Technology tends to promote access to information for larger and larger groups of people, and contributes to the overall well-being of individuals and communities. Thus, technology is a sociological force with results that can be demonstrated, if not accurately measured. In the last 75 years, technology has been viewed by educators with narrower, but higher hopes. This session shows that professional educators tend to embrace technical modalities with somewhat utopian hopes for learning, a particularly unique sociological outcome. The data show that technology consistently fails to affect or effect learning; moreover, educators and policy makers often promote technologies in the classroom that have negligible positive effects, or even negative effects upon students. It is increasingly evident that technology is deployed in ways that are consistent with any number of theories of child development, learning, and epistemology. This suggests that technology is not leading a revolution in learning, but is, paradoxically, trailing in the wake of dominant educational theories.
John Heaton
John Heaton, BA, MA, MALS, has served since 1998 as the Headmaster at New Covenant Schools, a classical, Christian school in Lynchburg, VA, serving 465 students. In addition to his duties as headmaster, he teaches Intermediate Greek for seniors in the School of Rhetoric. He serves as one of the parish priests at All Saints Church, a traditional Episcopal parish a liated with New Covenant Schools. He is married to Heidi and has four children.