School tech, A whole new world

When I was in grade and high school (as much as it pains me to say it….LAST century), the way that technology was both viewed and used was vastly different from the way that it’s used now. It always confused me how there could be such significant developments in technology, but the school world didn’t seem to reflect that. I understand that there are budget issues, but we didn’t even really discuss the developments in the tech world. Now, however, we are in a whole different dimension. It’s interesting to see my children going through their school lives not only utilizing as much tech as possible, but they are actually being given the skills to learn how to use it going forward.

1) Tech in the Classroom – Personally, I believe that it’s critical to have technology in the classrooms. While I agree that, to a degree, it can be distracting, I think it’s more important to be familiar with the uses of technology while in school. I recall that when I was in post-secondary education, I was enrolled in a required computer competency class. This had fairly basic functions, such as how to use Word and Excel, etc. or rather, I thought it was fairly basic. Some of my classmates were having a great deal of trouble figuring out how to use their computers, so our teacher approached me and asked me to be an in-class tutor, which I was happy to do. I can only assume that my former classmates lacked experience dealing with technology on a regular basis, which meant that when they were exposed to new skills, they were unable to understand what to do. When you teach kids at an older age how to use technology, they become much more adept when they are older. Given the prevalence of technology in the workplace and our personal lives, it would only make sense to teach people from a young age how to use it properly.

2) Teaching how to use technology – One of my most significant failings as an “IT guy” is that I’m not much of a coder. I am in the process of rectifying that situation, but writing and reading code have always been totally foreign to me. I have tried (and failed) to teach myself over the years, and if it were a course (or two) in high school where it was taught properly to me, I would be able to understand it better. I appreciate that both my kids are learning to code in school, as it will be a valuable skill that will benefit them regardless of their future pursuits. In my day job, I have the opportunity to assist the users I support by providing desk-side support. When I’m at their desk, and as soon as I figure out how to solve the problem they are having, I do my best to explain a way that they can solve the problem should it happen again. In my opinion, simply solving the problem doesn’t help users. Providing them with the skills to operate their computers properly and solve problems when needed helps them in the long run.

3) VPNs – I was fortunate enough to give a talk to some students recently about cybersecurity, and one of the questions asked was about the benefits of a VPN, or a virtual private network. I will happily write a whole post about this later. Still, the short story on VPNs is that they are a secure way to browse and send communications over the internet with minimal risk of that information being stolen. Personally, I love VPNs because they enable secure browsing and also allow you to browse as if you were still in your home country when travelling outside of it.

I want to be clear: when I’m talking about “learning about technology,” I’m not suggesting that we all become deep-level hackers or C++ coders. That would be impractical. I do, however, think that it’s important to have a functional level of computer knowledge in today’s day and age, because your IT department (assuming you have one) will not always be able to help out as quickly as you may want. For simple problems, you can do some things yourself. You just need the knowledge. It’s going to be easier for the next generations because they will be trained in tech from a younger age. I, for one, am glad that it’s happening because I see no end to our technological development, and our kids need to be ready for what’s coming. Not just the technology itself, but the threats that will come because of it.

How do you feel about our education in technology?

I know for the past few months I’ve had a theme, and I’m going to continue that next month, but for now (and partially because of the Apple event happening next week) I’m just going to free wheel this month and talk about some random ideas I’ve had. Enjoy!

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