I have said this before, and apparently I need to say it again: Technology neither improves or diminishes learning. It’s the instructional design choices made and instructional practices used by individual teachers with individual students that do this. It makes no sense to speak of technology as if it had some sort of life force of its own, like the weather, facilitating and then inhibiting learning under its own power. But Kakaes does exactly this, when he writes about the “totalizing power of technology” and says that “software packages…did not have a measurable effect on test scores”. Excuse me, did you really say that software packages don’t affect test scores? Well, of course that’s true. It’s like concluding that a $5000 rangetop in my kitchen does not have a measurable effect on the quality of the dinner I make. It’s a statement that is obviously true — but has no information content. Again: Technology does not enhance or inhibit learning. It’s how it’s used. This is a painfully obvious concept; let’s all learn it.
