And therein lies the rub. This is a critical question and cuts right to the heart of the issue. If this condition exists, it could be because of the lack of understanding, and patience, many of us in the computer industry have with people who do not know how to run computers. If we are going to plant billions of dollars worth of computers in classrooms across America, we had better make sure that teachers know how to operate them. And that is accomplished only through training.
Teachers understand the impact of training better than just about anybody.
I have two children in public school, and I have been a member of one school's advisory council since the school opened three years ago. I can tell you firsthand that teachers are constantly attending training sessions. Unfortunately, I never hear about training focused exclusively on how to operate a computer, how to surf the Internet, how to prepare a Powerpoint presentation on a topic or how to troubleshoot a computer's problems in the classroom. I'm not talking about the students. I'm talking about the teachers.