How Does Technology Affect Access in Postsecondary Education? What Do We Really Know? Report of the National Postsecondary Education Cooperative Working Group on Access-Technology. NPEC 2004-831

Overview & Synopsis

This report examines the relationship between technology and access to postsecondary education, and identifies four basic themes: technology and access to postsecondary education in general; access to technology-based learning; preparation for using technology; and the effectiveness of technology in learning. The report presents a review of the more recent literature concerning each of these themes, and in addition, offers new analyses of national data that expands and further informs the knowledge base. The report concludes with some recommendations for additional data collection through National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) surveys. Specifically, chapter 1 provides a commentary of a literature review that targeted sources published since 1990. Over 120 materials were examined. To further inform these issues, chapter 2 provides additional analyses of national data that have not been previously published and offers recommendations for revisions to national surveys and other actions to be taken. Finally, chapter 3 reviews and synthesizes the data from the previous chapters and presents some conclusions. The following are appended: (1) Definitions of Distance Education and Distance Learning; and (2) Definition of Technology Infrastructure for Postsecondary Education Institutions. (Contains 8 tables.)