![\"\"](\"http:\/\/edutechdebate.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/audio-computer.jpg\" "\\"audio-computer\\"")
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If ICT means the use of computers in schools and classrooms and if learning means what academic content, skills, and behaviors students can perform in and out of school, then the massive investment over the past 30 years in wiring schools, buying computers and the latest hand-held device has fallen far short of being a \u201crevolution\u201d in students\u2019 learning and teachers\u2019 teaching (Failure of computers PDF 1995<\/a>). While not a fruitless mission – a fool’s errand – the idea that ICT would revolutionize schooling was, at worst, sloppy thinking and, at best, ardent wishfulness.<\/p>\n Note I said \u201cuse\u201d of ICT, not access to it. For access to ICT has been an unvarnished success. From a national average of 125 students per computer in the mid-1980s now there are about 4 students, on average, per computer in the U.S. (2009 tech survey<\/a>). In fact, many districts and a few states now give each student a laptop. Moreover, the digital gap between high poverty and low poverty schools in having ICT and Internet access is nearly closed.<\/p>\n So while access has been a success, actual use by most (but not all) teachers and students in classroom lessons has disappointed ICT champions. Without regular use in classrooms, then ICT advocates cannot even hope for increases in student academic achievement, transformed teaching, and technologically proficient students entering the job market.<\/p>\n