In my district we are working on a new technology vision statement. We are using a wiki to help us continue our discussion and work on this project. I posted something to the wiki in response to a comment about the rather complex statement. I wanted to share and expand on that thought here. These thoughts also reflect some of the discussions in a course I am currently teaching where some our concerned we are loosing the human contact that is so essential to the learning process. So here is my thinking on why we need to infuse technology through out the learning experience for all, students and teachers alike.

Trying to create a concise vision of how technology should be used in an educational setting, is a very complex topic and many do not understand all the intricacies involved. Technologies, both hardware and software, are just tools for the very human endeavor of learning. Yet there are essential skills that must be learned along side the curricular content to prepare our students to be life long learners and successful in the world of work. Essentially we are preparing our students with 21st century literacy skills. The information landscape has changed dramatically in the last decade and in turn this will effect how students and teachers interact with information. But no matter how you look at it, all this information is still processed and used by people. It is essential that we foster an understanding of the new information landscape by all the members of the learning community to promote informed, critical thinking, and responsible use of information and these technologies.