For as long as I have been working with technology there has been the problem of integrating technology into curriculum. Several years ago the move was to add technology to lesson plans that did not use technology. It did not work. Sometimes teachers just added technology meaninglessly to their lessons. Currently we are talking more about meaningful use of technology in the classroom. The word integration is out of fashion. 
This morning I had an experience that gave me a little insight into why this is happening. I work as the Technology Instructional Partner or TIP (sometimes called Technology Specialist or Technology Coordinator) at an Elementary School. Today was an inservice day for teachers. The morning topic was curriculum related (Marzano and vocabulary) for all teachers in the district and the afternoon is at our own school. TIPs were excused from the morning. We could work on our own campus on preparation for the afternoon.
Now... I have no shortage of work, but I decided to attend part of the morning anyway and here is what I learned. In our district we have a mentality that separates technology and curriculum. Why did the tech people get excused from the curriculum part of the day? Is it a waste of our time to know what the teachers are doing in the classroom?
The trainer (who was wonderful) gave examples as she was talking and one involved a map. She said to the group "....and I pull down the map and show the kids...." Why did she first think of pulling down the map? Why not Google Earth? It is so much richer and current! All of these teachers have computers with projectors! Many of them have SMARTBoards. We struggle to help teachers use these things, but no wonder they don't. They just don't think of them.
There are lots of examples, but the point is in most schools curriculum and technology are two different things. Teachers have to have energy and brain space for curricular things, but since technology is totally divorced from curriculum it is something MORE that would take more energy and more brain space. hmmmm
Thanks to Towboat Garage
and erutan
for the images
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