What is the purpose of technology use in school?

Originally Published January 2013

When I was a senior in high school, I took the very first computer course that my district offered – BASIC Programming.  Apparently we were all going to need to know how to program computers “in the future.”   Today, I think about the games that I had to create in BASIC.  The focus was on learning BASIC language.  I remember doing the assignments and completing the tasks. In short, I completed the checklists of activities. When the class was over, so was my learning of BASIC.  What I learned in the class hasn’t really helped me.  I have never had to write a computer program, and I doubt that I ever will.

Today, nearly 30 years later, we are still talking about the skills that students will need “in the future.”    We know that technology skills are on that list; we need them today!  But the  purpose of integrating technology and teaching tech skills isn’t to have students create a Prezi or post to a blog.  The objective of technology integration is not for students to use a particular program or application. No, the purpose of having students use technology as part of their educational experience is to help them learn to think, to question, to answer,  to communicate, to inspire, to dream.

Education is about expanding our minds and making the world a better place.  We use tools such as computers to promote thinking and problem-solving.  The purpose of the printing press was not to print books per se - it was to communicate ideas on a large scale.  The purpose of technology integration is similar.  One of our speech pathologists shared the attached image from Pinterest with me, and I think it makes a smart statement.

The purpose of learning tech skills is to help children engage so that they not only answer questions, but ask them, research them, and share them. That is what education is all about.