Logics of Educational Technology Reform

Purpose: Although the promise of educational technology initiatives has long been touted as a means of innovation and improvement in schools, results of these efforts are mixed at best. Theorizing that institutional factors may be shaping these outcomes, this study identified logics, or belief systems, underlying educational technology reform efforts. In doing so, we respond to calls to better understand how technology can foster organizational change and how institutional logics may shape this process. Research Methods/Approach: Using content analysis, we examined newspapers, messages from professional organizations, and documentation from state departments of education for more than 15 years prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (2004–19) to identify logics of educational technology operating in public discourse in New England. Findings: We find four logics of educational technology reform: the neoliberal, control, danger, and transformation logics. The neoliberal, control, and danger logics motivated technological reforms that served to replicate existing structures and practices in schools. In contrast, the transformation logic offered opportunities for change by forwarding technology-based reform practices that served to challenge the grammar of schooling. Implications: By uncovering these logics, we offer those working in schools and school systems a new tool to understand apparent stagnation of technology reform efforts and, perhaps, provide opportunities to facilitate a better and more equitable path forward.