How would you define “Limited Technology”?

Recently I read an article on Mind/Shift titled Think Big: How to Jumpstart Tech Use In Low-Income Schools. The title did get my attention and so I decide to read the article, I am always interested in adding to my bank of ideas aimed at helping low income schools. The article was about  Daisy Dyer Duerr, Prek-12 Principal of St. Paul Public Schools in St. Paul, Arkansas. While it did make an interesting read and I would readily recommend it, my focus of interest was at the point where the technologies available at her school were listed. 

When Duerr started at St. Paul Schools three years ago, ………… The technology available to teachers was limited to a·         few smart boards,·          two computer labs with shared PC desktops
·         and a laptop cart with 10 Mac Books still in their boxes. 

What is amazing about this is that, this is meant to be a public school with “limited technology”. Where I come from or live and work a school that boast of such access to technology would not be referred to as one having Limited technology but a school to be desired, cause most the schools  having such access or more to technology are mainly private owned schools with high paying fees.

Most public schools in my region , if at all can only boast of a computer Laboratory with a few desktop computer, to which students have little or no access to, except for computer science classes when they need to be taught about computers. Most of our public classrooms are built without the plan for technology use. In most of my interventions with this schools, a power generating set and extension wires where used to bring electricity to the classroom because no functional sockets where available. 

So the questions is “how would you define Limited Technology” I guess the definition would vary depending on what part of the world you live in, from country to country and region to region even in the same country. Based on my experience, I would define Limited technology as a few computers seated on some computer tables, lock away in a computer laboratory. 

Recently, I have been asked by a school to help integrate technology into their learning system. What technology do I have to start with?

•         2 desktop computers
•         13 mini laptops ( 8 not functional, have one technical problem or the other)

Is this limited technology? Yes and No. Yes if you are counting hardware, but no, if you are considering ways in which this few computers can be used in the classroom. I have come to know that having technology in schools doesn’t translate to using technology in the teaching and learning process. I believe limited technology is not how many computers or laptops or devices a school has but in the limited ways this devices are used in the teaching and learning process. I know of schools that can boost of over 100 devices but yet the students have little access to them. That to me is limited technology.

 It is not in ‘how many we have’ but in ‘how well we use what we have’. “It’s not about what you have, it’s about being awesome,” Duerr says. 

Building Bridges

“For too long, information, opportunities, and resources have been constraints; they need to be the bridges.” 

                                                                               ― Sharad Vivek Sagar

“The wisdom of bridges comes from the fact that they know the both sides, they know the both shores!” 

― Mehmet Murat ildan

I haven’t always being an educator, started out with a university degree in Industrial Design and then went on to do a Master’s degree in Visual Arts but I have been one to love school and the classroom and didn’t mind teaching (conducted a lot of tutorial classes while at school). My detour into the field of education happened on a particular afternoon, I was flipping channels on TV and happened to tune into a station showing a video on “Chemical Bonding” ( still remember that clip till date). It was amazing to me how a concept that seemed so abstract to me, then, was brought to life by the use of multimedia, and I imagined the difference it would have made to my grades if only I had access to such educational media, in addition to our textbooks. So I decided I need to do something to help students learn better using the skills I had acquired in my previous fields of experience. Thus, my return back to the classroom, to study this time around, Educational Technology, even to the Doctoral level.

Every child, regardless of parental income or background can and should benefit from the gains of technology-enhanced learning. Teachers and educational institutions need to provide life transforming opportunities to their students, preparing learners for the challenges of the 21^st century, providing in every possible way equal chances to succeed both in school and beyond.

What are we doing to bridge the gap between education and the global work force? Knowing it is all about what skills are required for any given vocation. I do encourage all of you to submit your comments, links and share how you are changing your classroom and how access to technology in your classroom (no matter how limited) is making a difference in how students experience and engage in school.