Introduction

2/29/2024

This is the start of a project that I have been thinking about for years. Starting on leap day seems a perfect omen. It is a day that makes time and calendars seem whimsical.

I was fortunate to be a member of a very lucky group of professionals who participated in one of the most profound cultural shifts of the last century. We helped schools, teachers, students and parent transition from notepads and file folders, chalk and hand-written letters and comments to digital content, email, databases, networks, wifi, websites and the internet – all in about 10 years!

In 1988, when I started as a one-quarter time technology coordinator, our school had a zero tech budget, zero technology staff, 3-4 teachers owned computers, teacher comments were paper triplicate forms, teachers used the mimeo machine for copying handouts, everyone had a physical mail slot for leaving messages for students or staff, we taught typing on typewriters, and parents contacted the school by calling the receptionist.

When I left in 1999, all that was gone.

It was not just an equipment shift. It required a complete shift in budgets, staffing, teaching and learning, organizational structure and time. It was a cultural shift as much as a technical one.

I collaborated with many colleagues at other schools during that decade and I look for their tales also. It was a dizzying time to be in that field, with new innovations coming every few months. 

Between 1840 and 1860 thousands of people crossed the US seeking a new life, adventure or gold. It meant 4-6 months in a wagon train risking starvation, disease, accidents, native attacks, or drowning in river crossings. In 1870, with the completion of the transcontinental railroad anyone could sit on a hard bench in a warm box and go from St. Louis to San Francisco in 4 days.

These technology changes completely change living patterns. The airplane, radio, TV, electric lights and electric appliances all changed what people could do with their lives.

Nowadays the main topics are cyber security and AI. We don’t yet know about AI but probably these will not bring about the cultural revolution we lived through and helped mold during the Tech Trail days.

I look forward to sharing my tales and hope that my former colleagues will join as we document a decade like no other.