Technology in the Classroom

I grew up going a series of different schools in California, Utah, and Colorado. In each of the schools that I went to, technology played a rather unobtrusive role in my educational experience.

In many of the schools, we were required to watch a news program during one portion of the day, so television in the classroom was nearly universal. One of the major biproducts of the technological revolution of the twentieth century seems to be the increased access to information through the media. I found that in most of my non-math classes, the use of video was common to teach about a concept. Additionally, I found that I knew more about the current events around me because of the access to television media in the classroom.

The second way that I noticed technology in my educational experience was through the computer. The first experience that I had with computers in school was a program that taught typing skills through an old black and green moniter apple computer. I thought that was effective in teaching typing, because typing really is an isolated experience. I didn't think that it would be as useful in promoting activity that could be benefited by interaction with peers. Besides this activity, almost all of my interaction with computers in the classroom entailed trips to the computer lab to type out papers for my English classes.

All and all, I am beginning to see that technology could be used much more in the classroom than I experienced in my K-12 schooling. I do believe that it should be unobtrusive however. Technology is a means, not an end in English education. Ironically, many of the works that we might read will be scathing indictments of the development of technology and societies built around technology.