Old Dogs Learning New Tricks?

In the article Adopt and Adapt: Shaping Tech for the Classroom, Marc Prensky describes the process of technology adoption in schools as a four step process:
1) Dabbling.
2) Doing old things in old ways.
3) Doing old things new ways.
4) Doing new things in new ways.
Prensky’s progression helps emphasize that using technology is not an end in and of itself, but rather a potential mode that can push the possibilities, to take our methods beyond what has been previously possible. As technology advances in our schools, we learn to use it in various ways, but does it change the process of learning? Do our methods change or do we incorporate the technology to do things as we always have? Do we use the technology to lighten our load, to jazz up our lectures, or limit our paper consumption? What are the new possibilities within the digital world?

The real question is “How do we understand/view the learning process and knowledge?” Are we traditionalists, believing that knowledge exist independently of any human experience and is passed from the teacher to the student? Or, are we constructivists, believing that individuals construct their own understanding of the world based on their prior experience (Learning to Teach with New Technology: Implications for Professional Development, Chrystalla Mouza, page 278, Journal of Research on Technology in Education, Winter 2002-2003:Volume 35 Number 2)?

Will we commit to incorporating technology in such a way that our students have rich opportunities for exploration, critical thinking, and collaboration to solve real world problems that involve the use of technology? Will we, as digital immigrants, the old dogs, learn new tricks, not only to use technological to do old things in new ways, but to do new things in new ways?