Educational Technology and Student Attention Spans

I agree with the side that our students are too dependent on technology and the internet. When I first read the article "Is Educational Technology Shortening
Student Attention Spans?" the following quote really got me thinking. "Imagine a school with no library,no books—just computers. All research is done using the Internet. Instead of students typing papers, printing them off, and handing them in to a teacher, they create digital content online using a blog or wiki." This quote scared me. Why am I learning to design lesson plans including different activities such as papers or group projects if all the students know is email.

If I give an assignment I expect the student to turn the paper in to me. I might be thinking in an old school manner but I believe technology is good but only if used in the proper way. Students should be able to do research with the internet because it is faster and has a lot of quick information but they need to write the paper on their own and turn it in to me. I don't like to read papers from email and I would rather read a hard copy, write comments and return it to the student.

Where is our countries education headed? Will technology take over our classroom? I think it all ready has in a sense but without books, and other useful resources found in a library we will be teaching robots. I am not encouraged by the fact that students rely on the internet but I guess it is a fact of the time we live in and i am going to have to adapt my teaching strategies to respect technological diversity and an ever changing technological culture.

Reference:
Is Educational Technology Shortening Student Attention Spans? 2008, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education)