It is not feasible for a race car driver to enter the Indy 500 and expect to win driving a Hyundai. It is no more feasible for educators to expect learners to excel unless the key technology tools are provided to each and every learner. Exceptional people are those who have pursued the knowledge they want. We can consider ourselves successful as educators when we have provided the environments that allow all learners to chase the knowledge they really want. Today, without the key technology tools, such environments are not possible.
Children take to technology like ducks to water.
Today millions of people have actually used similar strings of symbols to search the World Wide Web for knowledge and information of interest to them. The speed of this development suggests that educators should not be concerned with preparing students for some hypothetical future that we cannot possible predict, but rather for getting the most out of living and learning today. The Internet has a strong egalitarian streak. Billionaire Bill Gates and pre-schooler Gracie Lilly can access the same information and visit the same virtual places on the Net. The playing field can be leveled, narrowing the gap between the haves and the have-nots.