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Updated June 25th, 2009
Creekbed Technology Provides
Schools Computer Catering
 Ty Cobb is the president of
Creekbed Technology, Inc. in
Montrose.
By CHRISTINA HAMLETT
The Outlook
As anyone who’s a baby boomer
(or older) can attest, the increased
use of technology has radically
altered the dynamic of school classrooms
across the country. What used
to be long days spent in the campus
library researching material for a
report has been reduced to a few
hours’ worth of trolling the Internet
for knowledge. What were once
handwritten essays composed on
binder paper are now full-fledged
PowerPoint presentations with eye popping
graphics and sound effects.
Even that time-worn phrase “the
dog ate my homework” as an excuse
for late assignments has been
replaced by the more ominous declaration
of “a virus made my system
crash.”
Whatever the naysayers may
have predicted about the longevity
of personal computers continues to
be debunked by a generation that
has literally grown up with them and
– when it comes to doing homework
– can’t imagine existing without.
The deepening coexistence of virtual
platforms and traditional teaching
models in the educational sector is a
dichotomy that Ty Cobb, president
of Creekbed Technology, Inc.,
encounters on a daily basis.
“On the one hand, you have students
who are far more advanced in
their computer skills and who are
restless and impatient because their
schools can’t keep up,” Cobb said.
“Research shows their expectations
are that their school will always be
significantly behind them. On the
other hand, you have teachers and
administrators who are daunted by
the challenges of getting a wireless
network set up, doing all the figurations,
handling the traffic and ensuring
that students aren’t using their
Internet access in an inappropriate
way.”
As Cobb explains it, that’s
where Creekbed Technology comes
in. “Our specialty is laptops and
working directly with schools by
providing a campus computer catering
service that accommodates the
learning needs of the students and
facilitates the instructional objectives
of the teachers. The teachers
tell us what kind of programs they
want their students to have on their
computers and we do all the configuration.
When we deliver the laptops
to the campus and the students
open them for the first time, everything
has already been loaded and is
ready to go. In addition to the onsite
services we perform to maintain
them, we also do loaner programs.”
Though Creekbed Technology
opened only three years ago in
Montrose, Cobb himself brings 15
years of computer experience and,
along with his staff, is proud of the
fact that his company is a five-star
authorized service center for
Toshiba and excels in fast turnaround.
“A lot of people in this area may
not know that we’re here yet, but
once they discover us they’re quick
to become loyal customers,” Cobb
said. “As for the demonstrations we
do at schools, the excitement of seeing
firsthand what we can do for
today’s classrooms make the program
sell itself.”
What an earlier generation of
parents might have deemed a luxury,
he points out, has become a
necessity if students are expected to
succeed academically.
“Nowadays a lot of students in
general have their own computers
because the home computers have
transitioned from being an extra
nice thing to have to something
essential for managing family
finances, doing taxes and storing
vacation photos,” Cobb said.
“Obviously parents aren’t going to
want their kids to have access to
sensitive information and the easiest
thing is just to buy them their
own computer for homework and
email.
“With that in mind, what we say
to the administrators is to use their
influence with the parents and tell
them to hold off buying their kids
computers because next year when
they come to the campus they’re
going to have laptops waiting for
them,” he continued. “It will be less
expensive because there’ll be educational
and volume discounts plus
the school will make all of the
arrangements with us to have the
computers serviced on site.”
Cobb added: “This also
resolves a problem that students
have nowadays where they do their
work on the campus, but when they
take it home they sometimes have
different software or other compatibility
problems. By each student
having their own laptop that they
can use on the campus and then
take home with them, less time is
lost.”
It’s a program that is available
to both public and private schools.
“Private schools seem to be the
most receptive to the idea because
it’s such a competitive market for
them,” Cobb explained. “We’re also
working with USC and UCLA.”
Students, however, aren’t the
only ones excited about all of this
wireless wizardry in the classroom.
“Think of the amount of time a
teacher spends with his back to the
class while he’s writing on a chalkboard,”
Cobb said. “Take it a step
further and consider how much
time he spends writing out the lesson
plan the previous night, only to
have to copy it all over again in
front of his students the next day.
“What we’re giving teachers is
a wireless projector that acts as an
external monitor to a tablet computer
and allows them to send whatever
is on the laptop to a large white screen at the front of the classroom.
This can be anything from Word
documents to images like artwork,
photographs, graphs, and maps and
the instructor can even ‘draw’ on
the image to direct attention to certain
elements.”
Cobb noted that, for the students,
tablet computers are great
because they have the versatility to
not only be typed on but also
flipped over as a flat drawing surface
for classes like geometry,
physics and chemistry. Teachers
also like the fact that when they use
this method of communicating
information and can walk anywhere
around the classroom as they
talk, they feel as if they’re getting
more face-time with students than
when they’re stuck up in the front
of the classroom at a chalkboard or
computer.
For all of the benefits that technology
can bring, of course, there
hovers the ever-present question of
whether too much access at any age
can breed insularity and a decline
in socialization skills.
“It’s definitely an issue that
parents and educators should be
concerned about,” Cobb said.
“When studies were done, for
instance, on how students primarily
used e-mail, their response was ‘to
talk to old people.’ By not interacting
with others directly, there’s the
potential for darker aspects of personality
to come out. When you’re
talking with someone in person and
you say something unkind, there’ll
be an immediate reaction.
“As part of the socialization
process, you’ve learned how to
interact and what not to say that
could be hurtful. When that level of
contact is removed, however,
there’s less inhibition about saying
things they shouldn’t say.”
Cobb cites computer chat
rooms – particularly those related
to politics and celebrities – as a
prime example of how hostilities
get spewed behind the convenient
cloak of anonymity.
To address some of these antisocial
behaviors, he explains that
some schools are adopting codes of
conduct that require students to
sign agreements allowing administrators
to monitor use of their laptop
computers.
“The ability to monitor e-mail
traffic can prove or refute charges
of inappropriate messaging,” he
said. “In addition, the use of firewalls
can sift out content insofar as
students visiting particular Web
sites that they shouldn’t.”
So, as someone who has spent
most of his adulthood surrounded
by the latest electronic gizmos and
gadgets, what’s the one piece of
technology that Cobb couldn’t live
without? His reply comes without a
moment’s hesitation.
“When I go home in the evening
and I empty all my pockets, my cell
phone still stays on my hip,” Cobb
confessed. “Like a lot of people, it’s
probably the last thing to come off
at night and the first thing to go on
in the morning.”
He also admits to the increased
levels of impatience that technology
has fostered in his life. “The way I
use technology, I expect everyone
else to move as fast as I do but that’s
not always the case. When I send an
e-mail, for instance, my expectation
is that there’ll be an answer within
minutes. Not everyone, though, is
so wedded to their keyboard that
they’re constantly checking for
messages throughout the day.”
The reliance that society has
come to place on technology, Cobb
adds, would make it challenging for
most of them to ever revert to manual
typewriters, snail mail, or nonmobile
phones. “When you stop and
think about, we used to get upset
years ago if we called someone and
got an answering machine that
instructed us to leave a taped message.
Now, we’re offended if we call
and they don’t have one.”
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Creekbed Technology is located
at 2656 Honolulu Ave. in Montrose
and is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Monday through Friday. In order to
be able to spend enough time with
each client’s concerns, Creekbed
encourages customers to call (818)
541-0000. For more information,
visit www.creekbedtech.com.
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