Educational Technology - What is it Good for?

I really connected with the reading this week by Gavriel Salomon. In it he perfectly describes the misgivings I have about how technology in the classroom is sometimes presented. While I am not anti-technology, I do feel that technology has its limitations, and I have never really bought into the idea that eventually everything in our lives will be automated. There are factors in our experiences as humans that can't be quantified, or turned into algorithms, and sometimes those ineffable qualities get pushed aside in he face of the more concrete, visible presence of technology.

Salomon makes the observation on page 153 that he frequently encounters discourse on what technology can do in the classroom, but that the focus is not on learning but on the technology itself. I have observed this in my own experience working at a college, where we rolled out a MOOC that quickly fizzled, and have a heavy focus on classroom technology when remodeling classrooms. The conversation seems to be about what the tools themselves can do, not the results they can bring about for students. That is not to say that better technology and tools can't enhance education in many ways, but rather that it is not a substitute for quality instruction.

I also really appreciated the differentiation that Salomon made between information and knowledge. Information for Saloman is just data, bits and pieces of facts and figures that exist in their own. Knowledge, on the other hand, is a web of constructed meaning that is contextualized and can be applied in new ways (p. 155).  So if information is everywhere, and is easily accessed by so many, does that necessarily mean that everyone can connect that information to create knowledge in the way that Salomon is describing? Or does the ability to do so, at least in the beginning, take guidance? Salomon certainly seems to think it does, and I don't disagree.

Salomon mentions his colleague, who predicts that in the future all education will be virtual and schools will disappear, except those for the the elite (a statement which is worthy of consideration on its own). I am not sure that virtual education for all, although quite within the realm of possibilities, is a desirable outcome, and the possibility raises some questions for me.

• Will this virtual instruction still rely on an instructor? If not, who will the students go to with questions?

• Is Salomon correct in his differentiation between information and knowledge? If so, will a completely virtual education teach young people, as Cuban stated, "to think about information" rather than just collect it (p. 156)?

• How important is socialization to the educational experience, and will missing out on that have some effect on students?

What do you think?