Technological devices such as computers, tablets, or interactive whiteboards do not embody one single educational orientation (Lawless & Pellegrino, 2007). Rather, they enable the implementation of a spectrum of approaches to teaching and learning (Tondeur, Hermans, van Braak, & Valcke, 2008). In this respect, teachers use applications of technology in their practice that fit with their existing beliefs about ‘good’ education (Hermans et al., 2008). In other words, the role technology plays in teachers’ classrooms depends on their conceptions of the nature of teaching and learning. Research on educational innovations suggests that technology integration can only be fully understood when teachers’ educational beliefs are taken into account (Ertmer, 2005; Hermans et al., 2008).

In general, evidence shows that teachers who hold constructivist beliefs tend to be highly active technology users (e.g., Becker, 2000). However, findings are not as clear-cut as initially thought (Fives & Buehl, 2011). There is, for instance, the general perception that teacher beliefs and practices are uni-dimensional (teacher-centered or student-centered), as opposed to multi-dimensional (Kerlinger & Kaya, 1959), which suggests that teachers hold varying degrees of both kinds of beliefs (Ottenbreit-Leftwich et al., 2010). For example, Tondeur et al. (2008) used scores on two educational belief scales (“traditional teaching” and “constructivist teaching”) to develop belief profiles for the teachers in their study. The results suggested that teachers with a profile that includes both strong constructivist and strong traditionalist beliefs are more likely to adopt different types of educational technology use. Another complexity in this research field relates to inconsistencies between beliefs and practices. There are a host of variables that can have both a direct and indirect effect on teachers’ abilities to translate their educational beliefs into practice, including teacher-related (e.g., knowledge, motivation, confidence), school-related (e.g., leadership, ICT policies), and cultural and societal-related (e.g., parental expectations, standardized testing requirements) variables (Ertmer et al., 2012; Hermans et al., 2008).

In sum, the relationship between the educational beliefs of teachers and their uses of technology has been examined extensively (Hermans et al., 2008; Ottenbreit-Leftwich et al., 2010), but still this relationship is not clear (Mueller et al., 2008). Given the centrality and importance of teachers’ educational beliefs and the lack of a clear understanding about the relationship between beliefs and classroom technology use, the purpose of this review study was to examine and clarify this relationship. As such, this review of both quantitative and qualitative research was used to synthesize the available evidence on the relationship between teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning and their technology uses in their K-12 classrooms.

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