“In the year 5555
Your arms are hanging limp at your side,
Your legs got nothing to do,

So sang Denny Zager and Rick Evans in their 1969 hit song “In the Year 2525”.

Well, today the situation is very different. Information and communications technology has changed so rapidly that our lives are increasingly governed by automation. Many of us have become completely dependent on machines such as mobile phones, laptops and so on. [If we don’t keep a mobile phone in our pocket, we feel as if we are `physically’ handicapped].

Today, there is no service industry in which computers are not used. Within the K-12 scenario, an increasing number of schools use computers in different ways. At one end of a continuum, there are low budget schools that use computers only to teach computer science related subjects whereas at the other end, there are affluent schools that use computers by exploiting their full potential (Broadband Internet etc). This article attempts to throw some light on how best computers can be used even in very low budget schools.

Following are areas in which even low budget schools can make use of computers.

Students’ work can be corrected and feedback given, by using simple word processor packages like Word 2000. (I have used options such as “Track changes” very effectively in my work with students and colleagues). But such programs should be used only when students have already mastered spelling and grammar in the traditional manner. Otherwise, they will depend entirely on PC’s spell check and grammar, which is not as perfect as a very good dictionary.

Presentation software packages such as MS PowerPoint, Open Office Impress or Apple Keynote can be immensely useful in developing lessons. With appropriate add-ons such as Windows Media Player, CVDs and DVDs can be used without any technical problems. It is also possible to download animation sequences from the Net and use them in the classroom, of course without violating any copyright laws. [In fact computers without Internet connection can be used almost as effectively in our classrooms as those with Net].

One main problem that many schools face is the assessment of oral skills of children. In my schools, we have used MS Office “Sound recorder” to sort this problem out. The program enables one not only to edit but also change the speed of flow of the file. This program is particularly useful in closely monitoring speech outputs of children so that remedial action can be taken.

Database packages such as Foxpro can be used to develop admission registers, class lists, student progress cards, standardized tests, inventories etc.

Spreadsheets such as Excel can be immensely useful in Maths, Science and other subjects where students need to interpret graphs. But when it comes to plotting graphs, paper and pencil are the best resources, for obvious reasons.

Although there are many more advantages of using computers in school systems, because they save a lot of time that can be used for other productive activities, no computer (or no machine for that matter) can teach children by itself. Hence, within classrooms, computers must never be used as alternative to activity based methods of teaching learning. There cannot be any classroom in which there is no human teacher, as after all, only he or she can empathize, understand and effectively interact with (human) students.

Let us hope that machines are used to an extent that is sensibly adequate and not to the extent that Denny Zager and Rick Evans had imagined 40 years back.

Courtesy Tim Newlin, TIMTIM.com

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