Ignorance is the enemy!!

In recent weeks I have had the opportunity to work in several schools at the secondary level and have experienced an interesting amalgamation of teachers and their respective attitudes towards technology. Being a technophile, I thought I would weigh in in their collective perspectives, categorizing them into a few groups.

Group 1: Where's the "Any Key"?

This group has given up on technology somewhere around 1989 and are perfectly content to use a computer exclusively as a machine to take attendance and read electronic mail that they will then hand write a response to and send via messenger. These people seem to be terrified of the possibilities of tech, and incessantly bring up the problems computers present, i.e. crashing, power outtages, impersonal contact. What this group has missed out on is the flood of "idiot proofing" computers have undergone. Even plugging cords into the correct slots has been simplified:

Even if you don't know what ANY of those words mean, everything you will need fits into only one slot, OR, is color coded. Putting together a model airplane requires more skill and savvy than hooking up your PC. Mac makes it even easier:

Two cords, keyboard and mouse, push the power button(hidden on the back, I know, silly Apple) and watch it go!

Teachers in this group don't need to jump into using SmartBoards and webquest, but they are missing out on new, awesome tools like Google, Wikipedia, and PowerPoint.

Even if you were terrified of using a new program, Microsoft offers a guide on how to use every version of PowerPoint you could possible own. Just follow the above link and its on the left, just like in the picture!

So to you who may fall into the "Where's the Any Key" Group, try something new, it won't hurt. Even if you know nothing at all, there is almost nothing you can do, aside from taking a sledgehammer to your desktop, that will render your PC irrevocably damaged. Both Microsoft and Apple are designing computers with you in mind. So instead of standing at the head of the classroom and lecturing to students like they're cattle, show them you are "leet" by using something new. It might be so easy, even a caveman could do it!.

Next time Group 2: The "I tried it, but can't remember what I did to get it to do that" Group.

Some helpful websites:

Atomic Learning - It costs, but your school might just have a subscription

Microsoft Office - Free but only useful if you use Microsoft, so 10% of you can ignore this.

Apple - Need to know how to use your new Mac? There's a website for that!

Adobe Flash - Useful to tech savvy people, but, I put it here to show what you could get into. I'm currently teaching myself how to use this program and this website has become my personal blueprint.