Selling Software - How vendors manipulate research and cheat students Oppenheimer | Education Next
The Flickering MindOppenheimer | Booknoise.net
A new article and older book and website by author Todd Oppenheimer all take on the value of educational software. We certainly don't disagree with the overall conclusion, but the word "cheat" seems overly dramatic too.

Oppenheimer seems to get whats wrong with education, yet he confuses that with what's wrong (and right) with educational software. Indeed, its not clear he gets communications technology at all. His website makes no attempt to engage others; his "blog" has all of one entry, posted in October, 2003. The more I read here, the more the term "Luddite" (and maybe "anti-business") seems to pop into mind.

Yet here is someone on our side of the cultural/intellectual divide. Oppenheimer likely would have been at home at December's "The Narrowing K12 Curriculum" event. He may or may not agree with the majority there on particular content, but one suspects he'd definitely support more humanities of some sort. He hangs out at The Grotto, a collaborative for the Storytelling Arts.

If you're among those people who still talk of "computer literacy", "technology training" in schools, or the "digital divide" between rich and poor, these resources are for you. Definitely worth a visit.