Making the most of technology in the classroom

I believe that utilizing technology is central, and crucial, in the modern classroom because it reflects the reality of the world we live in. In many ways, the classroom is but a mirror image of society, condensed, but nevertheless reflective of the social conditions of society as a whole. The innate propensity for today's students to be "Tech-Savy", is a clear indication that the inclusion of technology in the classroom is a process that is irreversible. Technological advances have immense benefits both to educators and students. Few lament the demise of the typewriter, when compared with a word processing computer. The research power, and capability of the Internet gives access to awesome power, and has proven to be a mechanism for the decimation of ideas, and creativity, on a world altering scale. Yet, technology is not a magic elixir that vanishes all educational problems. While solving some of the educational issues of the past and making it easier to write a term paper, technology carries some inherent difficulties when applied to a classroom setting. Access to computer technology is still marred by social and economic inequalities. Lack of adequate funding creates huge differences in how technology is used in the classroom because there is so much difference between classrooms in different districts. Urban schools with high minority student populations suffer from broken, outdated and ll kept equipment, frequently installed incorrectly. Thus, the answer to how I would create a classroom that makes the most of technology, is predicated on the funding of the school, and the condition of the equipment in question. Only with these variables are factored in can the question be adequately answered.