2003 in Review: A Synthesis of the Special Education Technology Literature

The professional literature continues to be an essential resource for scholars and practioners for filtering and highlighting new advances in research and practice. However, the ongoing challenges associated with too much information, inadequate tools for managing information overload, and too little time for professional development demand that new approaches to literature analysis and synthesis be explored. The purpose of this study was to examine recent additions to the extant knowledge base in special education technology using a methodology known as the comprehensive one-year research synthesis. Two questions guided the inquiry: How widely scattered is the literature on special education technology? and What have we learned lately? The table of contents from each issue of 31 journals in special education technology (n=5), special education (n=17), and educational technology (n=9) published in 2003 were studied. The procedures yielded a corpus of 814 articles of which 224 articles (28%) were judged relevant for this review as contributing to the emerging knowledge base on special education technology research and practice. Analysis of the literature scatter revealed relevant literature could be found in 30 journals but that a core set of 11 journals contributed 70% of the relevant articles. Content analysis of the relevant articles revealed a number of dominant themes in the literature during 2003: assistive technology, implementation issues, instructional design, instructional strategies, outcomes of technology, professional development, reading and technology, and technology integration. The limitations of the comprehensive one-year research synthesis methodology are discussed along with the new importance this tool may have in filling the void created by the recent restructuring of the ERIC system.