Why Create This Website?

Throughout my public education experience, there were many limited opportunities to use and learn about technology. Since then, technology has increasingly become more abundant and accessible yet the way student’s use and learn about technology stays the same.

In many public schools the resources are widely available where students are individually assigned Chromebooks or iPads but are only shown websites such as Canvas (which may have little to no information based on teacher; plenty of examples from college) or other grading platforms, online game websites, and maybe a couple of resources about the material if they are lucky. Imagine if you only used your computer for online games or maybe creating a Google Doc. Students often don’t know what a flash drive is and if they do then they usually don’t know how to use one. They are often left to learn about the vast world of technology on their own and while this is an exciting endeavor, the world of technology has become increasingly complicated and dangerous for those with little technical background. Either students learn the hard way (typically by being the victim of scams or misguidance) or they don’t learn at all.

The main issue stems from two places: the lack of knowledge/effort on the teachers part or the lack of approval from the school administration. From experience, the latter is like getting congress to do anything regardless of the request and difficult to see much of any progress. While there are lazy/unmotivated or perhaps content teachers (ones where the lessons haven’t been changed in 10 years and the thought of doing such is blasphemy), there are many teachers that see the importance in technology but don’t have specific examples on including technology. This website hopes to address both in different ways. One, the site advocates for more opportunities using technology in unique and different ways by giving specific examples and discussing security/safety or other factors in a manner that could be presented to a school district. Two, a wide variety from multiple disciplines that can be used in the classroom to show students the utility in modern technology. Three, electronics designed to teach certain subjects in a unique and intuitive manner that anyone can recreate reasonably (by either outsourcing the work or doing so on devices such as 3D printers). Lastly, creating content for a dynamic audience (one whose experience on the material is based on age, resources, and attention span) that generally is easiest to obtain through a college program.