There is a tendency to take for granted the need to incorporate information and communication technologies (ICT) in schools. So far, research results indicate that:
-The comparison between text and hypertext does not yield unequivocal results. For example, Chaome Chen and Roy Rada show that hypertext can be more effective but less efficient (it requires more time dedication to obtain the same learning results), as well as pointing out the importance of a whole series of variables (from task to solve, of the hypertext design itself, of the learner) that affect its usefulness to promote learning.
-The very nature of the content to be learned affects the usefulness of hypertexts, there being a type of content, those of the so-called poorly defined areas of knowledge that in principle should be more appropriate to teaching through hypertext.
-The inclusion of ICT is not done in a vacuum but in schools, evaluation-oriented organizations, so that if a new way of teaching is introduced without changing the old way of evaluating, students and teachers will prefer traditional teaching technologies .
-The teacher acts as a filter for relevant information (even in the face of evaluation, remembering that saying "what is taught is not evaluated, but what is evaluated is taught").
-It is more efficient, since it allows communication with the classroom group in a more direct way than with computers, where the teacher pays more individualized attention, but less efficient.
-Guarantees homogeneity in the rhythms of the students, which turns out to be a guarantee of discipline in the classroom.
-Allows to respond to comprehension problems, as the teacher can locate the specific origin of the comprehension difficulty.
-In turn, the textbook allows to reduce the teacher's workload by facilitating faster development of certain tasks (copies of statements, specific theory items) and allows the student to have a reference for the preparation of the evaluations and work at home.
-This combination master class + textbook allows the teacher to control the classroom just at the moment when discipline problems lead to teacher discomfort.
Finally, the introduction of ICTs also represents an oxygen balloon for the psychologic reforms that have starred in the debate on educational policy in the last two decades.
In the view of these approaches (Pedersen and Liu, 2003), the reforms have been frustrated by the experience and immobility of teachers, as well as by the weight of tradition on the structure of classrooms and schools, but the innovative component of ICT will force necessarily the implementation of teaching methodology based on the construction of knowledge by the student, which ICT will presumably promote to a greater extent.
Thus, the implementation of ICTs becomes a combat between the resistance of the teaching staff and the demands of practically all external actors (Administration, owners of the centers, parents and even "experts" in education) where the concrete utilities, for Specific students with specific needs, technological tools take a back seat.