Twenty Years of Education Technology Policy

Although there are those that feel that technology will lead to our doom, the general consensus is that technology will be a liberating factor, one that will solve many of our problems, ranging from those at an individualistic level all the way to those that are global in nature. Even though many of us would view ourselves as progressive, there are still a significant number of educators who are somewhat reluctant to downright opposed to technology integration. So why should the field of education invest in technology?

In their 2005 article, A Retrospective on Twenty Years of Education Technology Policy, Culp, Honey, Mandinach provide an analysis of key policy reports addressing the challenges and opportunities in integrating technology into K-12 education in the U.S. They conclude there are three key rationales for investment in educational technology. They are technology as a tool for addressing challenges in teaching and learning, technology as a change agent, and technology as a central force in economic competitiveness (p. 283 – 284).

Culp et al (2005) point out policy documents repeatedly describe matches between specific capabilities of various technologies and persistent challenges to the delivery, management, and support of effective teaching and learning experiences. Many reports present strong assertions that technology can catalyze various other changes in the content, methods, and overall quality of the teaching and learning process - most frequently, triggering changes away from lecture-driven instruction and toward constructivist, inquiry-oriented classrooms. References are also frequently made to economic and social shifts that have made technology skills critical to the future employment of today’s students, and more broadly, to the importance of technology innovations to maintaining the economic and political dominance of the U.S. globally (p. 283 – 284).

From their review of previous policies, Culp et al (2005) found seven recommendations made to establish, support and sustain high quality, technology-rich learning environments. These seven recommendations are:

1. Improve access, connectivity, and requisite infrastructure;
2. Create more high-quality content and software;
3. Provide more sustained, high-quality professional development and overall support for teachers seeking to innovate and grow in this domain;
4. Increase funding from multiple sources for a range of relevant activities;
5. Define and promote the role of multiple stakeholders, including the public and private sectors;
6. Increase and diversify research, evaluation, and assessment; and
7. Review, revise, and update regulations and policy that affect in-school use of technology, particularly regarding privacy and security. (p. 286 – 287)

In reviewing various reports, Culp et al (2005) recognize that defining one clear, long-term set of goals for the integration of education technology is difficult because:

• Technologies themselves are multiple, implying different strategies of use and application;
• Technologies themselves are evolving rapidly, often far faster than schools are able to change their practices or even their purchasing plans;
• Local, state, and federal policy and budgetary environments in which schools are working are also in constant flux, making sustained investment and development difficult; and
• Public perceptions of the proper role for new technologies in K-12 education continue to evolve (p. 299).

In reviewing the literature over the past 20 years Culp et al (2005) have found that the education technology community has drawn on three distinct approaches to thinking about and investing in technology. Broadly speaking, these three approaches have emerged in turn, and each responding to and building on the one that came before (although the three cannot be seen as a clean linear progression). They are investing in technology to support specific and long-term needs of educators, transforming education through technology, and matching technologies to public priorities for educational improvement (p. 300 – 303).

Much of what Culp et al discovered in their review of 20 years of educational technology policy is still extremely relevant today, 7 years later. Integrating technology in education is a complex endeavour involving numerous stakeholders, approaches, and motivations. The integration of technology in education will always be in flux due to the ever evolving nature of technology itself. As educators we will always be playing catch-up, but what is of utmost importance is that we do not do a disservice to those in our charge and not prepare them for the world in which they must live, and hopefully thrive.

Culp, Honey, Mandinach, (2005) A retrospective on twenty years of education technology policy, Journal of Educational Computing Research 32(3).