Technology has moved from elective to required:  Over the last 150 years, schools have had the core subjects of language, math, science, and social studies (or reading, writing, and arithmetic).  OCL believes information technology will be added to this list.  As the state and national technology standards grow lengthier, structured technology classes are necessary to reach their recommendations.  It may only be a matter of time until the recommendations become state mandates.   Already technology is used as much as any other core subject in life.  Unfortunately in some schools, students are still learning more about it from friends than at school.   

Implementation Barriers: Schools are realizing that it takes several years to "grow up" a solid technology program. Schools cannot provide an effective technology program by implementing high school classes and then build downward. This is an extreme violation of the fundamentals of education! Students must be brought up through the grades systematically with a scope and sequence in technology; otherwise, students enter upper grade technology classes with differing foundations. This was not as important using the standards of the 90's, but the standards of today necessitate a systematic foundation.  When implementing a sequenced curriculum, older grades must either start at a lower grade level and proceed or attempt to use a fast-track method.  Both methods have some challenges.   It can take 3-4 years to remove the older grade level challenge, so many schools use alternatives like Microsoft Office training for their current high school students.  The Office training can be phased out as the younger grades come up through the sequenced, standards-based curriculum.   OCL will cover most state's high school standards that are not covered when using Microsoft Office training. 

Technology training must begin as early as Kindergarten or 1st grade to keep students within a narrower range of ability. Technology access at home varies greatly from family to family, even region to region.  There are families that still do not have regularly working computers at home or refuse to turn their children loose with a computer and internet.   On the other hand, many families throughout the nation allow their children full access to a computer and internet.  This wide difference of home access can make the introduction of computer classes in upper elementary grades difficult because of the variances of familiarity. (i.e. One student needs help with the mouse and another in the same class wants permission to download a cool program to show the instructor.)  OCL believes a majority of schools will introduce technology classes by 1st grade to remove this challenge and to prevent technology gaps.

When there is a wide variance in ability, two main problems arise.  Students that lack the proper foundation will struggle. Parents of straight A students in other classes are confused why their child cannot get an A in this class. Parents may assume the teacher is a poor instructor or the standards are too high.  Students who are advanced in technology are often bored in classes that are slowed down by other students. The parents of these children cannot understand why their child complains about the class that should be their favorite class. Behavior problems, frustrated teacher, and grades that do not reflect normal student achievement are also symptoms of a wide ability range within a lock-stepped class.  

Internet Access for Children:  Many public schools throughout the nation are pushing for initiatives that provide a computer/laptop for each and every student to use in school.  Schools are working to resolve teacher training issues, web filtering, financing, and acceptable use policies.  However, a Christian school must deal with the topic of internet access for students independently from other schools.  Most Christian schools agree there is a need for student internet access, both for general research and technology training. The major problem is that web filtering is not 100% effective. Some of the most effective filtering options are 99.6% (most are 95% or less).  Several years ago, there were 80 million websites.  If bad sites (not including sites that tear down Biblical training) were only 2% of the 80 million (much higher), then 99.6% filtering means 6500 bad sites can still be accessed by students.  

Most public educators and parents have conceded to these risks, but Christian schools must hold their ground.  Parents, not Christian schools, should determine whether their child is ready to handle the internet unsupervised.  Christian schools and churches should be training parents about filtering, tracking, and supervision options for home use. The most important change that technology has brought Christian schools is the need to prepare children for choices at an earlier age. OCL includes comprehensive search training for students to reduce accidental visits to inappropriate sites when using the internet outside of school.  OCL offers free parent training for all participating schools.        

Computer Lab Approach: A computer lab is the most economical and efficient structure to provide school-wide technology training. A computer lab approach is structured better for supervision, security, safety, and preventing unnecessary computer problems. Many technology tools and skills are trending toward web-based. A computer lab structure can control internet access where students can learn web-based tools safer than at their desk or in a classroom where the teacher can forget to supervise. Access anywhere else is insufficiently supervised for a Christian school!  The expense of a computer lab is no longer a barrier and is a highly effective way to offer technology training to all grades.  Appropriate sites with only designated IP's should be allowed through the firewall.    OCL uses designated IP's to allow firewalling all other internet.  

Historical Recap: Computers entered education in the 80's as office computers. Then most schools had a few computers in a classroom somewhere collecting dust because no one knew how to use them or they broke down. Then in the 90's computer labs started to appear using academic software that often did not correspond to the school's curriculum.  Schools that used paper or software computer literacy courses found they had outdated information by the time they were released due to rapid changes.  As we entered the millennium, many technology programs included keyboarding and Microsoft Office training.  What was called a cutting-edge school program taught skills such as building computers, making movies, and making wizard-driven WebPages.  

The appearance of standards has always appeared in education.  Standards can be used for accountability and goal setting, but the emphasis is on the word "standards".  Standardization is necessary to prevent a wide variance of sequence and scope between schools.  It is not unusual to see differences of a few months or even a grade level between schools/curriculums in core subjects, but differences of many years between schools in technology is still not uncommon. Decades ago, technology standards focused on vocational areas and grew to include information technology.  With rapid technology changes, information technology has grown into its own set of standards.  Information technology standards are evaluated at a national level, mainly through The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) or the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) Project, and then independently at a state level.  Many states monitor the national standards and adjust the national standards to their state's perspective to develop their state standards.   OCL is of the opinion that K-12 technology standards will not plateau, but will become broader and deeper.  College concepts of the 90's are now in 5th-8th grade standards.  

A structured, standards-based curriculum needs to be implemented while standards are recommended, and before they are state mandated. According to eSchool News Online, at least a dozen states already incorporate technology into their standards for graduation: Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Texas.  Schools need  time to grow their concept coverage up to grade level.  Example: Let us say that math was not taught in schools yet, but we knew it would be soon.  If we did nothing about it until the day it became a required subject, we would have students without the proper foundation to learn at their grade level.  It would be like putting a student in geometry that has not learned multiplication, division, fractions, etc.   

The Need for Concept-based Training:  Elementary and Junior High instructors must assume that methods and programs will completely change by the time the student graduates.  A barrier with many version-based training programs used by students is over-detailing of every feature.  Students need to see the forest as fast as possible and then learn the trees.  Or students need to learn to fly a Piper Cub plane before a Boeing jumbo jet.  Curriculum must center on a concept-based approach with younger students to develop a foundation with new programs.  What is concept-based training? First, it is to teach skills needed in all programs. Then it is to teach skills needed in most programs. Then it is to teach skills needed in some programs. It includes teaching how to find help and use critical thinking to learn new skills as needed.  Example of concept-based training:  Teaching menu commands found in all programs instead of teaching all menu commands found in one program.   (i.e. mastering New, Open, Save, Save As, Print, Print Preview, Page Setup, Exit under the File menu and then show how these are found in most programs.  Or learning the similarities in web languages.)  Students must use concept-based training in order to adapt to the ever-changing technology world!  Concept-based training can equip students to use any program by graduation, not just a handful.  

Many schools have been using software version training instead of concept-based training.  Example: Instead of teaching a person how to drive any car, they are teaching how to use all the features on a 2003 Ford Thunderbird Deluxe.  The reason this is being done in schools is that training materials are already developed for the adult market and are not developed for the school market.  The reason the adult market (which uses the software version-training approach) has been successful is that people are looking for training for a specific program used at work or required to qualify for a job.  Unfortunately, schools are using this same training material to meet their student needs.  By the time the students graduate, the specific version they learned is no longer used.   Point to Ponder: Will Microsoft Office products still be the mainstream choice when younger students graduate? Already many government organizations are switching to the free Open Office Suite for software instead of Microsoft. Talk is starting that web-based programs may replace traditional office suites.  

Technology Stranding:  Technology stranding in other subjects will greatly improve technology training in schools.  "Stranding" is where technology concepts are included in other subjects such as math, language, science, etc.  Many curriculum publishers, state and local curriculum committees, and individual teachers will be including many technology concepts within the traditional classroom over the next few years.  Many states and districts will require teachers to improve their technology skills to effectively teach the technology component of each subject.  There are two major benefits of technology stranding: It can show which technology tools work well with each subject, and it also reduces the need to add another five day class to an already tight daily schedule.  Schools should not expect stranding to completely cover technology training for several years, if even then. It is very likely that a technology class in a computer lab will be required even with a good technology strand in other subjects.  Using OCL once per week will enhance technology stranding and cover many areas that would normally be missed. OCL will also assist teachers on necessary skills to continue teaching in the school of tomorrow. Areas to watch out for:

• First, stranding has to be grown up through the grades to be highly efficient.  In the transition, many curriculums will end up with weak technology training so it can handle the wide variance of skill levels OR leave older students with requirements that cannot be met because of the lack of foundation.  
• Until traditional schools require a computer for each student in each class, subjects will be limited with what technology can included. Less than a 1:1 student computer ratio will leave teachers tempted to have students do the technology portion of subjects in groups where students with less skills can hide out. Laptops or smaller internet capable devices required at the junior and senior high level open up a giant can of worms. 
• By including technology training in traditional subjects, concepts and tools may be stale due to typically slow curriculum updating. Students need to see monthly technology advances, so they can develop spatial skills in technology.    
• Stranding may leave many skills out that should have been mastered in a K-12 school.  The business world wants more than office suite skills.

About the founder of onlinecomputerlab.com (OCL):   These last 25 years, Mike Bruce has been working in educational technology. He started teaching students with Commodores and went all the way up the PC ladder using XT's, 286's, 386's, 486's and then Pentium series.  He has taught technology in five different schools including one foreign country. Mike has personally setup and maintained seven computer labs.  The last 8 years have been spent teaching 200+ students per week.  He has also trained 1000's of adults.  Mike has above average strengths in web technology (currently webmaster for over 40 school sites), hardware (built over 500 computers), software (can use and teach any software in existence), and technology trends (old enough to see what skills stand the test of time).  He has also been involved in several writing projects including software, online courses, and traditional curriculum.  It would take the entire page to cover his technology experience, but he says, "It's not because I am smart, I am just that old!"  Note: All OCL staff has experience with both school lab instruction and setup.