Mobile Devices: Impact on Learning and Instruction

Technology has been touted as being the one thing that has the ability to change education. Educators have long been searching for a “magic bullet” to fix all that ails a less than 21st-century educational system. Even though computers have been used in education since the 1980s, when about 75% of high schools and 30% of elementary schools were said to be using computers for educational purposes, students are still not using computers regularly in every school. Nonetheless, almost every study that has been conducted relating to the use of computers in schools reports an increased level of engagement by the students that is attributed to the students’ use of the computers. But sadly, increases in student achievement—read: test scores—are elusive.

Why hasn’t the use of ...