What does the research say about technology's impact on education?

Wow! That's quite a question. The answer to this question will naturally be very broad. There is probably not enough space here to fully answer the question and one could probably spend an entire career trying to completely respond. I've chosen to reply based on my own experience rather than "bang-away" at search-engines and reference material. The biggest impact technology has had on education (for me) has been access. I'm able to sit at my desk (in my jammies at home) and type this out. Most of the reference material I could ever need is a mouse-click away, and my refrigerator loaded with fuel and inspiration is just in the other room. Another huge impact is the incentive for technology based companies to "reach-out-and-touch" students where they live. For comparison, only a few short years ago it would have been uncommon for manufacturers of hardware and software to be heavily imbedded in the education system. Now we find the prominance of corporate education services, in schools that seem to serve at least two purposes. 1. They educate students on technology products and services that may or may not be usefull to the eventual performance of job functions. 2. These companies can captivate and inculcate students with the eventual aim of making them better consumers (from the corporate perspective) for the products and services provided by the companies themselves. This partnership of corporate marketing and scholastic academia has implications for the future of our education system and economy. I'm unable to make judgements about whether or not this is a good thing. I remember a time when producers of goods and services paid to advertise. Now we pay them to sell to us.