Last weekend, I whipped up a hand-drawn image on the role that technology should play in teaching and learning spaces.  Over the last five days, it’s been viewed over 4,000 times on Flickr and shared/favorited/retweeted over 500 times on Twitter.

Thought you might want to see it too:

(click to enlarge)

The motivation behind the image was to remind teachers that carefully thinking through just what we want our kids to know and be able to do is the FIRST step that we need to take when making choices about the role that technology plays in our teaching.

Sometimes I think we get blinded by the digital shine that comes off of new gadgets, tools and services.  Worse yet, I’m convinced that far too many educators have bought into the mistaken notion that TECHNOLOGY motivates kids.

That just isn’t true, y’all:  Kids AREN’T motivated by technology.  Instead, they’re motivated by opportunities to make a difference in the world; they are motivated by opportunities to ask and answer their own questions; and they are motivated by opportunities to learn together with like-minded peers.

Digital tools CAN make all of that work possible — but until we start seeing technology as nothing MORE than a tool, we’ll keep wasting time and cash on products that do nothing to change learning in meaningful ways for our kids.