Technology and education: Between chaos and order

Abstract

More than any period in recorded history, today's heterogeneity of emergent technology has transformed daily life, particularly the lives of the many fascinated by it. The American educational system and its sense of direction have not been spared from the chaos and distress that accompanies this unprecedented era. Many educators await the promise of technology's power to improve the educational system. The purpose of this paper is not to validate the pros or cons of technology, but to explore current issues facing the American educational system and to better use technologies in a productive and a creative manner. This article explores contemporary issues of technology in education, investigating its impact upon the American educational system, and examining the nature of its unprecedented relationship to the posthaste changes of the information age. This article also suggests systematic procedures that may be used to assess the needs of an institution's educational information system (EIS), and the dimension of building creative educational climate to better meet instructional goals and to sustain the continual needs of a quality educational system.