ICT in education has since the 1980-ies been understood as introducing machines to teaching so that learning can be intensified, personalized and made more effective. The dominant assumption was that teachers did not have proper technologies and should take over technologies developed elsewhere to speed up the processes. This assumption made the entire sector overlook that teaching was already immersed in technologies developed by and for teachers over centuries. In the paper we intend to present a perspective on dominant schools of thought that guides policies and practices in implementing ICT in education. We will describe them as different discursive formations with alternating stipulates and presuppositions, and will try and elicit problems and unresolved conflicts between theory and practice in each one of them. First and foremost we will identify “Learning and technology” in socio-cultural theory, in systems theory/radical constructivism, in actor network theory and historical/discursive theory. We will analyze the positions according to what they offer in terms of understanding of human nature, motivational structure and societal underpinnings. Furthermore we aim to point out how these perspectives influence how research is carried out, and how results are interpreted.