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The "professor versus laptop (or other wireless access device)" issue is a false construct if we view technology-mediated learning as a social system offering many ways to alter one component and thus change the whole system. Rather than seeing distraction as a challenge, educators can see it as an opportunity to reflect upon and change the design of their entire instructional approach. Creative and innovative educators can use technology innovations to help reform teaching, similar to the way Guttenberg's press helped bring about scientific revolution and modern authorship.

This schism between how schools have traditionally taught and how students want to learn is bringing education ever closer to a tipping point.

"When you cram any innovation, in any sector, into an existing model, that model basically usurps it, conforms it to the way the model already operates," says Michael Horn, a co-author of Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns. "It doesn't fundamentally change that factory model in a way that's student-centric. It doesn't give each student what [he or she] really need[s]."

It must support four key components of learning: active engagement, participation in groups, frequent interaction and feedback, and connection to real-world experts.