September 2003 — Making Life Easier
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The Power and Value of Technology
Making a Difference
A less dramatic, yet more personal, example about how technology can make a real difference in the educational life of a student happened this last year. My youngest daughter Maari, who was a senior at the Boston Arts Academy in Massachusetts, decided to leave school the last semester of her senior year to join a band in Los Angeles. Maari was a high honors student and was disappointed that she wouldn't be able to complete her education at the academy and graduate with her friends.
Fortunately, the school principal, Linda Nathan, is one of those educators you read about: innovative, caring and willing to take well-calculated chances to help her students succeed. She had her staff create a program that could be completed via the Inter-net, which allowed Maari to fulfill her graduation requirements.
One of the courses Maari had to complete was a precalculus course that required the use of a $100 graphing calculator. I told her to look online for a free downloadable software program that had the same functionality. Maari found this with GraphCalc (www.graphcalc.com), which she was able to use in her studies and helped her graduate on time.
The truth and value of the use of technology in education is very self-evident to those of us who have personally experienced or witnessed success in its implementation. Some of us have had to push through the previous stages of ridicule and opposition; others bypassed one or both of these earlier stages and now find the use of technology an invaluable tool. It might be an interesting activity to determine what stage individuals are at regarding the use of technology in your organization. But, always remember that the truth of the power and value of technology will become self-evident with persistence and continued effort.
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