The Integration of Instructional Technology into Public Education: Promises and Challenges

Introduction Will instructional technology (IT) ever be integrated into public schools? An interesting question—or rather a series of related questions of interest to educators and parents: What do we mean by “instructional technology”? What is integration? What is the current status of IT in classrooms? Are there constraints or barriers to integration? What are the effects of preservice teacher preparation and inservice professional development? How does one proceed with technology integration? How do we apply the lessons learned from “older” technologies to the “newer” technologies of the last two decades? This article will address each of these questions in order to help us to grasp the prospects for the integration of instructional technology into public education as well as to consider the promises and challenges of such a venture.