Technology and Education

Technology to Support Learning highlights many of the important benefits of technology that we are all familiar with, but I believe there is a lot to be considered in looking at some of the potential negative impacts as well. When we consider the enhancement to communication and educational tools we often forget that we are leaving behind those that may not have the skills, understanding or financial backing to keep pace. In fact, I believe that a lot of the educational institutions in the United States have lost sight of the fact that there is still a large population of people that are essentially discriminated against when such institutions force its members adapt to the new technology or be left behind. I am not suggesting that we should ignore advances in technology that offer a great deal of obvious benefit to education, but I believe we should be utilizing them to improve the education of everyone and be careful not to allow it to create an even larger rift between the top and bottom of our culture's socioeconomic ladder. I hope that we can explore a lot of these issues in this class and talk about how we can make sure that we are not leaving anyone behind.