Computer Time in High School...

Well........Computer time in High School meant a lot of things for a lot of different people. For teachers, it meant time to give their students a research assignment these wonderful students can work on while they (the teacher) had time to actually get other things done. For the librarian (because I went to a poor school and we had the computer lab and the library in one!), it meant time to actually work...because, not many people went into the library to actually get books or anything useful like that. And, last but not least, for the students it meant time to get on their myspace and livejournal accounts and hang out and play games online the whole time. There wasn't really much constructively done during computer time in High School, even though it was something everyone looked forward too. And I must say, I looked forward to it as well. I had a pretty crappy computer at my house and so I actually got to do all that online stuff at school and get it all over and done with.

Oh...and P.S. I was one of the few dorky kids in school who was actually known by the librarian because I really did go there to get books to read too! Go figure! HeHeHe!

Of course, I guess what I'm really trying to say is that I think, a lot of the time, computer access to students in high school was spent doing nothing that was truly required of them. It was just time during the school day to hang out and play games. Nothing important ever really happened there.

Technology: Benefit or Hinderance?

There a lot of ups and downs about technology in the classroom. As we have seen in this class even, it can serve to be somewhat distracting when we've got the computers out and we are doing something that we aren't supposed to be doing. But, there are major benefits to having these computers in the classroom. One can have immediate research taken, facts can be proven or disproven, etc. It is that handle on immediacy that makes technology great.

Of course, this is just an example of modern-day technology. Other technological advances in the classroom have involved projectors and slides and refillable ink pens and pencils. They help to bring convenience and, as said before, immediacy to the task at hand. That sense of immediacy is what technological advancements are all about.