Embracing Technology Post 50
“You can’t stop the future, You can’t rewind the past. The only way to learn the secret ..is to press play.” ― Jay Asher. Jay is right, if you don’t press play, you will be stuck on “Pause” and that really doesn’t help anyone.
Many years ago in my first teaching post, I was editor of the school newsletter. We had one Apple Mac computer which was reserved for the teaching staff, there were some other computers in the school, but compared to some we were pretty lucky — 1 computer shared by over 100 teachers. I had a really mischievous habit of changing the display on the computer to varying shades of pink which was irritating for my colleagues.
And so I was asked to charge of IT within the Modern Languages department. 28 computers had arrived and we now had an IT suite. clearly the children we taught were overtaking us in leaps and bounds — the work they did was not terribly technical, but like most children it wasn’t long before they knew more than we did.
Fast forward a few years and to two pivotal moments. I was asked to attend a training session along with a handful of other colleagues and this session was to be presented by an American Professor. I can’t remember his name, but he was the stereotypical academic with a great difference — he was technically very switched on when it came to IT — I suppose in this day and age he would be called a “Geek”. We sat in a room with him in front of a TV (not flat screen of course!) and as he guided us through what he was doing with a computer linked to the screen, we all realised that something quite amazing was happening — we were being introduced to the Internet — The http://webfoundation.org/about/vision/history-of-the-web/ — we were accessing a library in Montreal. It was the early 90s. Access was limited because our only means of being able to access the Internet was through “dial up”. It was, nonetheless, thrilling and innovative. We slowly but surely embraced this phenomenon not really comprehending what this actually meant.
The next key moment was being asked to write an article for a competition our languages department had been asked to enter. The theme “The importance of IT in Modern Languages”. I have no idea what I wrote, however, I was awarded the only place for a teacher from England to attend a two week Summer school in Turku, http://www.visitfinland.com Representatives from the United Kingdom, Western and Eastern Europe congregated in Turku. Every morning we were taught to write code and build our own website, in the afternoon we were given the opportunity to discover the delights of Finland. None of us attending realised the enormity of what we were doing — clearly it was very basic, nevertheless we would be taking back some very key skills to our prospective schools. The world was changing. By the time I left teaching in 1999, things in the world of technology had moved incredibly fast. We no longer used “blackboards” and chalk, interactive whiteboards were used in classrooms and most students had a much better understanding of how technology worked.
That world seems light years away. I live with two people younger than me. My nephew was born in ’96 and is what i call a “digital baby’. He navigates every single Apple product and device far quicker than I can. My niece will be 13 next month. She understands the workings of an iPad and the workings of the relevant programmes. Their world differs greatly to mine, yet because I oversee the running of 2 businesses, we either embrace this brave new world of we get left behind. Ideally, I still prefer forming relationships face-to-face — that’s my preference; realistically I fully understand the importance the impact technology and social media has on businesses. Do I press “Pause” or do I press”Play”? I think knowing what I know, its good to embrace change but remind myself that picking up the phone or putting pen to paper can be just as effective
Susie Crolla
