Students turning in assignments on-line. Textbooks accessible via the Internet. Teachers posting homework on their website. No, that's not the future of classrooms. That's now.
When I attended high school in the late-90's, my school was at the forefront of this recent technological revolution. Webmastering, Desktop Publishing, C++ were courses available to us priviledged students. That's impressive when you think back over a decade ago, our administrators had the foresight to train us in these sorts of programs. Fast-forward to 2010, and every school offers those courses. Every school nowadays prioritizes the incorporation of modern technology into the classroom. Well, some schools moreso than others.
Laptops are affordable - less than $500. Maintenance is more feasible as the parts drop in price. The Web 2.0 revolution is giving us free and user-friendly software. There's an elephant in the room, though, and it's time to talk about it.
"Old" teachers. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. They're great at what they do, the aged baby-boomers who put off retirement because 1) they're great at teaching, and 2) retirement is boring. But herein lies the problem. Students nowadays need the proper training in modern technology in order to succeed in today's workforce. From my experience, the seasoned veterans of teaching are typically unwilling to participate in the necessary training for technological improvement. Even if they attend the training for the mandatory training hours, the teachers don't intend on changing their tried-and-true lessons plans.
This problem couldn't be more urgent. I don't have a solution to the problem of the belligerent old-timer who says "Why fix it if it ain't broke?" Do you?
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