The recommendation to engage and invest in developmental research overlaps with advice emanating from policy-makers in the USA where the Panel of Educational Technology of the President ' s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology ( 1997 ) established three priorities for future research :
1 . Basic research in various learning-related disciplines and fundamental work on various educationally relevant technologies . 2 . Early-stage research aimed at developing new forms of educational software , content , and technology-enabled pedagogy . 3 . Empirical studies designed to determine which approaches to the use of technology are in fact most effective . ( p . 38 )
The second of these priorities reflects the call for development research issued above . At the same time , the President ' s Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology ( 1997 ) may be guilty of placing too much faith in the ability of largescale empirical studies to identify the most effective approaches to using media and technology in schools . In the final analysis , the esoteric and complex nature of human learning may mean that there may be no generalizable best approach to using media and technology in schools . The best we may be able to hope for is creative application and informed practice .
Summary
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This fourth and final section has summarized what we know about the impact of media and technology in schools . It works . It also points out the difficulty of answering questions about whether media and technology work better than other approaches or which applications of media and technology will have the most impact . The importance of instructional design and implementation were highlighted . This section concluded with a call for development research focused on the mission of enhancing teaching and learning through media and technology .
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