Dr. Smith says that several professionals at other schools cannot give students the same assignments Dakota State gives its students because the technology is not in place or the faculty does not know how to teach with the technology. Many people said they have the computers but don t know how to use them, Dr. Smith said. Here in South Dakota, we re lucky to have a governor that pays faculty to be taught how to use computers. There is still no internet in a lot of colleges, said Laurie Macziewski, a Madison Public Schools history teacher who also attended the conference. It s hard to believe how much further ahead we are than a lot of other states.
Some states haven t heard what South Dakota is doing with computer education.
Being a low population state, we have a huge advantage over populous states, said Dr. Smith. Dr. Smith and Macziewski both agreed that the Internet is creating new ways to research history. Students and teachers can respond and compose messages to people all over the state, said Dr. Smith. Computers are enabling us to analyze data and through the use of email we have ways for historians to talk to one another. We can get expert opinions.