devices that have some of the same computing powers as the computers that I grew up learning on. It is important to remember that a student’s superior knowledge in technology resources is not something to be intimidated by, but is a resource to be utilized.