Dennis Van Gerven said that he used to be afraid of technology. Then he noted that his preschool kid made a pistol out of Wonderbread. It made Dennis see that if technology fulfills a real human need, we will use it. Jim Curry told the story of a hypothetical freshman in 2010 taking first-year calculus. That student is using sophisticated math software.
Technology allows that student to explore the possibilities.
Technology definitely facilitates learning. For math, the computer revolution will solve problems that we can't even anticipate. Gene Abrams noted that in the class of 1999, the use of technology will probably vary from discipline to discipline, but it will be probably be a significant and hopefully a useful part for most. Dennis noted that we are already seeing the sociological aspects of distance learning. Students still want to connect with other human beings.