I used to recoil when the term “leverage” was applied to computers in educational settings; I had heard too many administrators and vendors describe how some tool could be “leveraged to improve student outcomes.” As we chatted while waiting for a meeting to begin, an English-teaching colleague pointed out that the word really does apply to educational technology. During the meeting, I envisioned the three classes of levers I had taught to middle school physical science students many years earlier, and it came clear to me:. Digital electronic and networked computers and devices can ease many of the tasks we ask students and teachers to perform and can be used to perform complex tasks that are otherwise not possible in the classroom.
As long as we understand computers and select the problems and aspects of problems well suited to the capabilities of technology, then humans can gain advantage by using computers for cognitive tasks that would be difficult for us to complete without technology, thus we leverage technology for our purposes. In an appropriate vernacular, we can download certain tasks to our devices.