The question of whether or not anyone can show “technology works” comes up again and again. While many educators may assume someone must have already answered the question or not feel attending to the question is necessary, the question will not go away. Those committed to technology in schools owe their thanks to those researchers who are willing to take on this deceptively simplistic question.
I know enough about the associated issues to realize that I probably will never be able to do relevant work myself. It takes access to many schools, teachers, and students to even begin asking interesting questions. It takes having significant funding and probably working in certain parts of the country to have the necessary access.
I suggest you review the NECC paper provided by Bebell, O???Dwyer, Russell, & Seeley on this topic (NECC . In addition to providing new data, this paper does a nice job of explaining what is already known and why the question is so difficult for researchers to answer.
See also – inTASC Research on Technology Use and Student Achievement for additional related work.
