Jennie S. Malonek, Doctoral Candidate
Pepperdine University
Alhambra High School, Alhambra USD
Many of us are uncomfortable with the technology as an ally in science education reform.
When I was in high school, I took a programming class where we punched cards. One typo or a card out of order and the program wouldn't run. I hated it. However, my reluctance to embrace technology is changing... slowly.
Credentialing now requires a computer literacy course, so I took a few to overcome the technophobia I developed in high school. I learned how to find good software, how to word process, and how to program in BASIC. My students, in turn, learned what I did. I used what I knew, but I knew I didn't know very much.
Now I am working at Alhambra High School, a Model Technology School. When I first got here, I learned PageMaker, Hypercard, and Linkway, and my students now do at least one multimedia project and one video project a year and then present their research or results.
Yet, even though I learned to incorporate spreadsheets and databases into my curriculum on a more regular basis (they're especially useful for the study of weather), I still felt as if I didn't know very much.
Last September, I started a doctoral program in educational technology and, with four e-mail addresses, I am now an Internet queen.
I know what HTML, URL, PPP, and FTP stand for, I have been in chatrooms and MUDs, I have done on-line searches and authored my own web pages, and I can even interpret smiley faces. : - )
As my school slowly moves toward full Internet access, I find myself pondering new ways to incorporate all this new technology into my curriculum: how to use webpages, where to incorporate image processing, and whether I want my students to work in MUDs or other virtual environments.
I am learning new multimedia programs like Apple Media Tool and HyperStudio and looking forward to learning other programs and skills. I realize that, to really transform my teaching in science, I must transform myself first. Yet I still feel as if I don't know very much.
Now, part of my frustration is that technological applications for education are expanding so rapidly. The challenge then is to try to change with them. I am not in this doctorate program because I love technology. I am here out of self defense because I want to be the best teacher I can be.
As long as technology is changing our society and how we teach and learn, it's time for dedicated teachers, no matter what their current level of technological expertise may be, to jump aboard the train.
We may not feel that we know very much because we don't know where it's heading, but we're in for one heck of a ride.
