Blog Post #12: Digitized Lives Ch. 8-10

In chapter 8 of Digitized Lives, Reed discusses the rold that technology is playing in education. People are quick to jump to conclusions about technology within education, whether they be of the dystopic (technology is inherently negative) or utopic (computers are going to fix everything) variety. Although these two views are polar opposites, they do share the implication that computers can somehow replace teachers. What Reed urges us to keep in mind is that computers are simply tools. What matters is how teachers are choosing to use them. On page 169, there is a chart comparing “using technology” to “integrating technology” that I believe shows a very important distinction. A few examples include: “technology is used to instruct students on content VS. technology is used to engage students with content.”, “technology is used to complete lower-order thinking tasks VS. technology is used to encourage higher-order thinking skills.” and “technology is used to deliver information VS. technology is used to construct & build knowledge.” Although this chapter is specifically geared towards education, the concepts here can be applied to how we use technology as a whole.