Using technology in education wisely

A solid post by Scott McLeod on what we'd do if we were serious about edtech:

• Show students how to edit their privacy settings and use groups in Facebook instead of banning online social networks because they're "dangerous" and/or "frivolous";
• Teach students to understand and contribute to the online information commons rather than just saying no to Wikipedia;
• Put a robust digital learning device into every student's hands (or let them bring and use their own) instead of pretending that we live in a pencil, notebook paper, and ring binder world;
• Integrate digital learning and teaching tools into subject-specific pre-service methods courses rather than marginalizing instructional technology as a separate course;
• Understand the true risk of students encountering online predators and make policy accordingly instead of succumbing to scare tactics by the media, politicians, law enforcement, computer security vendors, and others;
• Find out the exact percentage of our schools' families that don't have broadband Internet access at home rather than treating the amorphous 'digital divide' as a reason not to assign any homework that involves use of the Internet;

(and etc)...leads to a post on the real risk of online behavior by Lee Kolbert.