Teacher Information
Adrienne Coffield
Mona Simpson eulogized her famous brother, Steve Jobs, just a few weeks ago, by revealing her brother’s final words, “Oh Wow. Oh Wow. Oh Wow.” As an outsider, it’s hard to know if these words were uttered by a man reflecting on a lifetime of extraordinary achievement or by a man looking beyond and into the possibility of greatness that has yet to come. Perhaps it is both. Many of our students were deeply touched by the death of Jobs as he symbolizes for them their ability to connect with the world around them, by hardware device or application. Our students have only known a world with Apple, where iPhones are ubiquitous with the landscape. Jobs connected us technologically and emotionally, and drew us in aesthetically, like no other person before him.
Our students are living during a time of unprecedented technological shift, and all within the palm of their hands. And while I too am drawn, compelled really, to these gadgets, I am concerned that time spent using these devices replaces time spent in the physical landscape of the garage, both literal and metaphorical, from where the likes of Jobs, Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, and others laid the foundation, fusing electrical parts and tapping on makeshift keyboards for just the right combination to make a connection. Can our students divine inspiration in the tactile and the visceral within the digital realm? Rather than become passive consumers, tethered to devices, students can carve into this digital world a perfect “garage” space. They can explore virtual worlds that allow them to experience real world situations, such as the magic of aviation, creating art from trash found at the bottom of the ocean, and programming robots to perform specific tasks.
Although we as educators have put a label on what technologists have always fostered--the four C’s of 21st Century Learning: Critical thinking and problem solving, Communication, Collaboration, and Creativity and innovation—this immersion into the complexities of flight, environmental cleanup, and robotics, to name only a few types of simulations, compels students to think critically, problem solve, communicate, collaborate, create, and innovate. Please join us on our journey as we tinker, build, and solve. Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow! The future is looking bright!
Wishing each of you the time and creative space to explore the world,
Adrienne Coffield
Director of Academic Technology