CHANGING CURRICULUMS: BUSINESS AND TYPING CLASSES; WHERE HAVE ALL THE TYPEWRITERS GONE? (THIRD OF FOUR PARTS)

Brandi Bailey touched a "Smart Board" during her Power Point presentation, "Successful Job Searching," at Scott City High School.

SCOTT CITY -- Change is the common thread running through business-related classes in area high schools.

The equipment and teaching strategies have changed drastically in recent years as businesses have moved from the manual age to advanced computer technology. To keep up with "real-world" changes, teachers attend professional workshops year-round to gain experience with software and write grants in hopes of purchasing equipment to train students to use.

"I started teaching on a manual typewriter 23 years ago. Now we're using computers and Smart Boards," said Martha Nothdurft, technology coordinator for Scott City schools. "One year I had to learn six new programs just to teach my classes."

Nothdurft said there are few typewriters in her school district now, and the students don't know how to use them.

"They don't have a clue," she said. "They don't know how to turn it on, they don't know how to put the paper in. It's a riot."

A.J. Bedwell is one of the few students who does know how to use a typewriter. She learned while working a summer job, but she said students prefer computers because they are more convenient.

"The most noticeable difference is Spell Check" (software that checks spelling in a document), she said. "Most of the kids prefer to use computers because typewriters don't have it."

Students benefit when teachers keep up with technology. Business teacher Donna Lutes said students who pursue secondary education at universities or business schools have told her they were well-prepared for the classes.

Their preparation has not come from the business classes most adults remember. Gone are the paper accounting and typing classes of old. Nowadays, students enroll in office technologies, computerized accounting, entrepreneurship or keyboarding classes.

"They're definitely not what I took when I went to school here," Lutes said. "Technology has really changed things, and the students have got to be able to keep up and use the equipment to get jobs."

Use of technology does have its drawbacks, however. When typing classes were taught using manual typewriters, no one had to worry about the loss of electricity or debugging programs. Now, however, a power outage also means work stops in the business classroom.

"They definitely don't mind when the electricity goes off," Lutes said. "Once it's out, we're out."

Some things don't change, however, like the bad habits students can pick up using business equipment. The "hunt and peck" method of typing also exists among students learning their way around a computer keyboard. Because there is better access to computers, students are now able to take keyboarding classes in middle school to stop this habit at an early age.

"I think it helps tremendously that sixth-graders are learning keyboarding," Lutes said. "I wish we could offer it to even younger students."