Do laptops crack open educators’ instruction?

Dan Mourlam said in his recent post that he didn’t think 1:1 laptop initiatives were the starting point for transforming education. Instead, educators should begin with a critical examination of curriculum and instruction and THEN move to laptops as part of a transformational educational process.

Here is the comment I left for Dan:

Excellent post! For the most part, I agree with you: we always should have learning and teaching goals in mind before determining what technology tools best fit those objectives. Otherwise we run the risk of using technology for technology’s sake or thinking that every instructional problem is a nail that can just be solved with the hammer (i.e., laptops) we have in hand.

That said, I think we also are finding that student laptops can crack open the door to reconsideration of existing pedagogy. In other words, it’s often very hard for educators to keep teaching the way they always have in the face of daily presence of student laptops and community expectations that those laptops will be used. In these instances, the ubiquity of students laptops actually forces or drives instructional change. Not always, but often enough to note…

Your thoughts?

Image credit:Dan Mourlam