As they search out the links among their instructional goals, the curriculum, and technology's possibilities, they collaborate more, reflect more, and engage in more dialogue. What technology will not do is make the teacher's life simple. The kind of teaching and learning that we have described requires teachers with multiple skills. The subject matter is inherently challenging, and because it is evolving and open-ended, it can never be totally mastered. Especially at first, the technology itself poses challenges, like learning to set up equipment, remembering software commands, and troubleshooting system problems.
New roles pose many challenges, too.
The teacher must be able to launch and orchestrate multiple groups of students, intervene at critical points, diagnose individual learning problems, and provide feedback. Nevertheless, in classrooms where teachers have risen to this challenge, a profound change is occurring in the learning environment. Technology plays an important role, but it is a supporting role. The students are the stars. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and no official endorsement should be inferred.