High Access and Low Use of Technologies in High School Classrooms

Explaining an Apparent Paradox

Bibliographic Data

ID5778330
AuthorsLarry Cuban (Stanford University), Helen Kirkpatrick (0000-0003-0258-5113, Aspire Public Schools), Heather Kirkpatrick (Aspire Public Schools), Charles Peck (0000-0002-8551-6318, Stanford University), Craig Peck (Stanford University)
Year2001
Volume38
Issue4
Pages813-834
Publication date2001-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Educational Research Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-8312 • E-ISSN: 1935-1011
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.3102/00028312038004813
OpenAlexW2040760046
LanguageEN
Citations received82
References cited11

Most policy makers, corporate executives, practitioners, and parents assume that wiring schools, buying hardware and software, and distributing the equipment throughout will lead to abundant classroom use by teachers and students and improved teaching and learning. This article examines these assumptions in two high schools located in the heart of technological progress, Northern California's Silicon Valley. Our qualitative methodology included interviews with teachers, students, and administrators, classroom observations, review of school documents, and surveys of both teachers and students in the two high schools. We found that access to equipment and software seldom led to widespread teacher and student use. Most teachers were occasional users or nonusers. When they used computers for classroom work, more often than not their use sustained rather than altered existing patterns of teaching practice. We offer two interrelated explanations for these challenges to the dominant assumptions that guide present technological policy making

Silicon valley · Education and Digital Technologies · Gender and Technology in Education · Online and Blended Learning

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