How do I ensure that our uses of technology are focused on meeting the needs of growing writers, not the needs of educational, software, hardware, and publishing companies?

• Consider pedagogical needs before technology: ask first about what students and teachers of writing need to accomplish, then consider technologies that might meet those needs
• Frequently consult the least computer literate students and teachers to find out what they can and will use, and what they won't use, for teaching and writing
• Strive to balance online, and computer-based writing activities with face-to-face activities.  Make sure that online activities inform what happens in the face-to-face classroom, and vice-versa.
• Develop your own suite of tools for teaching writing, based on what is available for free or on the cheap, what is easy to use, and about which members of your program have expertise (bottom up instead of top down)
• If you lack expertise, partner with a publisher and/or local and global colleagues to develop and support a set of tools for writing classes
• Don't let a vendor or publisher sell you on an electronic environment that has not been tested in your program
• If you use a commercial suite of tools, encourage teachers in the program to use only the parts of it that fit their pedagogical goals (e.g., there is usually no need for drills and quizzes in writing classes)
• Let teachers, especially advanced teachers, use the tools that make the most sense to them for helping growing writers