Technology as a teaching moment. – Albany Times Union (blog)

Source: elearningindustry.com

Because of our ages, my brother and I are pretty fluent in technology. For the most part, we have minimal problems navigating through societys various gizmos and gadgets. I usually have more than one technology item going at once with schoolwork, and I actually find it hard to locate a portion of my life where technology isnt heavily present.

My parents are older, though. They grew up at a time where there were no computers or cell phones. While my mother, stepfather, and stepmother have started to embrace the various ways that technology makes your life somewhat easier, my father seems stuck in his childhood.

My father still owns a flip phone. He just learned how to text message last year, and he only learned it because his boss was constantly texting him and he felt like he needed to know how to reply ok or yes. He has a laptop for his job, but the extent of his knowledge is how to work excel spreadsheets for order guides; some days, he can sign into his email without calling me from the other room or on the phone for help. He recently got an iPad for Christmas and he is able to work YouTube pretty proficiently; the thing is, he doesnt believe that YouTube is only one of the billions of sites held in the web. To him, YouTube is the billions of sites.

I remember one point where I had to print a paper for school. I printed it double sided, and when it was printing he happened to be standing there watching.

How did you get the paper to print on both sides!? he asked me.

Oh its easy, I explained, you just click the little check box. See? I then printed the paper again and handed it to him.

Thats the most incredible thing Ive seen in all my years, he said before running off to tell my stepmom about the cool new thing I just did.

Ive been printing double sided since I learned how to do it in high school.

I used to get so impatient with my dad because I couldnt wrap my mind around how he couldnt wrap his mind around technology. While I could toggle my laptop, phone, iPad, television, and DVD player all at once, he was sighing in exasperation when he wanted to watch a DVD. It took a couple years of patience and some terse exchanges before I came to some realizations.

My dad is such a smart man. But hes not good with technology because he wasnt raised with it. While my other parents had an easier time learning how to maneuver the controls, Dad never had to. So, tech left him behind.

Now, I approach tech time as a bonding time and a teaching moment. When he needs help, I now sit down instead of hovering. Instead of showing him once, we go through the steps two or three times. When he needs to send a text and doesnt remember how to input a new number, we practice it. Because he doesnt understand bookmarking on a laptop, we work on inputting websites into a browser so he can get to his work email. Same with the television remote; DirecTV remotes are confusing, so when he needs help, someone usually sits down and walks him through what he needs to do to get to anything other than regular television. He can reach the DVR, so we are getting somewhere.

I think what kids need to realize about parents and technology is that they werent born with this stuff. Unlike us, they didnt grow up learning computers from third grade on. Dad still talks about writing research papers with a card catalog, bless his soul. If I ever had to work with a card catalog, the cards would be on the ceiling and I would be red as a tomato. Generational differences are apparent.

Be patient with those who are learning to navigate through the confusing world of technology. While it seems inherent to us, its actually a really confusing and elaborate thing to them. If you step back and look at it, technology is overwhelming. Show some patience, sit down, use it as a bonding moment. Its so difficult not to get frustrated with them sometimes, but theyre trying. I cant get mad at those who try.

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Technology as a teaching moment. - Albany Times Union (blog)