It's very important to remember that there are vastly more powerful uses for the machine. But really, I must stress again that it's all how you use a tool that determines its effectiveness. We may actually end up trading in some of the writing, thinking and organization skills required for the old written report for the visual and entertainment appeal of the presentation software. It all depends how you use it. If you ask for more than canned information from students you will get it, but you won't necessarily get it just by virtue of using showy software.
Information is merely the raw material of knowledge and understanding.
Once again, it's a matter of personal intervention. We cannot allow the technology to babysit for us and then fool ourselves into believing that something useful is going on. Well, O.K., maybe it's actually going on, as a matter of fact, in millions of homes across the nation. Which is why many progressive thinking parents simply ban the T.V. from their homes. Not a bad idea, but perhaps somewhat drastic.