Technology for Teaching and Learning

Technology offers tremendous promise for student learning. The upsurge of devices and digital learning platforms, along with external events impacting instruction and student learning, have increased the emphasis states, districts, and schools place on educational technology.
 

Our Work

The importance of using technology effectively as a tool for teaching and learning has always been a recognized priority for AIR. The use of technology in education also raises challenges, including those related to equity of access, cost-effectiveness, teacher professional development, assessment, privacy, and safety.

AIR is poised to support the field in addressing these challenges. We are a leader in evidence-based, technology-driven classroom practices and online strategies that enhance learning for all students, including those with special needs.

Contact
Joey Wilson

Joseph P. Wilson

Managing Director
Alise Crossland

Alise Crossland

Senior Researcher
Michael Garet

Michael S. Garet

Vice President and Institute Fellow
Related Topics
Education

Our Services

Drawing upon an interdisciplinary team of experts who work side-by-side with education leaders, AIR designs and delivers technical assistance, research, and evaluation studies to unlock the potential of technology to drive improvements in teaching and learning. Our work includes, but is not limited to:

Education technology research and evaluation

  • Rigorous implementation and outcome evaluations studying technology program effectiveness
  • Education technology product evaluations
  • Research studies on online and blended learning programs

Technical assistance to improve technology program planning, implementation, and policy

  • Data based, differentiated strategic planning and implementation support for the development of new technology programs and continuous improvement support for existing programs
  • Professional learning, including communities of practice and tool development to support effective use of technology to address the needs of all learners
  • Design and facilitation of networked improvement communities to solve technology integration challenges using continuous improvement methodologies.

Key Projects

Related Work
Image of young boy and girl looking at a tablet together

National Survey of Public Education’s Response to COVID-19

To improve services to students and families, we need information on what districts and charter management organizations are doing and plan to do to address COVID-19. From mid-May through July 2020, we are asking school district and charter management organization leaders to respond to a nationally representative survey of school ...

AIR Informs Episode #4: Communities of Practice During COVID-19

09 Apr 2020
Even though the coronavirus pandemic has pushed interaction, learning, and professional development to online environments, that doesn’t mean these activities can’t be just as effective as they would be in person. In this episode of AIR Informs, Melissa Rasberry and Marshal Conley discuss communities of practice and how they can ...
Illustration of Mary Thorngren

Meet the Expert: Mary Thorngren

08 Jan 2020
Mary Thorngren has more than 30 years of experience in managing and providing training and technical assistance to school districts, community-based organizations, public health, and other systems to improve the lives of children, youth, and families. Thorngren is the project director for the Interagency Working Group on Youth Programs, a ...
Image of young children looking at bugs in a field

Q&A: The Unique Assets and Challenges of Rural Education

23 Oct 2019
As the Indiana State Liaison for REL Midwest, AIR Researcher Billie Day helps maximize opportunities for rural students, schools, and communities. She answered some questions about what assets and challenges affect rural education, some misconceptions about it, and her personal connection to the work. ...
Image of teacher and students building a robot

Inclusive Technology in a 21st Century Learning System

12 Jun 2019
Technology is a part of nearly every aspect of our daily lives—including the public education system. AIR, the National Center for Learning Disabilities, and more than 10 other organizations collaborated on the development of publications to ensure educational technology conception, design, procurement, use, and evaluation close rather than widen opportunity ...
Computer science teacher with high school student

Expanding and Strengthening the STEM Teacher Workforce Through UTeach

The goal of UTeach at the University of Texas at Austin is to increase the numbers of highly qualified STEM teachers in high-needs schools by expanding preparation pathways, and to broaden participation of underrepresented students in high-needs schools through evidence-based professional development and ongoing support of in-service teachers. AIR is ...
Father and son in front of schoolbus

Navigating ESSA: 13 Key Resources

12 Feb 2019
State and school district leaders, whether relative newcomers to ESSA or entrenched in implementation, will find detailed information on states’ plans, policy, and research on educational practices in AIR’s ESSA Co-Pilot. The following 13 resources were chosen by AIR experts as the best entry point into this broad and deep ...
Image of college students in a computer lab

Using Technology to Support English Language Learners in Higher Education: A Study of Voxy’s Effect on English Language Proficiency

29 Jan 2019
Although English language learners (ELLs) have an increasing presence in postsecondary education, their unique needs are often unmet by institutions of higher education. Technology-mediated English language instruction may be a solution to the pressing challenges that postsecondary institutions face in providing personalized instruction to ELLs, because it allows instruction to ...

Developing New Indices to Measure Digital Technology Access and Familiarity

28 Oct 2018
As NAEP transitions from a paper-based to a digitally based assessment, the question arises: Are all children are ready for the transition—and would any of them would be disadvantaged by it? To investigate these issues, AIR developed a new set of survey items related to digital technology for the 2015 ...
Young kids doing a STEM project

Advancing Methods and Synthesizing Research in STEM Education: The Discovery Research PreK-12 Program

The Discovery Research PreK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of STEM by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of STEM education innovations and approaches. This project aims to deepen NSF and STEM community understanding of recent intellectual contributions and the broader impact of grants ...