Initial opinions on technology in (mathematics) education

One of the things required in my Teaching with Technology class is to choose one of the recommended blogs on the syllabus to read, follow, and reflect on. In other words, it seems that we are to blog about a blog. Don't get me wrong, it is important to read other educators' blogs to get some new ideas and see what is going on around the country, but I found five of the recommended blogs to have very interesting content. I will probably have comments to make about all of them. Also, it is just as important to have some of my own ideas for blogging, so I may only refer to these other blogs in passing while I go on my own rants on various topics. I would like this first blog to address why I named my blog "Technology in Education - Pro or Con?" I teach in a community college which, I admit, has a unique blend of students and so my opinions may be drastically different had I worked in the secondary schools or in a four year university. The students in the community college, especially the level at which I teach (developmental mathematics), vary from high schoolers in the bridge program to adults that are coming back to school after many years. There are students that, I'm sorry to say, are probably not really college material, who have learning/social/mental disabilities who are mixed in classes with students that have the potential but just don't care, who are further mixed with returning students who really do care and are willing to learn, but they have too much other stuff on their plates. I usually only see a few students that put in the effort required for a college course and actually can prioritize and see the value in being there. So, this brings me to my dilemma about technology. First of all, technology in terms of graphing calculators or even just four function calculators are completely OVERUSED in mathematics education today. Almost no one can do a basic mathematic computation without relying on this technology which is one thing on my CON list. Second, being that I have returning students that are not as technologically savvy as the Internet generation, I find it very difficult to institute TOO much technology because that would just be another barrier in the way of them learning the material. This is another CON. I feel that, as a society, there has been TOO MUCH of a push towards technology that students are going to lose the ability to personally interact with others and also lose the ability to think critically. Now, I also realize that technology may be used to facilitate learning and I am for that, but where do we draw the line? This is my standpoint for the beginning of this course. Let's see if it changes my mind.