I purchased the textbook "Integrating Educational Technology into Teaching" online 2 days ago and it was delivered to my door this morning. Great service Co-op bookshop! So I am currently reading the first chapter and find that I am relating to most of what I'm reading. I clearly recall all 4 eras of digital technologies in educational institutions discussed in this chapter. Pre-microcomputers - I never had access to this as during this time I was in school before the time when and technology like this was available to school students, it wasn't until 1981 when I was in Year 12 that I first encountered microcomputers when the career's advisor sent me on a computer course at the University of Western Sydney with some other students during the holidays. I remember not being very impressed with the command based interface on the microcomputers and came away deciding that a career in computers wasn't for me. I then came across Apple computers at university in 1982 when I sat in a lab with other students and played a game which involved helping a rabbit obtain a carrot at the end of a maze I think. Once again I was not very impressed! Around the same time I recall the transfer from paper-based catalogues in the university library to microfische and I instantly appreciated the time saving capabilitiy of this technology. I then left university for a time and worked in offices where I was introduced to very early word processing programs, "Wang" was one program I remember (I still have a certificate saying that I was proficient in it) and then "Word Perfect" which was frought with problems and bugs and was quite complicated to learn, I remember a booklet of keyboard commands that we had to know. Later on I learned basic accounting software and remember struggling to align the dot matrix printer to print out the montly ledgers.
How things changed by the third "Internet era" along with graphical interfaces. I was teaching English language when this technology exploded and changed everything. Suddenly I was being sent on courses to learn how to use the latest technology so I could teach my students. I co-taught and English Language / Microcomputing class with at IT teacher for a while, I learned a lot from him and went on to gain qualifications to teach computing subjects such as Microsoft Office programs and later Networking.
In my teaching context now mobile devices are intrinsic. Most (if not all) students bring their own smart phones, laptops, note-books or Ipads to class where they connect to the WiFi to access Prezi sites created by the teacher, or access Google Translator when they don't understand a word. One full-time teacher here is investigating "flipped classrooms" one benefit I see for this as a manager is that technology like this will help student retention and completion rates. A lot of our students drop out if they get jobs, or family commitments get in the way. Being migrants many have settlement issues such as moving and relocating, having to travel back to home countries at short notice. If they can access course materials and activities online as well as submit assignments etc online this would greatly increase their ability to complete the course.
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