Technology in the Classroom

When technology is used in the classroom it can be either a positive or a negative.  The positive side of it would have to be that students these days need a fast paced learning environment to compliment their fast paced lives.  So when technology is used to keep the class moving and it keeps the information flowing at a high rate that the students are used to, then in my eyes you have used technology in the classroom to its full potential.  On the other hand, I think that technology takes away the "old school" aspect of actually working to find the answer.  The internet and other information retrieval tools can get you the answer within seconds and all a student has to do is either copy and paste it to their work or just copy the answer down.  What happened to actually looking for an answer and learning the topic instead of just skimming the text for the answer and throwing it into your work?

I do like the idea of using powerpoint presentations.  I had a professor at a community college that used this technology and it helped everyone in the classroom.  She had a powerpoint presentation for each lecture and gave us the complete presentation stapled together so we could follow along and notes where we thought appropriate.  The only catch was that only the people that attended class that day got every piece of information; the students who skipped or missed class did not get everything that was involved with that topic or lecture.  So she used technology to her full advantage.  She still had that old school feel by making students come to class and use their books and follow along with what was happening in class, while also using the technology in the appropriate way.