Some readers asked about my comments on technology in education at the ITEC show in Houston where I was one of the keynotes. We've had some pretty lively discussions about this topic in the past, so let me hit the highpoints for you.

I presented four main ideas about technology in education: Do IT Less Expensively, Dealing with Resistance, Reach Out to the Community and Do Less Technology.

Why less technology in the classroom? I have this heretical idea students should learn to read critically, analyze information and think for themselves. Unfortunately, when students, especially in the lower grades, turn on a screen they turn off their imaginations. Besides, students stare at screens constantly: TV, movies, video games, and the Web. All present passive entertainment designed to turn brains off, not on. Reading books is active entertainment because students must use vocabulary, inference and imagination to visualize the story unfolding inside their heads. Videos bypass critical thinking and hit the visual centers of the brain, making them passive entertainment.

Reader Tim used a great term last year when he said, "Using proprietary software in school teaches students to become 'click monkeys' without inviting them to dig into what they are using and perhaps figure out how to make it better." Wouldn't Click Monkeys be a great name for a rock band? Sure, but we don’t want our kids ending up that way.

Anti-technology forces point out situations where schools spend money on computers when they don’t have enough books and teachers. Real world studies show the best way to improve learning is to lower the number of students in core curriculum classes. It's a shame such old-fashioned ideas get overwhelmed by the glitter of new technology toys.

The bottom line for me? Every technology introduced into the classroom must provide a measurably better result than achieved with pen, paper, books and a good teacher.

Once areas where technology can help students have been identified, the less money spent the better for our students and our tax bills. Many readers enthusiastically endorse the K12 Linux Terminal Server Project, as well as K12OpenSource, EDU-Nix Open Source Schoolware, and Software for Starving Students. You can reuse older computers and inexpensive or even free software and still provide a quality technology environment in the classroom.

James Gaskin writes books (16 so far), articles and jokes about technology and real life from his home office in the Dallas area.