kimone singleton's Profile

Educational researchers and
practitioners

alike assert that the potential of
new



technologies for learning is likely to
be

found not in the
technologies



themselves but in the way in which
these

technologies are used as tools
for



learning

(Means
& Olson, 1995; Owston, 1997; Valdez et al., 1999). In



literacy

instruction, technology has both
traditional and authentic uses (see



Singh
& Means, 1994). A traditional

use of technology is
skills



reinforcement; for example, students
who

need additional practice in
reading



might work

individually on computers equipped with
reading-comprehension



software.

An
authentic use of technology is using it as a tool to accomplish
a



complex task; for example, students
who

are creating a written report might
use



the

Internet
for research, word-processing software to write and format the




text, and hypermedia software to
add

images. Therefore, it makes sense
to



consider

the
variety of uses as they illustrate best practices


.