I do see our reading turning around from talk about how we're "not paying attention" to how we are actually using technology. The biggest idea i'm getting from the reading is the difference in how technology is being used in the classroom and how there is no set regulation as to what we should teach or how we can implement technology into our teaching. What we are seeing is the fact that institutions are divided into two different catagories, "technology rich" and "technology bound"(34) Eldred and Toner point out that institutions that are "technology bound" might have instructors that use the most convienent resources to fulfill administrator's expectations, rather than explore other options.(34)
A point to make here comes from the title. Some instructor's are letting the technology be the teacher rather than teaching students how to use the technology, and possibly explore and research new things. Obviously things are changing because Dr. Harrington is asking this class to do just that, explore and research new things.
Referring to the middle of page 37 where the authors talk about online discussions and the benefits, such as getting more class participation. I agree that teachers may be able to get those who are more quiet in the classroom to say something, but it is also pointed out that teachers need not ignore the fact that on line discussion may make a student lazy. Eldred and Toner give some examples of how the teacher might detour students lazy habits. These examples relate to my own experience. I have not posted one blog until now, but now that I've been assigned to comunicate with another person I have decided that I better make more of an effort. I haven't blogged because I can never do it from home (I have realized how inefficient my computer is)So here I am at school making sure that I participate in the class assignment. The point is, because Dr. Harrington has put more of a responsibility on me to get this done, I am more willing to do whatever it takes. I believe what the authors are basically saying in the article is that instuctors need to use the technology they have to teach literacy, but that's not all, they need to go further not letting technology make us lazy. They talk about plagiarism and how students will copy papers from the internet. Instructors have to be careful not to let technology do the teaching but rather they still do the teaching.
