The intention with this paper is to examine the rhetoric around how the rule and nature of information and communication technology (ICT) use in education is constructed in the research field of educational use of ICT. In doing that an overview of the last decade’s research in the area of use of technology for educational purpose was undertaken.

The way of sense making is based on an examination of the main goals of the research considered in relation to the rhetoric around the rule and nature of digital technology use in education.

The majority of articles have its basis in researchers interest in technologies such as hardware, software and design, and what is supposed to be the outcome when the technology is used in teaching and learning, and in topics related to the way technology is experienced and used, defined here as educational technology research.

A smaller amount of articles is categorised here as research on education and technology use. Research in this category adopts a more critical perspective on education and technology.  

Educational technology research

Further categorization of educational technology research was done by influence of a model used by Orril, Hannafin and Glazer (2004) (Fig.1). Each matrix provides a means for exploring and classifying disparate educational technology research, as for example kinds of questions posed and the goals with the research.

Basic and foundational research is concerned with developing fundamental knowledge, related to how technology work and what happens when people use it. This research focusing on developing knowledge necessary before technology or an instructional approach can be used in educational settings. Pure applied research, is concerned with trying to answer practical questions about how digital tools work in particular settings. Research questions are mainly about real-world applications and are often focused on the user’s experience with the technology rather then technology in itself. In Use-inspired basic research, are interested in both understanding theories about learning and ideas for supporting learning. Technology is in this group viewed as a tool that can support, scaffold and promote student and teacher thinking, communication and ideas (Orrill, Hannafin, and Glazer 2004).

Education and technology use

In critical literature it is often argued that the cyclic nature of research that with intervals of a couple of years presents a new technological innovation that promises to deliver revolution in learning and that ends up with limited integration into schools is merely a replication of previous educational technologies which have failed to make an impact in the classroom (Cuban 2001; Rushby and Seabrook 2008). The reason for this pattern is sometime linked to the economic interests of marketers with little interest in education or educational goals that has continually surrounded the area of educational use of technology and in many ways contributed to the technologic deterministic rhetoric in the field (Bryson and De Castell 1998; Selwyn 2007).

Ball, Stephen J. 2006. Education policy and social class : the selected works of Stephen J. Ball, World library of educationalists. London ;: Routledge. Bryson, Mary, and Suzanne De Castell. 1998. New Technologies and the Cultural Ecology of Primary Schooling:Imagining Teachers as Luddites In/Deed. Educational Policy 12 (5):542-567. Cuban, Larry. 2001. Oversold and underused : computers in the classroom. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. De Castell, Suzanne, Mary Bryson, and Jennifer Jenson. 2002. Object Lessons: Towards an Educational Theory of Technology. First Monday [Online] 7 (1). Orrill, Chandra H, Michael J Hannafin, and Evan M Glazer. 2004. Disciplined Inquiry and the Study of Emerging Technology. In Handbook of Research on Educational Communications and Technology, edited by D. H. Jonassen. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Rushby, N., and J. Seabrook. 2008. Understanding the past - illuminating the future. British Journal of Educational Technology 39 (2):198-233. Selwyn, N. 2007. The use of computer technology in university teaching and learning: a critical perspective. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 23 (2):83-94.