Chapter 10: Summing Up Research on Technology and Student Learning in the Content Areas: Commonalities and Recommendations for Teacher Education

The authors of this monograph believe that the meaningful use of technology to support sound and innovative teaching and learning practices can have profound transformative effects for student learning. We also acknowledge that our conviction is not supported by conclusive empirical evidence. This monograph seeks to prompt rigorous, high-quality research in education that will provide the needed evidence to inform the efforts of educators at every level of the education community, with the ultimate goal of improving student learning.

School-based research, in general, and rigorous, high-quality research, in particular, is complex, messy, and difficult to design, control, and implement. Differentiating the effects of technology on learning, when there is little agreement on what tools are effective under what circumstances and for what purposes, is a nearly overwhelming task. Educators and researchers along the PK−20 pipeline must accept the exciting challenge of unpacking meaningful ways to use modern tools to assist teachers of all disciplines. Because our research field cannot yet share a definitive formula for what “works,” our next best option is to dissect what we have tried and attempt to inform the work of the field to include successful elements more of the time.