Clearly, we have the benefit of hindsight on our side. In 1999 when this book was written, I could see this argument really making a lot of sense. I believe that the author of this book was one of the great contrarians before the first EdTech bubble, during the time where the first real use of e-rate for computers was being pushed (1996-2000).
I think we are probably in the midst of the second EdTech bubble, however. There are many companies that are touting a better way to teach and learn and ignoring the human components of that process. I think the warning from this earlier time is still valid. Any technology without humanity is doomed to fail in our schools.
We need to push forward and create new opportunities for learning, but we need these contrarians. We need luddites to make sure what we are trying out in our classrooms is actually BETTER and not just different. Who are your favorite second-wave EdTech Contrarians?
High Tech Heretic | Awful Library Books
“To turn learning into fun is the denigrate the two most important things we can do as humans: to teach, To learn.”
