Brave new world as Cyberclass turns 20
TWENTY years ago, writing with colleague Vince Summers, the first Cyberclass column was published on the education page in the Mercury.
The purpose then, as it is now, has been to inform and support the engagement and integration of Information Technologies across the curriculum.
In that first article on June 23, 1997, we wrote of the power of the emerging internet for students to publish their work to an audience that existed outside of the classroom and the immediate family.
We introduced a new website, called “KidPub” which provided a platform for students of all ages to publish their stories to a worldwide audience.
Surprisingly when searching to see if any remnants of this pioneering site existed 20 years later, www.kidpub.com is still active.
KidPub was created in 1995 as a safe, fun place for kids to improve their writing skills by sharing their stories, poems, reviews and other creative writing with a worldwide audience.
It’s one of the oldest websites still in operation. In such a rapidly changing online world, to see such longevity is a remarkable achievement, particularly in the education space on the internet.
Another website of a similar vintage is the Mercury’s own mercurynie.com.
A subsequent article looked at a website that hosted the images of Tasmanian photographers including, Peter Dombrovskis, Geoffrey Lea and Richard Bennett. Now the internet is awash with opportunities, from Facebook to Instagram to Flickr, for photo sharing.
Communications projects between students was also becoming possible with the ability for sharing stories and information across international boundaries.
Network computers were just being introduced as possible means of providing access to many students within a school. At the time of writing, the option of five students per desktop computer was considered a desirable outcome, but not affordable for many schools.
Desktop publishing was emerging as another technology teachers could introduce to their students. The Acorn computer was still a popular and pro- ductive computer in many classrooms, providing thematic programs and the ability to create multimedia presentations. Some readers may remember the software Magpie.
Apple, Olympus and Toshiba were introducing the first digital cameras for the consumer market with Japan tripling the sale of digital cameras to reach 600,000 in 1996. Now every smartphone has a digital camera far more sophisticated and powerful than anything we wrote about only 20 years ago.
In revisiting these early Cyberclass columns it has been interesting to read about technologies from desktop publishing, the taking and editing of digital photos and the publishing of students work on the newly emerging internet.
What is clear from these early articles on emerging technologies is that in many ways we take for granted the rev- olutionary developments and opportunities across the curriculum now available for teachers and students alike.
There is still more that can be done to support teachers and students to engage more readily in the use of technologies. The implementation of the technologies curriculum is heralding a change in the way that students are now able to engage with digital technologies
Twenty years on, there is a clearer understanding of the vital importance of Science, Technologies, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) for the future of today’s students.
The difference between 2017 and 1997 is that now students are being encouraged to become creators and innovators of technologies, not just passive consumers.
If in 20 years’ time this column is still being written, how will we reflect on the emerging technologies we see today, and will a student in 2037 see being digitally literate as equally important as being literate and numerate? THE Information Technologies Educators of the Year awards were recently announced for 2017.
The title of TASITE Educator of the Year went to Philippa Clymo, assistant principal and Year 5/6 teacher at Waimea Heights Primary School, while Devonport Christian School’s Katrina McNab was named the TASITE Digital Technologies Teacher of the Year.
Both were both recognised for their professionalism and expertise in promoting an understanding of Digital Technologies not only for their students but for those they work with professionally. Congratulations to both teachers.