Bigfork teacher earns Ypulse technology award

Even after more than 25 years in education, there has never been a time when technology wasn't an important part of Mike Roberts' classroom.

At his very first teaching job in Alaska in the early 1980s, the state was writing computer software for classroom use, Roberts said. During the two decades he taught in that state, he used everything from basic computers to sophisticated video editing equipment in his classrooms.

Most recently, he has put his technological expertise to work in the Bigfork School District. He teaches everything from basic computer applications to advanced multimedia classes.

For his impressive commitment to utilizing technology in the classroom, Ypulse - a media platform for youth and media marketing professionals - selected Roberts for its 2009 Totally Wired Teacher Award.

After colleagues and students submitted his name for consideration, Roberts was chosen from more than 200 nominees from across the country. According to the Ypulse Web site, www.ypulse.com, he was selected not only because he integrated technology into his classroom but because he has advocated for technology with the school board and his fellow teachers.

"He has helped to transform a very rural school that would have been disadvantaged when it came to using technology into a leader in the space," the site says.

Roberts has received two laptops from Dell, which sponsored the award, to use in his class.

"It was actually quite a surprise," Roberts said. "I was a little bit embarrassed about getting this award. … Out of all the people around, there have got to be more 'wired' people than myself."

There may be people with more gadgets and gizmos, but few teachers have Roberts' long history of using technology in the classroom.

He began his teaching career in Alaska in 1982, after graduating from the University of Montana. Although he had spent all his life in Missoula, Roberts said he was drawn to Alaska after graduation for the adventure and fly-fishing opportunities.

He would spend the next 20 years teaching in the Alaskan bush - coastal native villages accessible primarily by plane. Despite the schools' remote locations, they were high-tech and well-off, thanks in large part to oil revenues that boosted the state's economy beginning in the early 1980s.

"Alaska is extremely forward-thinking in terms of technology," Roberts said.

It was an interesting juxtaposition: The high-tech classrooms and the still-traditional villages in which Roberts and his wife, Janice, lived. At one school, where Roberts comprised the teaching, custodial and maintenance staff and served as the village's "paperwork guy," the doors were never locked, because it was the only place in the area with its own well.

It was at that school, where he began teaching in 1984, that Roberts first realized how powerful a role technology could play in the classroom.

"I recognized that a computer could captivate a kid more than I could lecturing," he said. "I finally decided, OK, I've got to teach this. How am I going to use a computer to do it?"

When that is a teacher's focus, that teacher will find a way to use it, Roberts said. His commitment to technology led to unique experiences in Alaska, including helping National Park Service archaeologists map a 2,500-year-old village with a group of high-school students.

Roberts recorded their work that fall and made his students keep journals of their experiences there. The following spring, the class edited the digital video and included narratives about the village and what they learned. They presented their video at a potlatch before their tribal elders and elders from other villages.

"It was awesome," Roberts said.

He and his wife left Alaska when their boys were getting old enough to start thinking about college - specifically their father's alma mater. Matthew, who recently graduated from the University of Montana, was a junior in high school when they moved to Bigfork. Owen had just graduated from the eighth grade.

Roberts found a job as Bigfork's seventh- and eighth-grade technology teacher. He suspects his experience in Alaska helped him get the job.

While he relies on technology every day as a teacher, technology is not the solution to a teacher's every problem, Roberts cautioned.

"You can bore kids with a computer. I've done it," he said. "It's not the cure-all, the answer to everything.

"It's a tool. It's how you utilize it."

Some teachers are afraid to use technology, especially when it changes so rapidly, Roberts said.

"Most teachers want to get into what I would call a rut - get into their comfort zone," he said.

That's where his training in the Alaskan bush has proved invaluable.

"I have no fear. You want me to teach this? OK," he said.

Roberts did acknowledge that he initially was a little leery of technology, but he came to the conclusion that he should embrace it.

"Kids are using technology regardless," he said. "It behooves us to try to find the right way to use it. It's their vehicle of choice.

"Kids are going to fall asleep in lectures. To captivate them and use the tools they are using - it just makes sense."

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com