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Even as we are seeing more schools and educators transform the way they teach and learn with technology, many more are not. Technology is often viewed either as a frill or a tool not worth its weight in gold. Opinions vary on the merits of educational technology, but common themes seem to have emerged. Some of the reasons for not embracing technology have to do with several misconceptions revolving around fear.

Arguments go around and come back again about the role technology should play in the classroom. Should it be a subject? Should we have standards? Should it be mandated or optional? Some people argue that technology is simply a tool to be applied where and how it's appropriate. Others say no technology is neutral and we have to be deliberate in our choices to use it. In my view, technology can't be optional and it can't be an add-on.

"As a guy who delivers two-day #edtech workshops during my breaks from full-time classroom teaching, I'm often asked the same questions again and again: How can teachers use technology to motivate students? What digital tools do kids like best? My answer often catches participants by surprise: You can't motivate students with technology because technology alone isn't motivating. Worse yet, students are almost always ambivalent toward digital tools. While you may be completely jazzed by the interactive whiteboard in your classroom or the wiki that you just whipped up, your kids could probably care less."

"The term "digital natives" when applied to young people's use of technology and the term 'digital immigrants' for older people has almost become a commonly held and popular notion in discussions about the use of digital technologies. And education is not immune to such populist although distorted ideas which have been driven by some education technology evangelists. In reality, what does research contribute to the view of this type of technological determinism?"

"Technology is transforming today's educational landscape, reaching children's fingers before they reach their shoes. According to the infographic below from LearnStuff.com, 70 percent of children between the ages of 2-5 can use a computer mouse, while only 11 percent can tie their own shoes. Today's generation is growing up with technology, proving to reject traditional beliefs about how people learn. 90 percent of students think tablets help them study more efficiently, and cause them to read 1.5 more books annually. Read the infographic below to see how students interact with technology along their scholastic path, from grade school to graduation."

"I cannot take credit for these 6 myths of digital technology - I'm lifting them straight from what I thought was a well known and received investigation in to the impact of digital technology on education. It would appear that a lot of the research however is not well known and in an attempt to do for others as I do for my students in terms of making the implicit explicit; this marks the first of a series of posts which will look in to the evidence behind digital technology and its links to learning. In this post I will be looking at an investigation undertaken by Professor Steven Higgins, ZhiMin Xiao and Maria Katsipataki from the School of Education at Durham University, published for the Education Endowment Foundation."

"In classrooms all around the globe, educators are introducing new and exciting technological tools to engage their students in learning. Many educators are successful when integrating these technologies, but unfortunately many are not for a variety of reasons. In my opinion, and from my experience in classrooms around the world, these are the biggest mistakes that educators make when integrating technology into the classroom:"

"ECAR has surveyed undergraduate students annually since 2004 about technology in higher education. In 2012, ECAR collaborated with 195 institutions to collect responses from more than 100,000 students about their technology experiences. The findings are distilled into the broad thematic message for institutions and educators to balance strategic innovation with solid delivery of basic institutional services and pedagogical practices and to know students well enough to understand which innovations they value the most."

"Sometimes my view on technology seems paradoxical and messy. Sometimes it feels like cognitive dissonance. I hang with Luddites and Technophiles. I join #chats and write blogs and yet I frequently criticize technology. So, this list might seem conflicting. Or nuanced. You can make up your mind. The following are ten myths I have found myself believing over the years:"

One of the perplexing things that teachers and educators encounter when trying to understand educational technology and leverage it  to their classrooms is the abundance  of those baffling  techy terms. Blended Learning is different from Differentiated Learning, Educational Technology might not be necessarily Instructional Technology, a Virtual Classroom is different from an Electronic Classroom or Flipped Classroom; There is also asynchronous, synchronous, and personalized learning, these and many more are but some examples of the growing terminology in this field.

"In many schools/organizations, we have the tail wagging the dog and our technology departments are often dictating the type of learning that can happen in the classrooms. I am not saying that this is an issue with the departments, but often with leadership that has seen technology as an "extra", as opposed to an essential. Focusing on learning and relationships first, often helps us to make much better decisions about what we are doing with technology. It shouldn't be the other way around."

Last month in this column, I listed seven stupid mistakes teachers make with technology. Easy marks, teachers. But to be fair, I see just as many -- or even more -- brilliant teacher uses of technology. Here are seven technology practices that just make me marvel and feel proud to be part of the profession:

"In classrooms all around the globe, educators are introducing new and exciting technological tools to engage their students in learning. Many educators are successful when integrating these technologies, but unfortunately many are not for a variety of reasons."

"Technology has been used in the classroom for decades now. But with the advent of cloud computing and the proliferation of smaller, more portable computers and Internet-capable devices, it's now possible to bring the classroom into the technology instead. Mobile learning, focuses on learning through mobile devices, allowing learners to move about in a classroom or remotely learn from the location of their choice. The movement has gained a lot of steam in recent years, and despite some criticisms, isn't likely to fade fast - especially as new technologies that make mobile learning more practical continue to emerge and the popularity of remote learning opportunities like online colleges continue to grow."

"Over the last month or so EmergingEdTech ran a survey seeking input from educators like you. The goal was to make sure we understand what you want to know about education and instructional technology, and what your biggest challenges are as an educator. The survey received nearly 160 responses (thank you!). Results are being shared results in two parts. This first post deals with the technology-specific questions, and a second shorter post will follow that focuses on the your most significant professional challenges."

"According to Andreas Schleicher, there is no evidence from the PISA data yet of a consistent relationship between the use of education technology and superior student performance.  That, however, certainly does not mean that no such relationship will exist in the future, just that it hasn't happened yet, at least not at the scale required to show up in the PISA surveys. "

"Vannevar Bush foreshadowed the impact that such technology would have on our contemporary lives. By doing so, Bush inspired critical aspects of current online tools, including the hyperlink and the World Wide Web. Bush's vision directly influenced researchers to create digital technology we nowadays consider commonplace. Today's equivalent of Bush's breakthrough is just as radical, except it's far beyond the conceptual stage and is already in extensive development. This technology is termed "Augmented Reality" (AR). AR has the potential to act as a harbinger of future hi-tech transformations whilst irrevocably altering the basic nature of everyday life."

"Technology and education are pretty intertwined these days and nearly every teacher has a few favorite tech tools that make doing his or her job and connecting with students a little bit easier and more fun for all involved."

"The digital age has presented many and diverse challenges for copyright law. The rapid uptake of digital, networked technologies led to widespread online distribution of content, as well as the emergence of new practices and technologies that enabled digital content to be shared, reused and remixed on an unprecedented scale. But while technology provided the capacity for sharing and reuse of content to occur on a vast scale, legal restrictions on the use of copyright material hampered its negotiability in the digital environment."

"The evolving relationship between humans and machines is the key theme of Gartner, Inc.'s "Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies, 2013." Gartner has chosen to feature the relationship between humans and machines due to the increased hype around smart machines, cognitive computing and the Internet of Things. Analysts believe that the relationship is being redefined through emerging technologies, narrowing the divide between humans and machines. "