The Importance of Versatility

I really like Apple computers. I like the simplicity of the interface especially on the mobile platforms. I like the way I can take a film from iPhoto through iMovie to iDVD. I also like the way apps allow me to educate, play and explore at the same time. The thing is, I really like Windows too. I like the interface on PCs. I like the fact that I can get right into the depths of the OS and play around with it and I love Open Source software and gaming.  I have friends who have an almost religious fervour about Apple computers and I have friends who are equally zealous about Windows.

To me a computer is a tool. Sometimes I use it well, often rather badly. This is sometimes down to how well I know the software but more often than not it is down to how well the computer is working for me. 

As an educator, my job is to teach children. When I was at school we made use of a BBC Micro. When I was at college, we used Windows 95. When I started teaching, there were only a few computers i
n school and five years ago the touch screen mobile platform was only just starting.

The fact is that we cannot anticipate the sorts of operating systems and technology that our children will be working on in ten years when they leave school and go into the adult world. It is imperative that we teach children how to use the tools we give them effectively. Even more importantly we need to teach them the basic skills that you need to be able to adapt so that you can work with computers of the future. It is only by doing this that we will be able to ensure our children are prepared for the future.  Our children need to be taught to use OSX, Windows and even Linux. It is only by doing this that we can get away from people saying that they cannot use one system or another and make our children future proof as well as our hardware.

Lesson 1: Turn it off, wait thirty seconds, then turn it on.

Lesson 2: Improvise, adapt, overcome.