Technology in the classroom: Banking education or opportunities to learn?

Figures & data

Table 1. The (Em)powered structures in the technology-integrated classroom.

Technology as MasterDefined
	Technology delivers the work to be completed. Teachers and students are merely Operators with little to no power in determining the task, curriculum, or time allocated to complete (or not to complete) the task.
Who holds the power?	Local and state governance and district administration often determine the content, tasks, the importance of tasks, and time expectations (absent of real-time and learning conditions).
The Powerless	Teachers and students
Technology as Servant
Defined	Technology is used as a computational or representative tool for a variety of things:
	drill and practice, calculations, or other iterative algorithmic processes within a task.
Who holds the power?	District administration through the adoption of curricular programs that uses technology mainly for iterative algorithmic purposes, and their financial ability to purchase (or not purchase) such programs
	Teachers hold some degree of power as they teach these programs and assign these tasks to the students without modifications.
	Organizations, publishers, and companies also hold some degree of power by providing what they interpret as important options/programs for schools.
The Powerless	Students and, to some degree, teachers through limited choice of curriculum and tasks (and possibly tools), as well as conditions of accessibility.
Technology as Pedagogical Partner
Defined	Technology is used by the students to access digital tools or applications that can assist learners with tasks or in better understanding of a new concept and by the teacher to integrate multiple problem-solving strategies within a lesson
Who holds the power?	Teachers by determining the technology tool(s) and the problems students must solve and providing exposure to the idea of students seeking information for a more thorough understanding of a concept as determined by the teacher including instances when teachers supplement district-adopted programs with different lessons/tasks/topics/tools.
The Powerless	Students have limited power in the choice of the technology tools, problems, tasks, and the type of information exposed and explored.
Technology as Extension of self
Defined	Technology is an integrated extension of the student. Together, the student and technology work to create new representations of ideas and concepts and build upon the learning of others in an emergent way. This is essentially the “Create” level of the new Blooms.
Who holds the power?	Students by experimenting with different technology tools, create, and explore various ideas, problems, issues, and code and create new (and their own) knowledge and information using technology and teachers’ and peers’ assistance.
The Powerless	Organizations, publishers, companies, local and state governance, and district administration—students are provided freedom and authority to truly explore and create (and take risks while exploring and creating), and teachers and peers serve as assistants in this process, without taking away the power from the student/learner.