Role of Information Technolgy in Agriculture

Times have certainly changed! I can remember the first computer I ever used- an old Radio Shack computer with a black and white monitor. You had to run programs off of a 5 1/4" floppy disk. By the time I was a senior in high school, I finally progressed to an Apple IIc. You still had to run programs off of a floppy disk, but at least there was a color monitor. That computer lasted me through my first three years as a high school agricultural education teacher. When I started on my doctoral program, I received my first e-mail account. Soon after I started utilizing the World Wide Web (WWW) for research purposes. What would we do without the use of computers or other information technologies today? Many of us would be lost. These technologies are here today and we have to become familiar with them and use them in our daily lives. In all phases of the agricultural industry, information technologies are vital to the management and success of a business. Information technology refers to how we use information, how we compute information, and how we communicate information to people. Information technology can also refer to electronic equipment that stores, sends, retrieves, or manages information. This may include computers, electronic databases, scanners, digital cameras, laserdiscs, video cameras, and fax machines. Information technology can also include software and computer accessories like computer-assisted instruction (CAI), web browsers, hypertext authoring tools, and multimedia software. With more schools having Internet connections, there are endless opportunities to experience new teaching and learning opportunities through the use of local-area networks (LAN), widearea networks (WAN) and video conferencing capabilities. Information technology affects our education system, both formal settings like public schools and informal settings such as extension meetings or industry technical updates. People must have computer and information technology savvy in order to be competent and productive in the workforce. To participate and make informed decisions in the agricultural industry, a global person must possess technological and information literacy skills that include the ability to gather, process, and manipulate data. People who use information technology creatively are pioneering careers in agriculture today. Jobs in today's agricultural workforce require greater use of technological skills than ever before. People must be good communicators and problem solvers, work independently and as members of a team, and to use information technology in an ethical manner. One benefit is that technology can be applied to the application of basic skills. The SCANS 2000 report indicates that competent workers in society need to be competent and high performers in foundation skills which include basic skills (reading, writing, and arithmetic), thinking skills (including decision making and problem solving), and personal qualities (including individual responsibility, self-esteem, and self-management). The report also emphasized the need for effective workers to use computers to process information, to select equipment and tools, apply technology to specific tasks, and maintain and troubleshoot equipment. In the past, the application of educational technologies focused on the use of basic drill and practice software. With the magnitude of information technology capabilities, students can use multimedia projects to learn interactively and work on class projects. Students can use the Internet to do research, engage in projects, and to communicate. These new technologies allow students to have more control over their own learning, to think analytically and critically, and to work collaboratively. In many instances today, students may have a greater understanding on how the technologies can be used more so than teachers, which means that as teachers, we must be willing to learn how about these technologies or else be left behind to those who are already using them. …