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June 15, 2001
Any final points that educators should be thinking about as they try to move forward in this brave new world?
OHLER: In our program at the University of Alaska, we use the OIL continuum-operation, integration, and leadership-to describe the process teachers need to follow to become good technology-using educators. People need to be able to operate "the stuff," then integrate it into their learning environments, then lead others, not just in the process of learning how to operate and integrate technology, but to see the big picture as well. This kind of technology literacy involves understanding how to use technology not just creatively and effectively but wisely as well. It also involves understanding technology's impacts, not just how to operate and integrate it.
WARLICK: One of the key challenges to us as educators, as we acquire increasingly significant access to technology, is determining how we should be using these tools to improve learning. The tendency has been to strap the technology onto old practices. The next generation of technology use in our schools will be different. The questions we should ask ourselves are: What is different about our new tools? What are the fundamentally unique qualities of computers and the Internet that are especially suited for teaching and learning? And what can we do now in our classrooms that we could never do before? Then we shift from adapting the technology to fit into our classrooms to adapting our classrooms to take advantage of our brand new opportunities, creating new and powerful learning experiences for our students.
The future for our children could be fantastic with opportunities and adventures that we can't even imagine. We could cure most diseases, feed the world, make better use of our leisure time, know and love our neighbors near and far. The tools are being handed to us. Will we be capable of inventing the best uses for them?
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