Our uses of IT reflect our pedagogical thinking . Information technology can be used to help achieve many different goals and purposes, according to the choices made by the people who use it. This is as true in educational applications as it is in other areas. Information technology, with all its potential and possibilities, is a facilitator of certain learning designs, rather than an autonomous driver. We recognize two major trends in the use of the technology at this point.
Information technology can facilitate efficiency or effectiveness in education.
Efficiency is optimizing information transmission, and is correlated with a way of thinking about learning which was outmoded at least as soon as John Dewey outlined his critique of the schools and educational practice of his time. Nevertheless, there persists an implicit equation of education with training and the mastery of facts. The adoption of information technology is thus frequently regarded as important because it provides opportunities for revenue enhancement and the attraction of wider audiences, rather than because it allows the adoption of more effective methods to facilitate cognitive development. Effectiveness is maximizing education environments for significant, transformative learning. In order to be educationally effective, the instructor must make cognitive development one of her overall course goals.