Journal 1

“Professors adjust their methods to reach technology-savvy generation”.
From the San Diego Union-Tribune, written by a staff writer.

I was a computer science grad student in the 80’s at SDSU and reading this article made me feel like it was the 1880’s. Things have changed! I suppose in a very large classroom it makes it less personal, but in an upper division, in smaller classrooms, I would call it rude to even have your laptop open in class. Cell phones, computer games, chatting? It doesn’t sound good to me. Not in the classroom. At the college level it might not be bad for all students, but forget it for high school. I subbed for a high school math class that had computer-based activities, and I found I had a problem, for example, with kids watching fight films on YouTube.

On the other hand, having more contact with your teachers is good. I like the idea of the message boards we have begun using in our ED courses here. Having all the assignment information online keeps you productive at home. Also, I could imagine using computer graphics to illustrate science or math concepts. I like the clicker technology also, but that is technology that engages rather than distracts in class.

Question 1: How much technology should you allow in a high school classroom?
My rules are, technology should draw the attention of the student not distract, and it should enhance learning. College kids can handle the distractions of a laptop on the Internet, but if they fail it’s considered their own problem. This isn’t the case in public K-12. Of course, there may be times when a laptop or even a cell phone of MP3 player can be part of the lesson. But the exact usage of the devices has to be specified to a high school student. Possibly, one could set up a club situation after school for more focused kids to just experiment with technology. But, the key difference is that it would be an optional time when there was no teacher-led class.

Question 2: What technology will be in the high school classroom of 2020?
Taking the trends that have been evident and not allowing for a paradigm shift, I would imagine that many schools will still have only a basic PC hooked up to a big screen. Possibly, it will be a high definition screen. In localities where there is a high tech or high finance presence there will be much more. In fact, in those schools 9th grade science students may experience the dance of the planets in a virtual reality. Einstein's theory of gravity will be directly experienced. Maybe their priorities will be less scientific and the kids will run realistic business simulations. But how will they teach algebra and geometry? I've seen the self paced program in one class and (I don't claim to be any expert on its effectiveness, but) I think it was working pretty well. Perhaps the next generation of software will be able to take in their work and tell them where they went wrong. At this moment that part of the process is owned by the teacher and we get a lot of pride out of doing it. What will it change when that changes to a machine? And, what about all those other schools that have minimal access to technology? What kind of disadvantage will those kids have?

Intro Letter

Hi! My name is Eric Plaks.

I’m the one on the right next to my daughter and wife. I grew up in Connecticut and got my BS Engineering in Computer Science in ’78. I moved to San Diego a few months later and began my career in software engineering. Along the way I rode the Internet wave and became highly specialized in networking protocol software that runs on Internet devices. Intel bought the company I worked at and it was a great time to be a software engineer. Last summer Intel left San Diego as a cost savings and I had the option to move to Oregon or take a severance package. I started thinking, what do I really want to do from here? I’d like to teach science!

I am clearly a professional techie but even a professional is just a user when he gets on a PC or a Mac. Especially if he’s a low level grunt as I was, working on the bowels of computers embedded inside devices. So before you assume I know a lot about technology, keep in mind that my daughter sometimes has to show me how to get to a function in my cell phone! The culture is that the engineers sneer at applications like Power Point as tools that only managers use well. Thus I never became proficient at Power Point or Excel. I used high powered Unix based mini computers at work and got a Mac at home, but when we were purchased by Intel I got assimilated. Resistance was futile and so I became a PC user. Besides, every Pentium sold helped my stock options increase in value. It was the 90’s and greed was good!

I am very impressed by the mission statement and the fact that my professors seem to really believe in it. Compared to a corporate mission statement I’d have to say that it’s long and complicated and vague. But even Intel doesn’t have as big a goal as to “transform public education”. “social justice” and “educational equity” are tantalizing subjects that beg me to dive in and learn how they are applied by good teachers. I have almost no idea how, to tell you the truth, but I’m more than willing to learn.

-Eric