‘What apps do you use?’
Dear George,
Many thanks for a lovely weekend. We enjoyed every part of our visit, strolling the neighborhood, window shopping, museums, good food – but the best part of the trip was sitting at your table hearing stories of the Capsis Family. Thank you for sharing not only your lovely home, but our family story.
In our conversation you asked me ‘what apps do you use?’ I thought a lot about that as we drove home. I realized, with some surprise, just how dependent I am on a wide variety of applications and the computer itself.
It’s 4:30 am, the snow is blowing, the woodstove that heats this rural NH home is toasty warm. I open my laptop and check my email – the kids, the reservation for an upcoming trip, a note from a college buddy. Then I check for school closings, weather, and national news on three different apps. I checked my recipe app to be sure I have everything I need for tonight’s dinner. That’s 5 apps and it’s 4:40.
Before 8am, I’ll use a exercise app, an attendance app to track my students at school, and a school records app to research a student’s progress. By 9 I’ll have used an app that lets me integrate my notes with a variety of online resources and present an interactive lesson on a SMART board for my first class. Four more before the morning is half over.
It’s striking that a middle-aged school counselor, living in a rural area with limited internet/cell phone access has integrated computer application use to so many areas of my life. Perhaps most striking is looking at how technology has changed the way my students learn. In 1974, when I started teaching, students at my school who were studying Antarctica would look up information in the encyclopedia and use a card catalog at the library for additional sources. If we were lucky, a scientist from the local Cold Regions Research Lab would stop by and tell us about a trip they took to Antarctica, and show us photos and artifacts. In 2003, ten years ago, students would look up that same information on the internet, the card catalog inow on line with the original on display as an artifact, and those visiting scientists would show us film clips made with their digital cameras. Our students today are still learning about Antarctica, only they are chatting with a friend of mine who is working at the Scott-Amundson Station. He can answer student’s questions, show them what it’s like to live at a research station, or explain how you get water when it’s 40 below. The excitement and investment in learning is high as each student feels they have a personal connection to this place so very far from us. Our school Skypes with students and schools all around the world – we chat with classmates in the Czech Republic, Israel, China, Brazil, Russia. Our students are not only having firsthand opportunities to learn, but they are building relationships with groups of people all over the world. Next month, when the fifth grade studies Greece, I hope they’ll be chatting with Cousin Pantelis.
I do sometimes wonder and worry where all this dependence on technology will lead us. Can I find my way around a new neighborhood without Google Maps on my Smart phone? Can I write without spell-check? Can I get through a conversation without checking something on the web? But I also think about how the connectivity that technology has brought our young learners affects them. They are more engaged, their brains think about things in new ways, and they are building international connections – friendships, relationships with people they may never meet – but people that they care about. How will that affect international policy? How will that affect research? How will that affect the use of arms to settle disputes?
It’s 8:30 pm, a different snowstorm is blowing, and our cat is relaxing by the wood stove. I’m mostly knitting, but also peeking at the iPad for web sites to help me learn a new way to turn the heel of the socks I’m working on. It’s such a different world, with so much to learn, and so many new ways to engage in learning.
Love and Hugs, Your Niece in the Wilds of NH