Yong Zhao and Paul Conway, Teachers College Record
January 27, 2001
It's not news that inadequate teacher training and lack of access to adequate hardware and software have limited technology's impact on education, but many states are trying to do something about it. In this report, Yong Zhao of Michigan State University and Paul Conway of the National University of Ireland attempt to catalogue one aspect of the "multi-billion dollar frenzy" to train teachers and upgrade system capabilities that is underway in the 50 states by taking a close look at state technology plans: blueprints for implementing and securing funding for educational technology. In general, the authors find, state technology plans over promise and under deliver, taking the form of "idealistic vision statements" that skillfully sell technology by promising to meet lofty goals. This promotion of a "technological utopia" is problematic, they say, because it downplays serious educational inequities; underestimates the complexity of social change; amounts to "techno centrism," in which the limits and constraints of technology are rarely discussed; and simplifies the challenges students face in comprehending the complexities of their social and natural world. You must complete a simple (and free) registration process to view the report at http://www.tcrecord.org/PrintContent.asp?ContentID=10717.
