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If my children are Digital Natives, there are times I feel like a Digital Dinosaur. After all, I learned to program computers, not use them. Seriously. For some uknown reason, my highschool's computer lab runneth over with TSR 80's and we were taught computer programming instead of word processing. The Internet didn't exist in my world, Google was a sound eminating from a baby, not a technological surf board. I remember showring up to "French Lab" thinking it was totally rad to be plugged into a headset listening to a disembodied French dude asking me to repeter everything he said to me. This my friends was advanced technology. My school was one of the first in the area to offer the IB program for heavensake. Surely I must have graduated and feeling as if I were on the cutting edge. Ready to take on the world!
Not so fast. After all, I still used a typewriter in college with correction tape to get those term papers done at the last possible minute of that final hour. Compared with my children's elementary school classroom equipped with an oasis of learning, I spent quite a few years wandering in a digital desert.
To steal from paraphrase Bob Dylan, the times, they are a chaning'. My children are having a vastly different educational experience. I definitely believe technology has a place in the classroom and provides amazing educational opportunities for our kids. But because I am a dinosaur by origin, I know I may still get stuck in tar pits. As Mommy Myth Busters points out:
Many parents grew up with medical adages or advice that have since been proven by scientists to be incorrect or outdated.
I agree with that. Logically I get it, even so I continue to hear a voice in my head say, "They are children, their eyes are still developing. The longterm effects of screen use on emerging eyesight worry me." Yet, there is another voice inside my head echoing encouragement. Computers have been used in educational settings for years to help even out the playing field for children with special needs. The use of computers for these students has made the difference between a student learning at school and a student leaving a school. As Ricky from ATMAC puts it:
Most of the students with disabilities in an educational setting will have some type of print-related disability. Having programs that support reading and writing available on all computers limits the stigma for students who need the help and makes these tools available to other students too. Students who are borderline-OK with their print abilities usually won’t be offered, or won’t accept, help from “special education” programs because of social stigma or because they won’t admit they need the help. Perhaps if these programs were available on all the school’s computers these kids would use the support programs - even if only when nobody was watching - and gain the benefits.
No doubt, disability or not, technology used in an educational setting is a win/win for students, teachers and families. When I rock my inner Spock, I understand logically computers in the classrooms are the new normal. This didn't stop me from being just a bit overwhelmed by how high tech the classrooms are or may potentially be. Tanis from The Attack Of The Redneck Mommy had an interesting encounter with her son after he Googled her name in his class. Her son happened upon some, um, interesting photoshopped pics of her online. Tanis had some 'splainin' to do. She explained and also offered her own parenting hack in the process:
Um dude, why were you googling my name in computer class? Aren’t you supposed to be doing something a little more educational with your time?” The best defence is always a good offence I find, when parenting teens.
It's not easy for us digital dinosaurs as we lumber along next to the digital natives who race the Interwebs swinging from site to site. Take a gander at what's going on in schools. It blew my 1985 "let me show you how to use Fortran" mind. Others aren't just blown away by the technology in the classrooms, they are flat out against it. And I can understand that point of view as well.
What about you. Do you someday hope to be The Jetsons? Or are you thinking more along the lines of a modern Stone Age family when you show up to the PTA meeting at your child's school?
Share your own experience with schools and technology this week in the Family Connections Group.
