Fad, Fashion, and the Weak Role of Theory and Research in Information Technology in Education

Fads are a serious problem in education. Fads are destructive because they are quickly abandoned, and therefore, some promising innovations are dismissed before they have been given a fair trial. Innovations become fads partly because there is a tendency for teachers and policy-makers to ignore educational research. Then too, an innovation may take on fad status because it lacks a logical connection to theory, or because advocates fail to clearly communicate the connections between a particular innovation and its theoretical foundations. Some possible solutions to the problem of fads in education are discussed.