Understanding Technology Integration Failures in Education: The Need for Zero-Order Barriers

The idea that technology would revolutionize the classroom has a century-long history. Western world classrooms have experienced successive technology waves such as radio, film, and television (Cuban 1986). The availability of personal computers in the early 1980s marked the beginning of the computer era, leading to the widespread introduction of information and communication technology (ICT) in educational systems. For the past three and a half decades, educational reformers have attempted to transform education through technology without much success. This failure is characterized by two main dimensions: extent of use and type of use.