Over on the Public School Insights blogs, Nancy Flanagan and Bill Ferriter debate role of technology in the classroom.
Flanagan:
Facility in using digital tools does make some things easier. If our goals include fostering democracy, equity and a just society, or nurturing curiosity and imaginative problem-solving, however, we must pay attention to who is readily able to acquire both hardware and capacity, and to what real ends these skills are used.
Ferriter:
Nancy's right, in part: Digital tools alone are about as effective at making students more successful, creative or collaborative as they were at bringing peace to the Middle East. What they can do, however, is facilitate the kinds of learning experiences built on creation, communication and collaboration that I'd learned to avoid earlier in my teaching career.