Chapter 16 - The Role of Technology in Education: Reality, Pitfalls, and Potential

Abstract

This chapter explains why teachers are the key to the successful adoption and use of educational technology. It discusses the research findings about technology's effectiveness, examines some of the uses of education technology, identifies key issues involved with its adoption and use, and discusses some of the critical policy issues associated with adopting and using technology. Effective use of technology is defined here as using technology to help students achieve desired learning outcomes and to enhance students' learning experiences by providing them with resources, opportunities, and tools that would otherwise be unavailable to them. The implications of this definition are straightforward. Technology is not the most important variable in the learning process; instead, it is how teachers use the technology that is critical. Clearly, the nature of learning and its required tasks must drive the use of technology and not vice versa. Teachers should always have compelling instructional reasons for using technology, and if none can be found, then technology should not be applied to a given learning situation. As such, technology becomes one of many tools that teachers use to help their students learn, instead of the only tool. The chapter provides some general recommendations to the policy makers in the area of educational technology adoption and use.