A Summary of

The research we have is not the research we need by Thomas C. Reeves1 · Lin Lin

This article reviews evidence-based studies on emerging educational technologies and their
implications for practitioners and researchers. The authors start by pointing out that in the pandemic
era, a lot of hype was created about the efficiency of online programs but they lament the fact that
there is not a regulatory body similar to the FDA to scrutinize the claims made by educational
products while criticizing What Works Clearinghouse for their inability to tell practitioners what
actually works. Then, they provide a historical perspective to “bogus” claims made in the field of
educational technology. Subsequently, they highlight the contributions of meta-analyses to clear the
advertising cloud and let practitioners make sound judgements. What follows is a table that
summarizes the findings of 13 studies that have a “thing” rather than “problem” focus in a fashion
that would be useful for practitioners. They move on to showcase the merits of educational design
research (EDR) and its focus on analyzing educational problems and searching for solutions to them
rather than a “fruitless” search for “what works?” The authors conclude the paper by recommending
that we construct substantial, multi-year research agendas focused on critical challenges and
innovative solutions, measure our advancement and longevity on effectiveness rather than
publication quantities, closely interact with practitioners, and establish our discipline as authoritative
in solving global education problems.