Tech Heaven or Hell?

According to Kevin Bushweller in Education Week’s Digital Directions, the tools of technology can make teaching better or worse. It all depends upon the teacher who puts the tools to work in the classroom. As Bushweller says, “The bottom line: Technology builds on good teaching; it makes bad teaching worse.” It’s the same with student use of technology, for techno-innovations “enhance good behavior, but they amplify the nasty stuff.” Cyberbullying is a perfect example of the amplification of bad behavior. As for tech and poor teaching, envision teachers who use interactive white boards like filmstrip projectors, chalkboards, or overhead projectors; teachers who give few guidelines for student research on the Internet; and classrooms in which only the teachers get to use technology.