Ed Tech Gives You the
Power to Change the World
ISSUE ORIENTED
By Anita McAnear
Anita McAnear is
L&L’s acquisitions editor and national program chair for ISTE’s
annual conference
and exposition. A
former middle school
math and language
arts teacher, McAnear
has been with ISTE
since 1983.
Iwill be retiring at the end of July after 29 years with ISTE. As I look back, I find myself re- flecting on what I have learned. One theme—
empowerment—emerges and makes me want
to leave you with a special message and charge.
In the beginning, all that students could do
with computers was program them and play a
few games to build problem-solving skills. My
biggest focus then was empowering students
and educators to make the machine do what
they wanted. They could try something, see
what happened, and then try to fix it, over
and over until it was right. It was learning
by doing at its best.
Next came powerful applications, such as
word processing, spreadsheets, and page-layout
programs. Suddenly, professional tools were
available to the layperson, including teachers
and students. Over the years, these offerings
got better and better, with graphics and image-processing programs, geographic information
systems, probeware, and so on. Kids could get
their hands on just about any tool professionals
had and use them to explore, create, and solve
problems in their classrooms or homes. Assistive
technology even started empowering those with
special needs.
Then came Bitnet, CompuServe, email, and
finally the internet and web. The ability to share
gave a new level of empowerment to educators
and students. Of course, other than email and
listservs, sharing was one-way until web 2.0
tools made true communication and collabora-
tion possible. Now mobile technologies make
24/7 access and sharing a reality. Collaborative
tools and immediate access allow groups to
bring all their skills and ideas together to solve
problems. Search engines have also given us
tremendous power, eliminating the need to
sit in front of an expert to access information.
