Why is our CBO “MIA”?

Instead of arguing about the merits of integrating technology into (language) education, it became a free-for-all about technology in general (“I wouldn’t have been here if it hadn’t been for Twitter”, “If you are unable to follow a Twitter-stream you are soft in the head…” etc). Comments like these seemed to be largely irrelevant to the matter in hand, i.e. the uses (or abuses) of technology in language education. This is what we have come to expect from Scott. I read through the post and started to read a few of the comments that his bloggers began to put up. Some followed Scott’s lead and agreed with the idea that we all need to adopt a more balanced, principled approach to using technology in ELL. I also watched as young Coco (an 11-year-old student) explained how he had learned so much from teachers using IWBs and how much fun technology was for students. Well done Coco! The problem was that a few bloggers could not hide the fact that they wanted to continue the free-for-all begun during IATEFL debate. You know the usual “technology-bad, teaching-good”… Now, you know me! I have trouble keeping my mouth shut – and so threw in my “two-cents” about “technology not really being the problem – rather it is the obsession with teaching”… My comments helped make me a new “best friend” – Luan (from Shanghai)! Scott mentioned that he is worried that blogging is becoming a full-time job for him - I'm more worried that commenting on the posts of other bloggers is also becoming a major undertaking. Anyway, the long and short of it is that that Antalya, Osama and Scott’s post are the reasons for me being “missing-in-action” … excuses, excuses (and I haven't forgotten about "Speaking - Part Three" or the two guest-posts I have sitting on the desktop)! BUT, take a look at the post (and all the comments) – makes for fun reading!