How Far Should Technology Go in a Classroom??

First there was the use of computers in the classroom, then the internet, and now we are talking about uses of blogs and wikis in the classroom. Where does it end or where should it end? It seems like most of you are for the use of technology such as blogs for classroom purposes. It made me wonder...... where should technology end in the classroom or should there be a boundary? Currently in Pennsylvania, there are around 17,000 students enrolled in cyber schools. What do you think about the quality of education that these students are receiving? Is it too much technology and not enough "face-time" with an actual teacher?
Around my hometown, there has been an increasing number of public schools who are adopting an on-line option for students. (See article below) Please let me know what you think on this issue.

Highlands fights back with cyber school
By Jenni EastonVALLEY NEWS DISPATCHMonday, July 16, 2007
Faced with an ever-increasing loss of dollars and students to cyber charter schools, Pennsylvania school districts have begun to evaluate their options.
Most of them write state-mandated tuition checks each month so that local students can attend virtual schools from their home computers.
Others refuse to pay.
Others still, including the Highlands School District, have decided to compete.
In the fall, Highlands will launch its own cyber school in an effort to win back cyber students living in the district.
With help from a grant from the state Department of Education, the district has subscribed to BlendedSchools.net, an online consortium that allows teachers and students to interact online. While some local districts, including Armstrong and Riverview, already use the program, Highlands will be the first in the Alle-Kiski Valley to use it as a stand-alone educational program.
Students will be able to earn a Highlands diploma without ever taking a class in the school building.
Through BlendedSchools.net, home-study students will work on Highlands curriculum designed and supervised by district faculty -- but online and at their own pace. The district will provide laptop computers and high-speed Internet service, as well as access to school services, including counseling and extracurricular activities.
The program subscription will cost Highlands about $8,000 a year, said district business manager Jon Rupert, but that cost would be dwarfed by the savings that result from even a few cyber-school students returning to Highlands. This year, Rupert expects the district will send $500,000 in tuition to cyber schools statewide, up from $275,000 last year. For every Highlands student who chooses to attend cyber school, the district must pay tuition equal to the cost of educating a student at a traditional bricks-and-mortar school. This means an expense of anywhere between $8,000 and $18,000 per student.
As long as the state requires Highlands to pay for cyber education anyway, officials say, it might as well make sure students are getting the best quality education possible.
"We're going to pay, whether they are good programs or not," said Constance Craven, who served as acting assistant superintendent when the program began to develop. "This way, we can have quality control. We're paying a high price for students in cyber school. We want to control the standards."
Pennsylvania has 11 cyber charter schools, which will have about 17,000 students enrolled for the 2007-08 school year, up from 13,000 last year and 10,000 in 2005-06, state records show.
Despite -- or likely due to -- their growing popularity, the online academies have drawn considerable public scrutiny in recent years.
Sarah Zablotsky represents the Allegheny Intermediate Unit, which chartered PA Learners Online (PALO), its own cyber school, in 2001. PALO is based out of the Intermediate Unit office in Homestead and had an enrollment of about 700 this year. It educates students from 142 of the state's 501 school districts.
Zablotsky is thoroughly familiar with the popular criticism charging that educational quality lacks in cyber schools.
A Tribune-Review News Service report in February, for example, reported low standardized test scores in Pennsylvania cyber charters.
"Do the PSSA scores we receive reflect the three months they have spent at PALO, or the education received at the student's home district?" she asked.
Cyber school students, she said, differ from those attending traditional schools: They often attend because they have already fallen behind in math and reading. Some cyber-school students have kids; some work full time; others have serious medical conditions.
For other students, a digital environment is simply a better fit.
"Because the experiences are so different," Zablotsky said, "comparing brick-and-mortar schools to cyber schools is like comparing apples to cars."
If you ask Timothy Daniels, executive director of the Pennsylvania Coalition of Charter Schools, cyber schools represent another choice in the market for education.
"Competition is good," he said.
Daniels applauds Highlands' new venture -- "Enhancing technology with education is what we're all about" -- but doubts it will succeed.
"It's not a school choice," he said. "It's a program choice."
School officials increasingly are considering such options in their response to cyber charters.
Bellefonte School District, in Central Pennsylvania, enrolled in BlendedSchools.net about six years ago. Winning back cyber students was "one of the underlying reasons we started this," said Superintendent James Masullo. He called the program a success.
"We now have 54 students in independent cyber schools," he said. "That's down by about 15 from when we enrolled."
About 130 schools statewide are BlendedSchools.net members, said company project manager Mark Gensimore. While fighting back against cyber charters is "one of the many reasons" schools subscribe, he said, about 75 percent of subscribers use the online curriculum simply to supplement classroom learning.
At Highlands, the BlendedSchools.net system is in the testing stages. Summer-school students in grades 9 to 12 gather each day in a classroom to work independently on individualized online curriculums.
If all goes well, Highlands officials intend to officially launch BlendedSchools.net in September. The district has sent letters about the program to its cyber-school families.
Tim Hanley, a Highlands English teacher, supervises the summer school students using BlendedSchools. He is not in the classroom to lecture. Instead, he gives feedback on the students' submitted work to assist with problems that arise. So far, he said, things are running smoothly and feedback has been positive.
"I've heard some students say that they wish school could be like this all the time," he said.