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As newer technologies become increasingly more popular, a desire to incorporate them as learning tools will begin to mount in the name of good “instructional technology” practices. As a result, the selection and integration of these technologies into the college classroom can take many forms and directly impact the effectiveness of student instruction. Also, like most other aspects of education, technology is susceptible to a variety of complementary factors that influence its level of success such as adult learning principles, curricular limitations, pedagogical strategies, as well as personal, institutional and societal barriers. Identifying how faculty members are using technology in the classroom may prove to be invaluable in developing a catalog of current practices and new opportunities for integration that can span fields of study, as well as enhance new ways of learning

The impact technology has on learning often impacts the success of both the student and instructor. Consequently, attention may be paid to what teachers need to know in order to incorporate technology in the classroom…but little attention is paid to how. Mishra and Koehler (2006) introduced the “Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge” (TPCK) framework that compensates for this lack of focus on the how, and “goes beyond merely identifying problems with current approaches” and instead “offers new ways of looking at and perceiving phenomena and offers information on which to base sound, pragmatic decision making” (p. 1019). TPCK which incorporates “Technology” as a third emphasis in Shulman’s already widely popular “Pedagogical Content Knowledge” framework is described as:

In order to effectively integrate technology into the college classroom we must consider the student and their requirements as adults, and as millennials.  The challenge for us as faculty is to align these learning theories with the ingenuity of ourselves and others to maximize the learning experience for our students.

As teachers, I think we’d all agree that communication is pretty important. In fact, it’s a necessary component of education, livelihood, and basic functionality in our society. It’s also fairly obvious that there are two main ways to communicate, although more obscure forms exist. Basically, we talk and we write. That’s how we let other people know what’s going on, and it’s an important skill to have. Just about every student can talk, but how many can truly write well?

Writing is not for turning out cookie-cutter essays in AP Lit & Comp. It’s not for texting friends, keeping diaries, or even for getting a better SAT score. Writing is important because it’s used extensively in higher education and in the workplace. If students don’t know how to express themselves in writing, they won’t be able to communicate well with professors, employers, peers, or just about anyone else.

Much of professional communication is done in writing: proposals, memos, reports, applications, preliminary interviews, e-mails, and more are part of the daily life of a college student or successful graduate. Even if students manage to learn the material in their college classes without knowing how to write well, they won’t be able to express their knowledge to the people who are making the big decisions. Potential employers won’t know whether or not head knowledge can be applied to everyday demands unless it’s through a spoken interview. Even the majority of certifications and licensures require basic writing skills to obtain. The inability to write makes for a stillborn career.

Given the primacy of instructional technology in today's college classroom, it is important to understand how faculty use these tools, especially how they adapt specific tools to meet the unique needs of particular faculty or instructional situations. Instructional designers and policymakers face the challenge of introducing innovations into established patterns of tool use and educational practice. As a result, when interventions are designed and implemented without a working understanding of existing practices and workplace conditions, incompatibilities between the demands of the innovation and the constraints of the local setting may result. Instructional designers need robust accounts of local practice, which can ground the design of new initiatives and provide insights into why initiatives are encountering resistance or undesirable adaptations. This brief presents findings from an empirical analysis of course planning and classroom teaching related to instructional technology with the specific aim of providing actionable evidence for policymakers and practitioners. In particular, this analysis focuses on describing the types of instructional technologies faculty consider as part of their local resource base, the specific decision-making "pathways" related to the incorporation of technology into lesson plans, and how faculty actually use technology in the classroom.