"Syntax Error": Reconciling Discrepancies Between Teacher Belief and Policy Ideology About Technology Integration

• In Event: 18.068 - Educational Technology State of the Field: Policy and Practice

Abstract

This study contrasts teachers’ beliefs about technology in the classroom with the aims of national policy authors who drive technology integration efforts and broad-scale education reform. While few dispute the existence of differences between technology policy and practice, the literature lacks constructive recommendations for better aligning the two. This analysis unearths several factors that compound existing gaps between teacher practice and policy ideology, respectively, in an attempt to provide common ground for a conversation about reconciling these discrepancies. In its use of Krauskopf, Zahn, Hesse, and Pea’s (2014) mental models of technology affordances, this study probes the fundamental cognitive structures that influence how policy authors and teachers make recommendations and decisions about technology use.

Author

• Chris Wiebe, California State University - Los Angeles