Dimond's Technology Culture

For this class, I was assigned to be a sort of technology detective at Dimond, sniffing out technology in the school wherever I could find it. I first interviewed our Principal, Cheryl Guyett, to find out whom I should talk to about technology at Dimond. She sent me over to Charles McCubrey, who is Dimond’s Technology Coordinator. After interviewing Mr. McCubrey, I then questioned my mentor teacher, Les Matz.

All three people that I interviewed seemed pleased that someone was taking an interest in technology at Dimond. Mrs. Guyett and Mr. McCubrey helped to answer my technical questions, and I learned more about Dimond’s history with technology and current strengths and weaknesses from Mr. Matz.

I often start conversations about technology in the field of art with Mr. Matz. It seems he appreciates new technology, but doesn’t want to be a slave to it. Art is one of the few classes where you actually craft things with your hands. A printing press was considered technology at one time, a tube of paint, a kiln, a potter’s wheel. Now we have Photoshop, but that doesn’t mean we should dismiss the value of creating things manually.

Technology-wise, Mr. Matz is facing the problem that many art teachers of a certain generation are, the change from slide to digital format. He has many slide shows made, but says that he cannot find new slide projectors anywhere for sale that fit his slide size. Mr. Matz’s projector is on its last legs, so he must go through the tedious task of scanning his slides one by one and forming digital shows from his laptop. He does have access to an ELMO which is nice for some demonstrations, but something like a SmartBoard where you can save your work would be very useful his room.

In general, Dimond prides itself on its technology, but it falls short from my perspective. The technology it does have is concentrated in one area of the school, and there is a lack of opportunity for student involvement.

Full Report on Dimond’s Technology Culture