Its a very interesting and important question Yaacov! And there is no prescriptive answer since educational technology means a lot. From my own experience working and researching the role of ICT in education: if your goal was to minimize social gap and make the class more 'homogeneous' and learning together you need to use activities, particularly group activities were every student is motivated to learn with the 'other ' building a common identity as a group. If your students are using technology, lets say a SNS platform that you manage the data (not Facebook or Google), you are able to analyze student to student interactions as well student to content/activities interaction using Social Network analysis. Maybe this article (among others) is of your interest:

Article Elementary School Goes Online – making sense of peer-to-peer...

Many thanks Wolfgang. Obvious follow-up questions would be whether those entrusted with developing  technology based curricula that provide quality inbstrction and learnind and enhance the narrowing of the social gap are in fact experts in these areas and offer materials and methodologies that really work. Also, are teachers competently trained in the use of these materials and the necessary pedagogy? In my experience with the research conducted on the topic of the question, the results are really "murky".

Many thanks too Conceicao. The paper you attached is interesting and describes things that CAN be done in the field of education using technology. However how widespread is this and is what IS done really successful?

Well, the IS used was a simple web site developed in Joomla but with total control of database and total respect for privacy of emails exchanged. The other system was UCINET, a SNA tool for digital data. About widespread in my region not at all at formal educational settings. The 1st reason is there are no resources available at schools (human, training, etc). But I know there are similar studies in US with teachers, instead of students for the implementation of  curriculum change, making visible the interactions among teachers that need to work together in order to accomplish the new goals. Well the big question is if you want to make learning an individualized experience, where every student can progress at his/her own pace? Because you can, using technology and educational models like Coursera, but I don't believe that those models are well suited for children education, in a society that is more and more inter-cultural and radicalized, so the role of the public (or private) school should more to embrace diversity and make learning happen through it.

Very interesting question indeed.

Perhaps the best contribution of the use of technologies for that purpose will be when we see them as tools to think with, as advocated by Seymour Papert. Allowing the reinforcement of the competence to think is perhaps the best strategy to empower each one and allow each one to exercise his/her potential as a citizen.

Fernando thank you for your observation. Papert's seminal postulation is certainly acceptable without any question or doubt. However, in my experience I have found a large discrepancy between the declared goals of the use of educational technology in the heterogeneous classroom and the practical results of its use. If I may present my own perception I would say that while technology has made a profound positive contribution to medicine and health, to commerce and industry and to the military, there has not been a commensurate contribution of technology to education. 

Yes, I agree with Fernando and Yaacov your perception seems to be right but I don't have data to answer that and technology is a tricky word!

Do you know this author?

Arthur, W. Brian (2009-08-06). The Nature of Technology: What It Is and How It Evolves . Penguin UK. Kindle Edition.

I have heard of  Brian Arthur and his book, "The Nature of Technology". As far as I can remember, he is an economist who proposed a theory that technology develops by evolution. I don't remember him ever referring to educational technology in the book.

I agree with Yaacov J Katz. Arthur discusses some of the major puzzles posed by the relationship between economy and technology in the modern world. He link physics, math and biology with economy and tech. May be the "deep crafting" seems "learning by doing" in educational perspetive. 

Yes, Arthur does not talk about educational technology at all.

Brian talks about technology and science and economy and society. Before he became economist he was trained as an electrical engineer.  But I'm quite sure he not says that technology develops only by evolution. He tried to define technology and disambiguate it. My comment is more related with 'technology is a tricky word'; When we use books in class we don't label them as educational technology, but we could. So we talk a lot about technology, meaning IS, app, Internet, Web, laptops.

Back to the question, technology ( IT and IS) could be very useful for "learning by doing", using and creating digital artifacts that could enable multiple literacies.

Hello Jaacov

you can find some answers analyzing  the field of media education researches. Take a look in this site http://iamcr.org/s-wg/section/media-education-research 

bye

Fabio Lo Verde

By using educational technology in heterogeneous classrooms with srtudents having different knowledge levels, teachers can develope and implement  more individualized programms focusing on that what their srtudents really know and not on what according to their age and classroom should know.

Because more individuals are recognizing the need for technology in the classroom, there are more resources that are becoming available for teachers to use to enhance student learning. I think one of the most important attributes of education technology is that it allows for a more customized and personal approach to learning. Each individual teacher should know the needs of every one of their students. Bridge the gap in learning by giving students tools they can utilize to get where you want them to go. 

Technology provides an environment to students where they can learn at their own pace.

Educational technologies reserve numerous opportunities that, in the field of learning, can contribute to reducing gaps and inequalities. It is important to know in advance the starting level that the students bring, it is necessary to carry out the comprehensive pedagogical diagnosis to know how to use the technologies.

Through the implementation of differentiated and personalized activities, learning problems can be conceived that are oriented to the same educational objective. .

The educational institution must have the necessary means for a technologically equitable education, where everyone has opportunities to access the same technological means. The school must guarantee that level of access to the media in advance and teachers must implement learning activities that help students so that they can learn successfully.

As an example, there is the gradual choice of arithmetic exercises, graded by performance levels with a playful approach, through which students will be able to access a growing performance level that enables the growth of complexity in the search for answers.

In this case, the continuous stimulation of the students for the resolution of the different problems and, incidentally, the constant verification of the objectives foreseen in the program cannot be lacking.

It is important to purify the contents of technology, so that the appropriate educational influences reach the child, in an environment of mental and social hygiene that truly favors their integral formation as the most precious treasure of the new society that centers its hopes on the formation of the new man.

I recently wrote a paper that intersects with this issue.

STEM Education and Problem-Solving in Space Science: A Case Study with CanSat.

https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12040251