geeky?
Get them away from the notion that Facebook and Twitter are 'technology' and 'geeky.' Get back to teaching basic computers as it being a tool, not a toy. Teach how a computer works - at a basic level. In my beginning class, I brought in a box of parts and a case and 'built' a computer. Purpose? Show them there was nothing inside that would eat them! They loved it.
I had students enter my class with their back to the wall .. sliding across, too afraid to sit at a computer. I encouraged them from the word 'go,' and when the class was done, they came back, enthusiastically, for more.
I'll never forget one high school student - female - who took my basic classes and then followed me all the way thru my Office classes. We talked one day and she said she used computers all the time for classes. Why then, I asked, was she taking my classes? She said they were only taught how to *produce* something, step-by-step like a robot: a Word document, a PowerPoint presentation, but were never taught HOW the programs worked. That is what she wanted to know - how the program worked and how to best apply it 'out of the box.' Think. Produce. She had a real interest in technology and I encouraged her to follow it.
So .. there is a whole world of potential out there in education, but I don't see it being developed. Handing a child an iPad so s/he can stab a finger at a screen and swipe things is neither education nor technology. It's a lost potential.
