Though technology has the ability to make our lives easier, it also has the ability to bring us to our knees. A visit to the dentist today was both impressive and frustrating. No longer do dentists need to take film based x-rays of teeth. I was initially impressed as I stepped to a machine and bit down on a bite strip. A moving part of the machine encircled my head and a few second later, I thought" Wow- technology has really made a difference in this field. No longer are x-rays a tedious process for the patient or the dental technician." My joy was short-lived as I heard the dentist tell the technician that the image did not take. I returned to the machine with two technicians who stared blankly at the touchpad as if it was written in an unfamiliar language. Again I bit down on the strip. This time, three plastic fingers held my head in place as the moving part circled my head. The dentist was looking at the monitor trying to figure out what to do. I realized that no one in the office knew how to use the equipment. " New technology?", I asked expecting the answer I received. "Yes" said the dentist. We'll have to re-schedule your visit", he said. I realized that his profession had been brought to its knees by untrained staff and new technology.
What if this happened at the ATM machine or the grocery store or the gas station! What if my online paymeny didn't go through! What if the Internet shut down for a day! What if I could not make phone call ( wireless or LAN) because of a computer glitch! The fears that I had finally allayed about technology re-appeared as I began to once again fear the takeover of the world by machines!
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4 comments:
Derek,
I enjoyed reading our post. I agree with you that new technology can be frustrating, especially when people are not properly trained or didn’t spend enough time exploring the functionality of the tools. I personally find that there are usually more problems and frustrations with first generation of any product. Users report their frustration to the developer, and developers use those data as part their usability and functionality testing. And they try to fix those problems in the next version. In a way, this process can help us learn from mistake and produce better quality product.
Musabbir
Derek-
I agree with Musabbir. Although I would like to jump at new technology, history has taught me to wait for revision 2 or 3. I also saw the new technology last time I was at the dentist. (I didn't need "x-rays" this time) I immediately asked when I saw the laptop sitting right next to the patient chair. Although the system does use a tiny bit of x-ray, the amount is significantly reduced and the "x-rays" are immediately available in a digital format. How cool is that? First time I ever walked out of the dentist office smiling.
Derek,
I like your posting. It really illustrates the trouble at first in using new technology.
Derek—I enjoyed your story about your recent dentist excursion. As if a trip to the dentist isn’t painful enough! I have often thought the same thing . . . technology is supposed to be making our lives easier, but it sometimes complicates things. From cell phones that drop calls to computers that “catch” a virus and loose everything (of course,
that’s why we back everything up, right?!), sometimes we are frustrated by such things.
However, 99% of the time, when things are working correctly, they DO make life easier.
Being a teacher, I use technology daily. In the last few years that I’ve been teaching, there has been an incredible call to implement technology more and
more. And it’s true—kids respond so well to anything presented with the use of media. I can show a video through United Streaming or present something on the Smart Board (http://smarttech.com/) and the kids connect to it. It’s their generation. They’re used to the accessibility and speed that the Internet delivers. What I find as a roadblock within the school’s system technology highway is, as you alluded to in your article, lack of training.
We have a lot of new technology coming into our district, and the staff is largely
untrained. This is not because the trainings are not being offered. My district offers
monthly trainings on our new technology. However, some of the more seasoned teachers are simply not interested. And since the trainings aren’t mandatory and only the teachers that are interested in new technology are coming, a gap is being created
between those who are in the know and those who aren’t. I often wonder, what if trainings were mandatory? What if the district truly valued training in technology and understood that this is how some students learn?
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