Week 6 - September Fischbowl Blog

Karl Fisch makes some very good points about teachers needing to be technology literate. On his blog he says:
"If a teacher today is not technologically literate - and is unwilling to
make the effort to learn more - it's equivalent to a teacher 30 years ago
who didn't know how to read and write."
When I first say this statement I thought it was a little harsh. But when I really started think about it, I think I really do agree with what he is trying to say here. Everybody knows that learning to read used to be a privilege. The same goes with computers. When computers were first starting to be used by the public, they were really expensive, so the only the rich were able to purchase computers; kind of like cell phones. But, now the prices are really down and more and more people are joining the computer train. So, Mr.Fisch is saying you wouldn't want a person who couldn't read to teach your children 30 years ago, and you wouldn't want a teacher today who didn't know the basic operating skills for running a computer.

Mr.Fisch also makes a good point about teachers already having a lot on their plates. Just because computers are cheaper now, doesn't mean people will know how to use them. People have to be taught. They can't learn it over night. Children today are growing up with computers, so naturally, children are going to know how to use computers better than some adults. I have heard a lot of people say children learn more and better things than adults; this is why a lot of foreign countries teach second languages to elementary aged children. So I think it will take more than an average computer class, designed for younger people, to teach a generation that doesn't understand computers. I also have this pet peeve with technology. Technology changes everyday; new and what some would say, better programs are created everyday. I think this is one of the main reasons people have such a hard time learning how to use computers. I think if we could find one program that works and stick with for, I don't know - a year (Oh my God, "Arrest that woman and send her to the crazy house!!" says the computer programmers). But seriously, after a while the computer train begins to look daunting, even for a semi-decent computer person, much less a person who has never used anything but a typewriter.