Using survey data, the authors examined the relationship between intensity (as opposta' to duration) of a technology-focused professional development program and specific participant characteristics in predicting successful outcomes. The four participant characteristi;s ciJO!en were: teachers'feelings of preparedness to support student technology use, teachers'perceprions of the usefUlness of creating technology-based projects with students, teachers' perception! of the relevance of the pedagogical approaches emphasized, and teachers' prior use ojfearAxed software. Two outcomes were defined· (1) Use of new software applications/technology _;kills and (2) implementation of new technology-rich lessons. Analyses indicated different combinarions ofpersonal characteristics predicted each outcome. In addition, intensity of the program only predicted the latter outcome. Implications of this research are discussed within the framervork of the professional development literature. (

This paper looks back on the past three decades of educational technology research as a basis for discussing where this field of research is heading, and identifying some of the most promising directions for the future development of technology's role in education. The collaborative efforts of the Center for Children and Technology and the Union City, New Jersey, school district are discussed to illustrate many of the lessons learned about how educational technology research and systemic school improvement efforts can best be coordinated with one another. This paper offers a perspective that grows out of what we, at EDC's Center for Children and Technology, have learned from nearly three decades of research on educational technology (http://www.edc.org/CCT). Rather than providing a detailed account of what we now know about the impact of technology on learning, we discuss where the research field is heading and review what we think of as the most promising directions for technology's role in education [1][2][3].

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