Home PublicationsJRTEPast IssuesVolume 36 Number 1

	Edited by Dr. Lynne Schrum, University of Utah
formerly Journal of Research on Computing in Education

Volume 36 Number 1 Fall 2003

No Access, No Use, No Impact: Snapshot Surveys of Educational Technology In K­12
Cathleen Norris
Terry Sullivan
James Poirot
University of North Texas

Elliot Soloway
University of Michigan

Abstract
There is general agreement that computing technologies have not had a significant impact on teaching and learning in K­12 in the U.S., even though billions of dollars have been spent in purchasing, equipping, and supporting the technology. Some critics of school technology use this situation to push their position that technology is not appropriate for children. Others put the failure on the backs of classroom teachers. However, based on the data we collected administering the Snapshot Survey in districts large and small around the country to approximately 4,000 K­12 classroom teachers, the reason that technology has not had an impact on teaching and learning is that students have, for all intents and purposes, not actually used the technology. Furthermore, the reason for this non-use lies not at the feet of the teachers, but rather in the very real lack of access to the technology. Having one computer in the classroom is not access, nor will it lead to significant student use. Frankly, technology can’t have an impact if children have not had the opportunity to access and use the technology.

Contributors
Cathleen Norris is a professor in the Department of Technology and Cognition at the University of North Texas, where she carries out research into the ways emerging technologies can impact K­12 education. She is also Chief Technology Officer at GoKnow, Inc., directing the development of next-generation educational technologies. Terry Sullivan is an independent scholar with interests in information visualization, statistical language processing, and human-computer interaction. His most recent affiliation was as a research scientist in the College of Education at the University of North Texas, where his work included extensive exploratory analyses of Snapshot Survey data. Jim Poirot is the Executive Director of the Texas Center for Educational Technology and Regents Professor in the Technology and Cognition Department at the University of North Texas. He is past president of the National Educational Computing Association and is the principal investigator of several national and international efforts that address teacher education in technology. Elliot Soloway is an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in the College of Engineering, School of Information, and School of Education at the University of Michigan, where he works in the Center for Highly Interactive Computing in Education. He is also CEO of GoKnow, Inc, an Ann Arbor-based educational software development company focusing on handhelds in K­12.

Contact
Elliot Soloway
Department of EECS
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
soloway@umich.edu

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Copyright © 2003, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). All rights reserved.