Techonology Balance Beam

While reading "Tech Tip: Striking a Balance," I found myself thinking about two kinds of balances with education: balancing technology with "traditional" forms of learning as well as old technology versus new technology, as the article mentions. 

Traditional versus Technological.

Personally, I still like reading from paper books and taking notes by hand. Students should have the ability to do this. They should be able to take a class in a traditional setting, and still get their work done. That being said, they should also have the ability to take notes on their laptops, locate journals and other reputable sources online, and have access to online classes if they need them. Both kinds of learning are needed, I feel, to create a well rounded student.

Old versus New.

Why should kids be taught how to use those dinosaur desktop computers? Because not everywhere will have a touch screen iPad. While having the top of the line technology would be nice, it is simply not realistic for all schools, especially for those tight on funding. Often, too, teachers are not equipped to use the newest technology along with their students. Think about a smartboard. I know many teachers that would not know how to best utilize the board, and would rather stick with a PowerPoint, just like I almost gave up on Prezi because it was new and PowerPoint was easier. We have to teach children to use the old and new because we never know what they might have access to. its like teaching kids only how to use Mac computers and then testing them on a PC. It's outside their comfort level. We want them to be comfortable no matter what environment they are in.

How do we make this balance though? Clearly it involves a regular use of a range of technologies, which is easier said than done. But I believe this class has equipped us with the tools we need to do that within our future classrooms.