What impact, if any, is the use of computers and other digital technologies having on the
             learning process of today's student? To what extent or degree are we as teachers responsible, or
             should be responsible, for the 'proper' integration of technology into our classrooms? Research
             and inquiry into this realm have proposed both positive and negative aspects to computer versus
             traditional learning. There are, without question, cultural and educational benefits and dangers of
             technology and computer usage for students. As educators, we have a significant role to play in
             ensuring equal access to technology, and in realizing its full educational and creative potential.
             Public debate about the impact of new digital technologies have been marked by a kind of
             schizophrenia which often accompanies the advent of new cultural forms. On the one hand, these
             new forms are seen to have enormous positive potential, particularly for learning; on the other,
             they are frequently seen to be harmful to those who are regarded as particularly vulnerable. In
             both cases, it is children - or perhaps more accurately, the idea of childhood - which is the vehicle
             for many of these aspirations and concerns.
             This was certainly apparent in the early years of television. Amid current fears about the
             impact of television violence, it is interesting to recall that television was initially promoted to
             parents as an educational medium. Likewise, in the 1950s and 1960s, television and other new
             electronic technologies were widely seen to embody the future of education: they were described
             as 'teaching machines'. Even here, however, hopes of a utopian future were often balanced
             against fears of loss and cultural decline. Television was seen both as a new way of bringing the
             family together, and as something which would undermine natural family interaction. The
             medium was extolled as a means of nurturing c...