None of this scares me.
I have a box of cheerios in the cupboard, worst comes to worst I can
dump them on the table and we will get the answer the old fashioned
way. Run out of cheerios, I'm not beyond having the entire family
remove their socks to get the job done. Math doesn't make me sweat.
Technology does. I'm
not daft when it comes to clicking a mouse, downloading files and
uploading data, videos and photos. I'm pretty comfortable with it
actually and if I run into an issue beyond my scope I call my
brother, he's a programmer. If we are still up against a wall we put
the question out to social media circles, someone out there always
knows what to do. Even armed, technological homework is migraine
inducing.
This week E has been
creating something called a 'glogster' (yes, we don't know what that
is either) The best description I can give you is an electronic
poster. A screen shot. The basic work was well completed but E wanted
to use the 'add a video' feature. He clicked the button and after take
64, was happy with his performance. He clicked the button to add the
video. The little scrolly 'transferring data bar' began scrolling.
It was taking a really long time, more than 15 minutes so we
clicked stop and started from scratch. This time I clicked the
buttons. The scrolly bar began and we let it go, 20 minutes, 30
minutes 45 minutes, I sent E to bed. The video was 2 minutes long
after 2 hours I cancelled the transfer. In the morning we tried again
this time we recorded the video on my phone and tried to upload it to
the site. Fail. E decided to skip the video and replace it with a
photo and some separate audio. Picture success, audio fail. Once,
twice, three, four, nine, twelve times. Eventually we saved what
there was. I wrote a note of extreme frustration to the teacher and I
think he might have gotten to school on time.
If this had been a one
time event I could cruise through, chalk it up and move on but this
is reoccurring techno-frustration. We do this every month. A wiki, a
voki, a glogster, a bitstrip. I can't do it anymore. I get that
technology is in the classroom, I get that it is pertinent. I don't
get how a family that might not have some savvy, a programming
brother or the social webisphere is suppose to support the
initiative. There is no box of something in the cupboard you can poor
on the table to do things the old fashioned way there is only failure
to understand and succeed.
For the record E can manipulate the computer and Internet better than a great many adults I know and even he is getting frustrated with the untested - uni-tried sites and spaces that are suppose to be delivering his technological learning.
Needless to say
Gratitude today for the personal knowledge that my son will grow up
to be a fine technical savvy young man despite failing to impress his
fourth grade techno-teacher. Oh, and for my own creative efforts to
express frustration in words that don't begin with 'F'.
Michelle
