"No Choice" = interesting big ideas

Thoughts on Will Richardson's "No Choice" blog post:

More and more it is becoming clear that there is an ever-widening gap between tech-savvy and not-tech-savvy teachers, and that at some point down the road--2 years? 5 years? 10 years?--there might be a fairly radical sense of division. Most of this seems to come from the simple fact that change is uncomfortable--most people never desire to change, and that includes using technology in school if you're a teacher.

However, a huge issue when it comes to integrating technology into schools is this: financially, logistically, and culturally, it is an incredibly complex task. At what point can Ministries of Education (MOE) and/or School Boards "require" the use of technology? The answer certainly has much to do with money and accessibility when we take into account issues of equality and equity that tend to be coupled with the use of public funds. Who can MOE's or School Boards "require" to use technology? Only students? Only teachers? Both? The answer would seem to be both. To what extent can technology be required to be used? For "all assignments"? Each student with a computer? The questions that accompany the continual integration of technology in schools are mindboggling. This is not to say that the use of technology is in any way "right" or "wrong," "good" or "bad"--merely that the integration and application of it in education is a huge endeavor (always has been, and likely always will be--it's merely becoming more acutely noticeable as technology increases at an ever-faster rate).

At a professional development day yesterday that focused on the use of technology in the classroom, our District's Superintendent-to-be remarked that, "Some teachers are already deeply immersed in using technology in the classroom, some are dabbling in it, and some are scared as hell at the thought of using it." I wonder if there will ALWAYS be a scared as hell contingent of tech-shy teachers, or if--at some point down the road--"tech shy" and "teacher" will simply be qualities that cannot be combined?