The Impact of Digital and Electronic Technology in Education

Abstract

This paper argues that, while identifying some of the reasons for the glacial pace of the impact of instructional technology in education, Cuban’s (1998) recent commentary about instructional technology fails to consider the full range of diversity of viewpoints about education and about effective uses of technology in education. As a result, his paper presents arguments that fail to be convincing under close scrutiny. In this paper, I argue that technological availability as well as differences in values and cultural perspectives about education contribute to the use or non-use of instructional technology. I identify several additional factors that contribute to the rate of technology adoption and to the impact of technology in education.