Do we really need all this technology?

This past Saturday was another inspiring EdCamp.  The time spent talking with fellow educators about education is priceless, and even worth giving up the only sunny Saturday in what feels like months. One of the sessions that I attended was a presentation entitled "A Vast and Troubling Shift: We embrace technology but should we?" by Mike Carty and Marc Mancinelli. I was a little disappointed that more of my fellow EdCampers were not drawn to the session as I thought it held great promise for a needed conversation, and I was not wrong.
As a technology coach it is my job to try to get people to use technology in the classroom, but I also think it is my responsibility to ponder why we are using technology in the classroom. As I write this post on my MacBook Pro (hooked up to a second monitor), with my ipad next to my, near the glow of my Google lamp, there is no doubt that I embrace technology. However, that does not mean that I should stop to think every once in a while about what we are doing in our schools.
On this same subject I was just required to read a great post entitled "Using Technology Without Understanding It by Clay Burrell for a graduate class that I am taking. In his blog Burell responds to a student editorial that critiques the use of technology in the classroom.  I was not surprised by the student's position, as just last year I had students in my Media Studies class create mini-documentaries about their "Digital Life" and found that most were heavily critical of technology in the classroom.  I did find Burell's response refreshing and enlightening.  He did a wonderful job of summarizing a lot of what I have been thinking about in the days since EdCamp. So here is my bulleted list summary to answer the question "Do we really need all this technology?"

• Technology is neither good or bad, it is a tool, like any tool that only serves the purpose of the human being that is using the tool. 
• Our students are not a skilled in the use of the tool as they would like to think that they are.
• Teachers must learn to use to use these new tools in ways that broaden our student's perspective and not just in ways that amuse them.

We do a great disservice to the next generation when we reinforce their belief that the internet is nothing more than a place to chat with your friends, and post silly pictures of yourself.  We need to show them that YouTube is a place not a site to find videos that make you laugh, but videos that make you learn.  We need to show them that Facebook is not just a site to post about the movie that you just went to see, but a place to organize a revolution. 


What the discussion and the article really made me realize even more clearly than before that my job is not to make sure that the teachers in my district can skillfully use new technologies, but to ensure that they can do so meaningfully.