Ancient History
I remember when I came home with my first Apple IIe computer back in 1983. Immediately I knew this would become my passion. I was fascinated with this new tool. It was amazing when laptops came out ... they had a 100 megabytes in the hard drive! Oh ... and remember the 'floppy' disks? Since then the revolution has continued. With that revolution has come a change in learning styles. Today's digital natives speak another language, one which has left many of today's educators lost in cyberdust.
It will be a couple of years yet before the digital natives* enter the workforce. Until then, today's educator's need to learn to speak their language ... not require them to learn the way we digital immigrants found to be good enough when we were in school.
I started playing computer games like Oregon Trail with my classes during the 'ancient' history of computing (which really wasn't that long ago!). While the class played, I watched ... and watched ... and became curious as to the future of learning and how it would change.
The Change
In time my teaching style would change. I became known as a constructivist educator. The struggle became one of how to make technology meaningfully integrate into the curriculum. I didn't want to use technology because it was cool ... I wanted to use it to develop skills that need to be developed for the 21st century community and workplace including information and communication skills; thinking and problem solving skills; and interpersonal and self-directional skills.
My search took me to San Diego State University where I studied for certification in Instructional Technology. After a wide variety of classes (including web design, multimedia development, instructional design, advanced teaching with technologies, etc.). I received certification from SDSU as well as certification from the state of Washington as a certified technology teacher. A major emphasis was placed on choosing the right tool for the right job in industry.
I have now refined my skills to helping students and teachers understand the variety of technology available to them as well as choosing the appropriate type of technology ... choosing the right tool for the right job.
So where did iNavis come from?
A couple of years ago my class was asked to name three things they were thankful for. They identified (1) friends, (2) good health and (3) Mr. Navis ... and then one of the students said, "No, iNavis!" Since then the name has stuck. Last year they named the class i5C2 and this year they like to call themselves iStudents. The future is now!
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* A digital native is a person who has grown up with digital technology such as computers, the Internet, mobile phonesMP3 and a digital immigrant is an individual who grew up without digital technology and adopted it later.