During the past two decades, no educational issue has inspired as much debate as
defining appropriate roles for technology and implementing them in our schools. Even
among advocates, significant disagreements exist related to the nature and focus of
technology use. Many argue that technology has attributes (e.g., infinite patience,
capacity to individualize, ability to overcome time and geographic limitations) that
make it ideal to “increase the horsepower” of our current approaches, that is, to
optimize existing teaching-learning methods. Others suggest that technology affords
an opportunity to transform teaching and learning methods used for generations—that
technology should not be “harnessed” to improve marginally things we already do, but
“unleashed” to create opportunities heretofore impossible or unfeasible. Proponents
seek not only new opportunities, but often new visions of teaching, learning and
schooling. Interestingly, this is perhaps the most international of educational issues:
How (or should) we use technology?