Technology Integration 1 Running Head: TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION

Since the introduction of computers into education nearly twenty years ago, educators have expressed high hoped for the potential of technology to bring about improved teaching and learning. Over the ensuing decades, however, results have been mixed. It is estimated that school districts now spend more than $5 billion a year on technology for schools (Archer, 1998). Nevertheless, the amount of actual classroom change has not come anywhere near the expectations of educators who hoped for a revolution in teaching and learning that might equal the change wrought by technology in the daily activities of business, industry, entertainment, advertising and all other aspects of American life. There have been many reasons given for limited technology integration in schools, but collectively they revolve around three key components: access, teacher professional development and organizational change to support the innovation. The following offers a more generalized examination of how technology may affect an organization through the overall level of adoption, impact on specific patterns of organization in the school itself and the classroom, and the changes in the organizational structure due to technology integration