Educational Technology: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Background

As the prevalence of technology in PreK–12 classrooms is continuously increasing, teachers’ understanding of the technologies available as well as when and how to implement them is increasingly important. Early research has found the potential to improve the learning process when digital technology is implemented successfully (Savage, Sanghera-Sidhu, Wood, Gottardo, & Chen, 2014; Cheung & Slavin, 2012, 2013). When the pandemic hit in 2020, PreK-12 teachers were plunged head-on into such a potential with an even more complicated digital learning environment with sometimes little professional development or training in the use of digital tools (Webb, Kohler, & Piper, 2021; Ray, 2021). “Additionally, many had minimal knowledge of how to develop lessons for learners who were not physically present” (Ray, 2021, 4). Research describing how and when current PreK-12 teachers learn how to integrate technology within their classroom is limited, especially during their preparation in becoming a teacher (Voithofer, Nelson, Han, & Caines, 2019).

Voithofer et al. (2019) conducted an online survey of 842 educators from 541 different teacher preparation programs to understand the technology integration preparation at those nationally accredited universities. The results provided some insight into the readiness to implement technology competencies and standards into teacher preparation programs. However, more needed research is suggested. Research in this area has shown that valuing technology that enhances learning and that is already included as a part of everyday lives tends to lead to the adoption of it in classrooms (Goktas, Yildirim, & Yildirim, 2009). Studies such as these continue to raise the question as to how PreK-12 teachers become technology integrators and how well they integrate.

Additionally, new technologies including hardware devices as well as software and applications are constantly emerging, and the uses of these technologies are expanding just as quickly (Emejulu & McGregor, 2019; Howard, Tondeur, Ma, & Yang, 2021). Thus, preservice teachers need to be taught how to implement and integrate technology into their future classrooms as well as how to continue to educate themselves and keep themselves up to date on the emerging technologies and how to use them once they are finished with their education.

One way classroom teachers stay up to date on current research and ways to implement that research into their classroom is through practitioner-oriented journals. Articles in these journals are written with PreK–12 teachers as the target audience, with the goal of delivering current research and best practices to the teachers in a format that is typically more easily understood and more accessible than method-heavy research articles.