Blog #2

When I was in high school in the 1980’s, we had only electric typewriters as tools. There were no iPads, laptops, or desktops. Typing was an elective class and not a requirement. A lot of people thought they were too cool to take typing and that it was just for girls. Of those people, my husband struggles, and pecks on the computer to this day. He regrets that decision he made to opt out of typing.  To set the stage for my younger classmates and put this in perspective, when you typed a paper, if you made a mistake in a prior paragraph or needed to revise or add something, you basically had to start over. There was no copy and pasting or deleting as we have now. Yes, you could opt to use “white-out” but that amount of revision would make your paper look messy. Also, another fun fact, if you wanted to center a topic, you had to backspace one for every two letters. For example, the word “lighter” has eight letters, you would backspace from the center of the typewriter four spaces. It was archaic in today’s standards. It took you a long time to type a paper for a class. It was common to just write your paper and turn it in during those days.

I have limited experience with Google docs. My experience with MS Word has been only as an adult. I was fortunate as I previously worked for a State of Florida agency, the Office of Financial Regulation that had its own continuing education division. With the need for educated and highly skilled employees, the agency had this division in place to keep up with the technology demands that the workforce requires. If you are computer illiterate, you cannot progress and therefore will be replaced with someone else that can adapt to the changing requirements. This I had learned early on. If you want to survive in a very competitive workforce, you must acquire the skill sets that employers are looking for. It’s not enough to have a degree, you must have the skill sets that may be required to be learned AFTER you graduate.

 The ISTE Standard that is most meaningful to me is the 2.2 Leader. This section seeks opportunities for leadership to support student empowerment and success and to improve teaching and learning. If the teachers are not proficient and current with the technologies, how can they be effective and relevant. We have to align with focus, and we need to accelerate instructional technologies. I have firsthand knowledge of what it was in the “old days”. The speed of the technology and ease of it makes learning faster, fun and more engaging. We must allow digital content and learning opportunities and have equitable access for all students.

 I would characterize myself as a digital immigrant as part of Generation X’ers. I have assimilated into the new technologies. The digital natives are typically the younger generations than mine, the Millennials, Generation Z and Generation Alpha. The digital natives are the ones who have grown up with the new technologies all around them. They have been taught using the new technologies as part of their standard curriculum. The digital natives seem very comfortable using their technologies. I rarely see my younger classmates using paper and pen. I anticipate that I will need to learn even more after I graduate in May. The technology is changing daily.